Shops with Pay for Play

[Ralif Redhammer]

When I was running an open gaming table at a local gaming cafe, they started charging $5 for a seat at the table for a session (which was much cheaper than the hourly rate for the wristbands to play the pinball, arcade, and console games there).

Some people stopped coming when they started charging, but honestly the table was over capacity at that point and I was glad to have it shrink.

$5 for a night out is pretty cheap. I've easily spent way more at concerts, club nights, and bars for less enjoyable evenings.

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

In Malaysia, just before the pandemic, I heard about one boardgame store trying to recruit DMs to run paid D&D sessions on-store, but the lockdowns threw that plan out the window. I know a few people here are playing in person again, but the shop hasn't tried to revive that project as far as I have heard. At the very least they did survive the lockdown...

 

[aco175]

I would try something like this. Kind of like a convention but a little more to pay someone for a night entertainment. What the dollar amount is, I'm not sure. A 4-hour night is like 2 movies, so maybe $25/player is ok.

 

[aramis erak]

Just before lockdown, one of the pizza joints in Albany (OR) was looking for a DM for a pay-to-play. It was tips plus food and gas... but my drive time put my gas above their threshold. (My FLGS gave them my name and number... after asking permission).
I recall they were looking at $3 for the evening, plus drinks and food, no outside food/drinks allowed.

 

[GMMichael]

. . . Gaming is a social activity and paying someone to run a game for me seems somewhat sad.

I understand; it's why I won't pay for a GM on Roll20. So a shop would have to offer something more or different from a home game (see post 9). . .

Would Conventions count? You pay a fee to get in and join in the games there...

I would try something like this. Kind of like a convention but a little more to pay someone for a night entertainment. What the dollar amount is, I'm not sure. A 4-hour night is like 2 movies, so maybe $25/player is ok.

Kind of like a convention, but with better beverages, less noise, and definitely lower price. Live music, fewer celebrity panels. Really, I'd pay $5 to get to try a new game (still need to play Symbaroum) with some strangers. Maybe $10 if the group is good, and it runs for two hours. Hmm, plus a free coffee, maybe? Anyway, the comparisons to movie nights, live music, and conventions are fair. If a gamer (or future gamer) would pay X for a night of entertainment, why can't (isn't) a TRPG be that entertainment?

Or we could pitch a GM-Pass to our local coffee shops:

- GM-Pass: bring in/entertain 4 beverage-buying patrons, and you get 1 free drink.

Anyone want to print us some punch-cards for this?

 

[Jd Smith1]

There are a lot of GMs charging for their services online. But I've never seen anything similar offered F2F.