D&D General Would you fequent a gamer's hangout/bar?

[Blue]

A friend of mine basically ran this. Here's a link to the article Adventure's League did on them:

http://dndadventurersleague.org/spotlight-nn-adventuring-company/

Less focus on the food, more focus on making sure that there was DMs running open games all the time in both AL and their own shared world that used AL rules so you could always drop by and find a game to play.

 

[R_J_K75]

As of now I have a group and we play at my house. We can do what we want and get as loud as we want. So theres not much I need that would get me to go to a place like this.

If I was looking for a new group I would check a place like this out. I'd want a private room, nice gaming table, chairs, etc. As unpopular as it is in this day and age, a smoking section would be nice. I'd have to be able to book a room open ended on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, like a membership model. If the place offered groups to rent or sign out terrain, miniatures, books and other similar game aids that would be awesome. Id certainly be willing to pay more for higher quality. When I play there I'd want a similar feeling I get from dining at a nice restaurant or staying in a nice hotel. It has to offer me something I cant get at home and give me a reason to want to go there. Definitely sounds like a cool place to meet new people with similar interests.

 

[Charlaquin]

There’s an LGS/cafe near me called Enchanted Grounds. No private rooms or anything like that, but if you’re going to be frequenting an LGS for your gaming anyway, it’s nice to have food and drinks available right there rather than having to make a run to a nearby 7-11 or whatever. A version of this that was more like a pub than a cafe would be really cool, but I imagine it would have a very hard time remaining profitable. If you have the option, I think it would be better to build a home bar and do this with your friends than to try and make a business out of it.

 

[humble minion]

I did spend a night every fortnight at a gaming bar near my work, but covid put paid to that. Not sure I'd do it for D&D though, I'm a big-time convert to online/VTT gaming now, and i basically never ever want to run a pen and paper game again. Boardgames etc it could work for though, or very low-crunch narrative RPG systems.

A guy I know did run a gaming cafe for a while, but lockdowns put him clean out of business. Some hospitality businesses etc in my part of the world managed to stay afloat during COVID by pivoting to home delivery, take away etc. A gaming bar doesn't have that option.

Edit: though i should mention, I can't imagine we were very profitable. There were three of us, we'd tie up a table for 3ish hours, and we'd order maybe one drink each in that time. The place served food too, but we were playing a really nice boardgame and who wants to get greasy fingermarks all over the pretty art? Compared to actually going out to a pub to drink with mates, when i might have gotten through three pints and an order of wedges or something in the same time, margins can't have been high.

 

[babi_gog]

There is a franchise chain in the UK called Geek Retreat that does this, along with some FLAGs as well. Works well a meeting space, especially when no space at home to do so.

 

[Don Durito]

I ran a game in a gamer's bar before the pandemic.

It would have been a really good place except for background music. Really bad idea in a bar for gaming.

 

[R_J_K75]

A version of this that was more like a pub than a cafe would be really cool, but I imagine it would have a very hard time remaining profitable. If you have the option, I think it would be better to build a home bar and do this with your friends than to try and make a business out of it.

Edit: though i should mention, I can't imagine we were very profitable. There were three of us, we'd tie up a table for 3ish hours, and we'd order maybe one drink each in that time. The place served food too, but we were playing a really nice boardgame and who wants to get greasy fingermarks all over the pretty art? Compared to actually going out to a pub to drink with mates, when i might have gotten through three pints and an order of wedges or something in the same time, margins can't have been high.

I think a gaming bar/cafe would certainly fall under a know your customer base or cater to a very specific clientele. I dont think a build it and they will come approach would work. Trying to be everything to everyone would spell doom I suspect.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I ran an open table at a gaming cafe pre-pandemic. Occasionally it would be so crowded that hearing people was difficult, but most of the time it was fine...except for one incident. People could rent time to play Rock Band, and the one time we got treated to such offkey renditions of the Offspring and Bon Jovi that gaming just stopped. It wasn't that it was too loud, just too terrible.

I ran a game in a gamer's bar before the pandemic.

It would have been a really good place except for background music. Really bad idea in a bar for gaming.

To answer the original question, assuming there wasn't a pandemic going on, yes, I'd go to a gaming hangout/bar. My city had two - one outright went out of business during the pandemic, and the other remains shuttered, though they've said they do plan to reopen once it's safe to do so (that one being the aforementioned gaming cafe).

One thing I'd advise is to include cider or wine with the beer, for those of us that don't do gluten.

 

[jmartkdr2]

There have been several attempts at boardgaming 'bars' in my area, with varying success. Food and booze seem to be the real moneymakers, though.

The most successful business for this was a beerhall that let a gaming group in early on Saturdays. It's not like they were going to get crowds anyways, so a group of 20 people asking for a few dedicated tables is a win-win for them. But that's mostly because they invested almost nothing.

I don't know if I'd be super-keen on such a setting for rpg's, though. I'd feel like to do it right the business would need to charge a lot more than most people would be willing to pay.

 

[toucanbuzz]

My hometown city has 2-3 breweries that cater to D&D crowds, including (pre-COVID) sponsored game nights with a guest host, beer specials, etc. One has a very large side room dedicated to letting you setup whatever RPG or wargame you want.