Opening a Board Game Cafe.

[ShadowImmor]

Hello Playgrounders!

Hope you are all doing well!

I am looking to open a board game cafe with a friend, and basically would love to get some feedback on what's important to you other wonderful gamers out there.

What I'd like to know, what are the top three things that would make you go back to a board game café once or twice a month, every month?

Please throw all your answers in here, or PM me too, I appreciate any and all feedback.

Dan

[AdmiralCheez]

Honestly, the biggest factor to get me to go to a board game cafe would be the people. That's not really a thing the owner has much control over, but I would keep going back if I knew my friends would be there.

Location is another big one. It has to be relatively close to me and easy to get to. There's a nice comic/gaming shop near me that I want to like, but don't like going to because it's in a big downtown area with limited metered parking, so I've only gone a few times. It's a shame, because it is a nice store, but because I have to struggle to find a parking space, and pay for it, it's almost not worth it to me to go and just hang out.

[Psionic Dog]

The best place I’ve found is a completely normal tavern… where a local meetup group reserves the back room on slow Saturday nights.

A regular group of people that brings their own (extensive and exotic) collection of games and is happy to invite anyone who walks through the door to join in the next game. Plus the food is tasty and reasonably priced by tavern standards.

[Spore]

What I'd like to know, what are the top three things that would make you go back to a board game café once or twice a month, every month?

I am mostly going at this from an economical angle, with a strong emphasis on community and presented stuff.

0) Have enough budget to survive 2 years without any profit. Even if you're going strong, that is how long you usually take to build a customer base. It is faster if you have many friends, and you are active on social media. Instagram will be your friend too.

1) Location, location, location: Something in a larger town or small city, cheap enough to be rented, but central enough to be reached via public transportation. Car parking is nice, but optional really. You want what we called 2B spots in my text books back in the day; 1A is prime real estate in the inner city, 1B is side streets of prime real estate, you would want a generally well-doing area, that is close to other shops and restaurants, but not as expensive. Rent is a big part. Choose the city not where you live, but where some central hub of public transit lies.

2) Building a community: You want regulars, but most important is acquiring new customers. Not every old customer shops regularly, some leave for other shops or move away, but you'll always have the people around your area. You do events (Friday Night Magic, Saturday afternoons for D&D sessions or Warhammer gaming), maybe the odd event during the week for the school kids, since any kid that likes your store will be your customer in 4-5 years. Use social media (I cannot help with that, but maybe make a sweepstakes for people who share your store on IG and Tiktok).

3) Selection of wares: you sell basic board games (not everyone needs to buy games featured on TableTop, sometimes you just need a few dice, a game of shutes and ladders or Munchkin the card game) and paraphernalia (you need replacement dice, addons to Munchkin, model paints, maybe even a few fantasy novels). Keep it concise (the customers will eventually blow up your inventory on their own) and simple (no epic renovations for several ten thousands) but keep out an ear for your customers. They WILL tell you what they want. Have the usuall stuff in stock, and get an onlineshop that can do overnight shipping because otherwise people can and WILL order overnight.

4) Stay informed: I cannot overstate this enough. You need to monitor trends, if you want to buy and resell trading cards you need to monitor prices. Try to avoid being in direct competition with the big box stores, you WILL loose. One thing I can tell you is that they shut down selling Pokémon cards due to large youtubers riling up resellers to go out in hordes (yes literally) and buy all product they can find. So if you can get Pokemon TCG cards and sell them in an acceptable environment where customers feel safe, you'll already have that advantage.

5) Talk talk talk to your customers: Even if you think you're an introvert. I am an introvert, and after 5 years in customer service I am skilled in small talk, but also "big" talk. I stand by my opinions, even if it means I have to criticize my own product (that we still carry because I am not the boss around here, and because people demand it despite my criticism). If you are not a complete creep, there will be people who like you and your natural attitude. They will return.

6) Plan everything and run it by 2-3 groups of smart people who have NOTHING to gain from you failing. More eyes can spot mistakes faster. Banks giving you credit will NOT point out even the most obvious flaw. If they can get a reliable debtor, they will finance your doomed endeavor.

[Forum Explorer]

Not put in any order of significance.

1) Appropriate Tables to play on. D&D and card games can be played on basically anything. But Warhammer and X-Wing requires tables big enough to hold their mats, without being awkward to move around.

2) Terrain for Warhammer and other wargames.

3) No entry fee. Yes, this is often what enables a Board Game Cafe to even operate. I understand that. But if I have to choose between a place where I can play for free, or a place I have to spend 5$ or more? I'm always going to go with free. Also I find that the 5$ fee is really painful when it comes to actually ordering food. It isn't say, 12$ for a sandwich. It's 17$.

4) Free Parking. Kinda leads into the previous one too. The hobbies and board games are expensive in of themselves. Every extra fee makes it hard to stop by your store with any regularity.

[Tvtyrant]

Not put in any order of significance.

1) Appropriate Tables to play on. D&D and card games can be played on basically anything. But Warhammer and X-Wing requires tables big enough to hold their mats, without being awkward to move around.

2) Terrain for Warhammer and other wargames.

3) No entry fee. Yes, this is often what enables a Board Game Cafe to even operate. I understand that. But if I have to choose between a place where I can play for free, or a place I have to spend 5$ or more? I'm always going to go with free. Also I find that the 5$ fee is really painful when it comes to actually ordering food. It isn't say, 12$ for a sandwich. It's 17$.

4) Free Parking. Kinda leads into the previous one too. The hobbies and board games are expensive in of themselves. Every extra fee makes it hard to stop by your store with any regularity.

How is the store making money at this point? Pay for customers to have free parking, let them use your stuff, don't charge them for it and hope they never hear about Amazon?

At that point I think you would be better off opening a bar, coffee shop or pizza place and just having a lot of board game nights. The food/drink will make a lot more money then trying to get people to buy things they could get cheaper online.

[Forum Explorer]

How is the store making money at this point? Pay for customers to have free parking, let them use your stuff, don't charge them for it and hope they never hear about Amazon?

At that point I think you would be better off opening a bar, coffee shop or pizza place and just having a lot of board game nights. The food/drink will make a lot more money then trying to get people to buy things they could get cheaper online.

Like most game stores and restaurants do; by selling either products or food. I make an effort to try and support my local game stores whenever I can. But their are multiple game stores in my city. I'm going to end up going to the ones that don't charge me money to play. And since those are the stores I'm actually going to, when I can spend money, it's typically in one of those stores.

Think of it this way. Free to play and parking is all stuff to get me in the store and come by frequently. Once I'm in the store, I'm much more likely to buy something, be that food, models, hobby materials, ect.

Because if your competitor offers that and you don't? Why would I go to your store over theirs?

[Rynjin]

At that point I think you would be better off opening a bar, coffee shop or pizza place and just having a lot of board game nights. The food/drink will make a lot more money then trying to get people to buy things they could get cheaper online.

Ding ding ding.

The only time I've ever thought about going to a board game cafe was for my friend's birthday, and one of the bars he likes has private rooms for gaming to rent out. So me and some buddies come from out of town to hang out, and we start talking about the plan.

Then, you know, we thought about it and realized we could just go to his favorite restaurant and just play board games at his house afterward. Better food, cheaper drinks, more convenience, and we don't have to pay for a room. We pay for a room already, monthly. It's called rent.

Nobody wants to rent out a separate space to play board games.

Now if your cafe serves great food, and people want to come for the food, and you happen to offer larger spaces and board games for people to play (these you can charge a small fee to rent out) as an added bonus, then it comes across better. Because people want to pay for good food and good atmosphere.

It's a lot like your local bar with its pool tables at that point. Yeah, you could go to a pool hall and rent a table for a while, and if you're a real enthusiast it can be fun. I like the quieter atmosphere on the rare occasion I do so.

Of course, it's quieter because it's always COMPLETELY EMPTY, because just like renting rooms to just play board games, nobody wants to just rent a pool table for a while. They want to go to a bar with decent food, good booze, good music, and some people they're friends or at least acquaintances with.

[Rydiro]

Ding ding ding.

The only time I've ever thought about going to a board game cafe was for my friend's birthday, and one of the bars he likes has private rooms for gaming to rent out. So me and some buddies come from out of town to hang out, and we start talking about the plan.

Then, you know, we thought about it and realized we could just go to his favorite restaurant and just play board games at his house afterward. Better food, cheaper drinks, more convenience, and we don't have to pay for a room. We pay for a room already, monthly. It's called rent.

Nobody wants to rent out a separate space to play board games.

Now if your cafe serves great food, and people want to come for the food, and you happen to offer larger spaces and board games for people to play (these you can charge a small fee to rent out) as an added bonus, then it comes across better. Because people want to pay for good food and good atmosphere.

It's a lot like your local bar with its pool tables at that point. Yeah, you could go to a pool hall and rent a table for a while, and if you're a real enthusiast it can be fun. I like the quieter atmosphere on the rare occasion I do so.

Of course, it's quieter because it's always COMPLETELY EMPTY, because just like renting rooms to just play board games, nobody wants to just rent a pool table for a while. They want to go to a bar with decent food, good booze, good music, and some people they're friends or at least acquaintances with.

The thead reminds me of a board game bar around here. They have two pool tables, a darts machine and lots of board games. They make money by selling beer, drinks and a limited food selection. A place to hang out and have a relaxed evening with friends (no hard parties, just drinking some).

[Maryring]

Pay attention to the acoustics of the locale. You want a place that muffles sounds, rather than amplifying them. Gaming bars aren't like other bars, where you go to forget yourself in reckless abandon. You'll be doing a whole lot of thinking when you play games, so you don't want a lot of noise breaking your concentration. It'll make gaming that much more enjoyable.

[Gwynchan'rGwyll]

We can only tell us what works in OUR markets, not what works in yours, research the market you intend to enter. But, on that note, I can tell you what's worked in the 3 cities that I've lived in that have had successful board game cafes.

I think I'll push back against some of the suggestions that you provide places for stuff like Warhammer and Magic. Most of the successful board game cafes I've gone to don't. Warhammer especially is space- and storage-intensive. You can likely fit room for 2 tables of 4 (assuming non-pandemic spacing rules) in the same space that would fit a single game between 2 Warhammer players. And that's not considering yet the storage space for the terrain that players expect to be able to use at a venue.

Additionally, as said earlier, your draw as a board game cafe needs to be what you bring that people can't get at home. If you go board-game-only, then you need to provide an array of board games that people don't have at home (ideally with a subset of the SAME games for retail, because people will buy for home games that they've enjoyed playing at your venue). If you host Warhammer, then you also need to provide terrain and, in all likelihood, organize events. If you host Magic, then you'll definitely need to get involved hosting events from what I've seen. From my experience, non-Warhammer and non-Magic players are less likely to go on days that you publicize are for events, so know your market.

Now of course, it could be that there's not a nice welcoming place for Warhammer or Magic in an area and so drawing those customers could be worth the opportunity cost. Local market research is gonna be worth way more than what people in completely different markets on this forum can tell you.

The one exception to my observation of "focus on just board games not other tabletop games" (which was true in Toronto and Halifax) is that Ottawa's board game cafe also did console video games (but didn't do retail).

Definitely gonna double what Maryring said about acoustics though, you want each table to feel as much like they're alone and unbothered as possible.

[Red Fel]

Ding ding ding.

The only time I've ever thought about going to a board game cafe was for my friend's birthday, and one of the bars he likes has private rooms for gaming to rent out. So me and some buddies come from out of town to hang out, and we start talking about the plan.

Then, you know, we thought about it and realized we could just go to his favorite restaurant and just play board games at his house afterward. Better food, cheaper drinks, more convenience, and we don't have to pay for a room. We pay for a room already, monthly. It's called rent.

Nobody wants to rent out a separate space to play board games.

Now if your cafe serves great food, and people want to come for the food, and you happen to offer larger spaces and board games for people to play (these you can charge a small fee to rent out) as an added bonus, then it comes across better. Because people want to pay for good food and good atmosphere.

It's a lot like your local bar with its pool tables at that point. Yeah, you could go to a pool hall and rent a table for a while, and if you're a real enthusiast it can be fun. I like the quieter atmosphere on the rare occasion I do so.

Of course, it's quieter because it's always COMPLETELY EMPTY, because just like renting rooms to just play board games, nobody wants to just rent a pool table for a while. They want to go to a bar with decent food, good booze, good music, and some people they're friends or at least acquaintances with.

This, I think, is the biggest part. Basically, for me to justify going to a gaming venue, I need to be able to see what the venue does that my home does not. Is it the food? The supplies and ambiance? The lack of flames and screaming damned souls? The location?

Now, that said, I think a lot of us may be overlooking a small detail. The OP said "board game" cafe. Not necessarily TTRPG or CCG cafe. So I don't know that there's a need for a separate room for Warhammer tables or D&D. A lot of boardgames can do very nicely over a small cafe table. And that's good from a structural perspective - instead of having a facility that would require lots of back-rooms, you can make one with tables with chairs around them. Fewer walls, easier to modify the layout, less structural investment.

Now, I'd like to add a logistical wrinkle. If all you're doing is providing a game-friendly cafe venue, that's great. Keep in mind that this puts the onus on the customer to bring their own games, and that you simply have to hope they'll buy enough food/drink to justify the expense of giving them a free playing space. (Ask the folks at Starbucks how much they like customers using the wifi all day after buying a single small coffee drink.)

But if you are in fact providing games for them to play - the box, the rules, the materials - you have some issues ahead of you. For one, the burden is on you to replace any lost/damaged gaming materials. Which might mean scrapping an entire box because a couple of cards are ripped or a few pieces are lost. For another, and the current situation highlights this, the burden is on you to keep your materials clean and sterile. Lots of people may be putting their filthy, sauce-covered, germ-infested, didn't-even-wash-after-using-the-bathroom hands all over your games, and you're going to want to be able to demonstrate that you keep your supplies clean so that people like me - who loathe how you meatsacks attract dirt like a Swiffer - will feel less uncomfortable touching them.

Now, that's not to say this is an impossible undertaking. To the contrary, it's eminently doable. Certain games make it easier. Classic board games - chess, checkers, and so forth - have pawns and boards that are easy to wipe clean. Card-based games can work, too - it's a bit of a hassle, but you could sleeve or laminate cards to protect them and make them easier to clean. But it's a time-consuming undertaking to clean them all, every time they're used. And if you don't clean your supplies, and the filth and age accumulates, your customers are going to notice - and it won't reflect well on you.

Ultimately, it will be easier on you to let the customers bring their own games. You can sell materials - card sleeves, dice, and so forth - and let them bring the real stuff. But keep in mind that until the number of people bringing games exceeds the number not doing so, you won't have a gaming cafe - you'll just have a cafe.

So make it a darn decent cafe. First rule.

[ShadowImmor]

Thank you so far for all the feedback, I appreciate it.

I've considered a lot of what you said and think there are some ideas in here we will have to rejig, but could definitely be useful.

Please don't let this response stop you, if people have any further ideas I'm more than happy to hear them!

[Rydiro]

To add to what I said, I'd suggest you focus on being a good cafe/bar first and the board games second.
They are probably easy to fit in anyway (you'll have the space and tables).

[Incorrect]

A local board game cafe has had luck with volunteer helpers.
They hang out at the cafe in scheduled shifts, and get paid in discounted drinks. In return they learn all the board games, and help new customers choose a game to play.
This way the cafe is never completely empty, and people with no board game knowledge gets some competent help to get started. And of cause the volunteers bring their friend groups.

I think you need to be very careful with recruiting these, so its not seen as a negative thing. Dont post an add looking for unpaid workers; post one looking for board game geniuses.

[Gwynchan'rGwyll]

A local board game cafe has had luck with volunteer helpers.
They hang out at the cafe in scheduled shifts, and get paid in discounted drinks. In return they learn all the board games, and help new customers choose a game to play.
This way the cafe is never completely empty, and people with no board game knowledge gets some competent help to get started. And of cause the volunteers bring their friend groups.

I think you need to be very careful with recruiting these, so its not seen as a negative thing. Dont post an add looking for unpaid workers; post one looking for board game geniuses.

This is a very good point, but I'd consult a lawyer before playing around with volunteer work at a for-profit business, you don't want to accidentally violate your local labour and employment laws.

However, you do want people who can teach customers new games, and who can make good recommendations. Some of the ones I went to had "game gurus", whose main job was teaching and advising games. They also bussed and waited on tables when nobody needed their help.

[LansXero]

Thank you so far for all the feedback, I appreciate it.

I've considered a lot of what you said and think there are some ideas in here we will have to rejig, but could definitely be useful.

Please don't let this response stop you, if people have any further ideas I'm more than happy to hear them!

Distributors aren't really welcoming new accounts right now, and the board game industry is experiencing very major upheavals due to shipping issues. Focus on the food aspect imho, leave the game gimmick a distant second.

Also, gamers are a terrible demographic to chase. They're value hunters. You want noobs, whales and casuals. Muggle money is best money.

[Man_Over_Game]

My friends and I regularly go to a board game cafe that charges at the door. Honestly, we liked the fact that it was a tidy place that was straightforward and gave us what we wanted. Food places are often uncomfortable, rushed, and often don't have the ascetic that goes well with playing games.

You want where you play your board games to feel like a sterile, open and bright environment, yet that same kind of setting where you'd eat food would remind you of how cheap the quality of the food is. When's the last time you went to a restaurant that had good reading light?

So my vote's to charge at the door. It also bars entry from any idiots who try to steal your stuff, when otherwise that wouldn't be as easy in a dining setting.

As far as other amenities go, you can't go wrong with having a silent room where players can get rowdy or play DnD without interfering with the common folk. You could keep a catalogue of different game categories, each noting the number of players, difficulty and time, so that players can interact with the staff about what kinds of games would suit what they're looking for. You could even have a list of local reviews for games, offering a discount on their next visit if they review a game in your store (possibly of a game of your choosing or from a list, so that each game has reviews).

Events are also really cool. MTG has a pretty relaxed policy on proxies, so you could do things like proxy-print a set for Conspiracy Draft or something. I'm currently making a card/dice game and would love to find playtesters. To encourage more community, you can offer discounts to folks who sign up and participate in these events, which means more customers who just found a place to relax and communicate in.

[Gwynchan'rGwyll]

Distributors aren't really welcoming new accounts right now, and the board game industry is experiencing very major upheavals due to shipping issues. Focus on the food aspect imho, leave the game gimmick a distant second.

Also, gamers are a terrible demographic to chase. They're value hunters. You want noobs, whales and casuals. Muggle money is best money.

to add weight to LansXero's opinion, they run a FLGS iirc.

[Eldan]

I mean, at least for me, the main reason to go to the board game café is to try the games in their collection that I don't have at home. Also, meeting other players occasionally.

That said, if I had to bring my own games, I'd play at home and spare myself the hauling.

[LansXero]

to add weight to LansXero's opinion, they run a FLGS iirc.

Yes but also:

https://www.sjgames.com/ill/archive/...on_Level_Event

Container rates have gone through the roof, so high volume low value items (like many board games) keep getting delayed because suppliers get outbid on containers for less volume more profit items. Margins were never great, but we've seen price increases this year (Asmodee's just last month; thats a name you should be familiar with if you wanna enter this space, as they own pretty much all their competition) and allocations / delays on everything. Distributors are churning through reps trying to put out fires because stimulus / welfare money has inflated demand (and caused stuff like Pokemon and Sport Cards to bubble) and COVID has screwed up supply. Toss Amazon flushing dead stock into the mix (and throwing in their fair share of counterfeits) so stores have to eat the price increase but not rise prices or lose even more business to online, and its a nightmare.

So, again, focus on the Cafe part, not the Game part. Make sure you bring an experience enticing enough to justify the mark up on the food, which means ambience, food quality, staff service, theme to a much lesser degree and board game library a distant third. Many people will tell you to stock euros and 'must haves' or whatever then either not show up or consume the bare minimum then waste 3 - 4 hours of your time stuck there. You want people who'll either come in, grab something quick, play a filler then move on or large groups who're used to spending and tipping liberally who'll just see the games as a way to pass time.

'Gamers' for the most part, and I can't stress this enough, try to game any system. Research your local market and see what would excite and interest non-gamers and casual dabblers in your area, then be that for them.

[elros]

I applaud you for following your dream, and hope I can point you toward some useful advice.
This article covers issues that you should consider when you create a game space. Although the author is talking about game stores, the same issues exist for a gaming cafe. You can read more from that series of articles and also this archived thread for some general information, but you should get professional advice and guidance so you can avoid common mistakes that can doom you from the start.
Keep in mind that COVID is changing everything. Where I live, there will be vaccine requirement in order to enter cafes, so that creates a barrier to bring in customers.

[Quizatzhaderac]

There are some things other people have mentioned, but I think that bare explicit emphasis.

You need to create customers, not find them
There is a set of people in your area who are currently willing to spend money at gamming cafes. It's very unlikely that these people alone will support your business.

What you'll need to do is increase the size of that set. Convert people with causal interest, friends of customers, lookie-loos. You should have dozens of conversations with people (especially in your area) that ask how they got into board gamming. Whatever those paths are, try to streamline them.

You'll want to be very aware that you're trying to build up a community. Stamp out gatekeeping. Encourage people to help each other. Provide means for people to just who up and try stuff.

The value for offer and what you charge for will not map together tightly.
A gamming cafe is first and foremost a part of the hospitality, not the gamming industry or food industry (it's necessarily involved with those things, but only in the same sense as it is involved with real estate).

Whatever the customers think they're paying for, they are really paying for the combined package; or some situational combination of factors. They're not paying for the game, they're paying for the game while it's fresh in their minds as a good experience. They're not paying for food, they're paying to be able to eat without interrupting their game (also, in dedicated restaurants /cafes food costs are a small fraction of the bill, so you're not remotely paying for food there either).

If I was going to sum up what you're providing, I'd say you're simplifying game night. All of the expenses separated may be cheaper to the customer, but the customer is going to forget they need some little thing and you've taken care of that need.

While you should still listen to peoples opinions about paying X for Y or Z, you should be skeptical and look at what they actually do pay.

Paying for space
The economics and peoples attitudes will vary by geography and culture. So I'd be skeptical of internet advice. For someone in Manhattan the hard part of playing Warhammer will be the big table spaces. For someone in Mayberry it will be the cost of miniatures.

Alcohol
Just be aware that the licensing is complicated, very local, and potentially very expensive (I know of an example where a dedicated bar in the urban core's liquor license was much more expensive than rent).

[Easy e]

It is important to me that such a location survives for 5 years or more.

Therefore, get a business plan!

I owned a bakery and a coffee shop and have small business experience. Therefore, in all seriousness to start a business you need to be prepared to lose the following:

1. All your friends
2. All your money
3. All of your family

If you are willing and ready to lose all three of those things, then by all means get started on that business plan!

[tomandtish]

I'd also suggest looking up other gaming cafes and seeing what they do/don't do. Both The Emerald Tavern and Vigilante Gastropub & Games have been open a while, and are managing even during COVID. This will give you an idea of how two successful locations did it.

[Anonymouswizard]

Honestly, to me the most important thing in a board game cafe, like any cafe, is that the coffee is good. Everything else comes second. (In a board game pub the most important thing instead is selling actual ale). If I can buy a decent sandwich that's also great, if there's a good selection of board games that's great.

I'll echo the idea that I wouldn't want to be charged on entry, but I do personally understand that the cost of that is having to buy at least a drink (unless in a regular who regularly buys stuff there, then buying every time is less important). However charging for entry to events is fine, especially if you're providing materials (e.g. if you're running a draft for a card game).

Private spaces for things like D&D or Warhammer aren't important to me, but do research on if they might be in the area you're setting up in. I have the space at home to run any game I want, and friends likely to own them, but that's not an overly common position.