You All Meet In A Bar

[Herschel]

I toyed with the idea of a true "game" establishment. It was a nice sub shop splitting a game store, pseudo-arcade, sports "bar" type vibe. It died pretty quickly when I actually started looking at numbers.

 

[S'mon]

My D&D Meetup is in a bar - The Ship Inn, Borough, every Saturday and Sunday from 12pm (when the pub opens). We're in the upstairs room; seems to work great.

 

[El Mahdi]

Could we start each night adventure with a real bar fight...just like in most adventures?

 

[TarionzCousin]

But, if you were anywhere near where I lived, I'd be a regular! That is, as long as you serve Mojitos.

You're a Mojito? I never would have guessed!

 

[Diamond Cross]

I hate bars so I never go in them.

 

[Sunseeker]

Most restaurants are already money sinks. Having the lights on for hours with the same set of customers that only bought one set of drinks/food is going to make it even worse. IMO, I think the best solution would be to make it a sort of "club" situation, you could still sell liquor, you could still sell food, and you could serve players as much as non-players, but you could also have private rooms that would be rented for X hours(say $10 an hour), and hold about 8 people, and you could probably turn a profit very easily.

Add on to that renting books to people, selling/renting dice, and giving discounts on food and fees for members, you could probably make a fairly profitable business.

You would have to clearly set the place up to be a more respectable locale so that parents would feel safe about bringing or allowing their children to go there unsupervised.

I would also recommend opening the place to card-game players as that can draw in an equally large, drinking, eating and membership crowd.

 

[MortonStromgal]

No, I don't mean the gaming cliche.

I mean an actual bar.

Inspired a bit by Yahtzee's Mana Bar, as well as my own observation that the game store camaraderie is quite comparable to tavern culture but tends to exclude the actual consumption of booze, I had a brilliant idea:

A tabletop gaming-themed bar.

Many gamers love booze. Many boozers like to play games. Combining the two seems natural. Obviously, such a setup would be different from conventional bars. Music would have to be kept at a low volume so as not to distract. Tables would have to be large, to accomodate up to five players and the DM (possibly with a 1-inch grid and dice wells built in). Private rooms would be available for those who want some solitude for their gaming, with drinks delivered by the pitcher for them.

In my hometown there are 3-4 comic/gaming stores at any given time (some close, new ones open...two are permanent fixtures). I'd probably work out a deal with them to funnel players to me after-hours, so games could be continued and held well into the night.

The name "You All Meet In A Bar" is a working title.

Any thoughts on this? Would you frequent a gamer-friendly tavern?

I've thought its a brilliant idea for years. Just remember bar first, gaming second. You can have miniature gaming tables instead of pool tables and xbox/ps/wii instead of sports on. Private room rentals with a discount based on the food/drink ordered. I've known several restaurant owners who turn themselves into bars when buisness is bad. Bars make money! you dont even have to have the turn over if you can keep them drinking and or eating. One thing... DO NOT HAVE FREE REFILLS ON SODA. Gamers probably wont be drunk at the table so you need to make money on all your drinks including soda.

 

[buddhafrog]

I think the folks above have noted the problems in the business plan.

Now, a tavern with geeky pretensions, and maybe a couple of gaming rooms you could rent and have food and drinks served, that's something a bit more manageable.

Exactly.

Space needed and table turnover (meaning new customers, not D&D bar brawls) would be greatly hindered by a gaming bar. I love the concept, but there is no way I see this working, unfortunately. Making this part of the concept for a geek-themed bar is slightly more possible.

 

[buddhafrog]

That said, how does drinking age look in South Korea?

Drinking is allowed after high school. But I'm certain the poster isn't thinking of opening this bar in Seoul, are you????? That would be pretty cool and I might actually visit (from Ulsan), but only if you had nights of pick-up games. It's hard to find enough gamers to get a real game together, which is why I'm assuming this bar wouldn't be meant for Seoul.

On the other hand, I wonder if this sort of thing might catch on in Korea. I DM six games for Korean students (under drinking age) and they absolutely love it. Koreans, as a computer game culture, love gaming stories and understand gaming concepts. Because RPG's are new and more internal, my limited experience is that they LOVE the hobby.

Poster - are you considering this for Korea or "home"?

 

[IronWolf]

I think a gamer geek bar would be hard pressed to succeed. Several possible reasons have been mentioned already.

Now I think a place that simply had a reservable back room might be cool. And possibly theming the bar with a medieval/dungeonesque motif, but with its main area catering more to the normal bar crowd could possibly work. It would probably have to be a close to campus bar and its unique factor of decoration become a drawing point just because of its uniqueness.

Then a room at the back could be reserved for gamers to come in and play for an extended period of time if they wanted.