How to start a lan gaming center?

IceDigger

IceDigger

[H]F Junkie
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Feb 22, 2001
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What legal and other steps are required to start up a small lan gaming center?

I'm in the Philly area.
 
You would have to start a business. So you'd have state and city guidelines to do so.

Also in order to get the funding from the bank, you would have to come up with a business model and probably some sort of marketing analysis. Background research would need to be done. Also approx costs for the materials and labor.
 
Trust me, a LAN/Gaming center is an expensive, and high risk business to get into. There are things you can do to offset the risk, such as providing repair services and sale of various parts, drinks, games, but in that case you might as well open a computer repair service instead.

A couple years back I looked seriously into this, its hard to make money, and even if you do, any amount of profit you create is often low.

Wait... IceDigger...

You already have a computer repair business, I'd just stick with that. Honestly in your case, it changes things, assuming your repair business is doing well, you can use that to offset the LAN/Gaming centre costs and well. Utlimately, if you do it right, you'll turn an almost insignificant amount of profit on the lan centre, but it could end up driving more customers to your repair business(as long as you keep them somewhat separated), and drive up your overall profit nicely.

Only issue I see is, you'll have ALOT more work to do, ALOT more to take care of and manage. Honestly, I'd just stick to the repair business, but if your willing to take on some extra work, if you can use it as a way to drive more business into the profitable repair shop, you of all people could probably make it work.

Got bored of doing the same thing all the time eh? Want to try something new? Can't say I blame you.
 
There are a lot State and Local laws you have to abide by, my friend and I want to open up an bar/arcade in 5 years and we have been doing nothing but reading legal, zoning, and regulation documentation for the last 6 months...

If you really are interested I would look into the legal aspect of it first. You will be surprised at the some of the crap they come up with on state and local level.
 
I think it would be a job of passion. The real amount of income you'll see isn't going to be much. I bet it would be a whole lot of fun though, provided you do get a good base going.
 
The local LAN centers I know of break even on day to day operations, and make their money on console and PC cash tournaments.
 
seems like they are all dead. There used to be like 3 i know of where im from in houston and they are all closed.
 
tvdang7 said:
seems like they are all dead. There used to be like 3 i know of where im from in houston and they are all closed.
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This. You have to provide something that gamers can't get just by playing online, either through hardware or by atmosphere. Holding tournaments is a good start, especially if the prizes are pretty solid. This can yield a good fanbase and word-of-mouth promotion for you place.
 
I would love to do it, would probably bring alot more business into my computer repair business too.

There is absolutly no competition around.

It sounds like it might not be worth it though but darnit I would LOVE to do it. Maybe I can start a small 4 person setup for starters.
 
tvdang7 said:
seems like they are all dead. There used to be like 3 i know of where im from in houston and they are all closed.
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i think i know the places tvdang is speaking of. i live in houston to. one place used to not even charge tax but that changed. the place used to have "lockins" where for 20 bucks can play all night. he had 20 computers if i recall correctly. never did upgrade the computers and the place finally turned into a day care center with kids all tripping out on energy drinks.

i would start small..........figure out what your gonna charge an hour. decorate the place to though atmosphere can mean alot. place above had weapons on the wall and cool shit like that. and i hate to mention the old saying but ...location ......location......location can be a big factor.
 
You might as well use the lan center as a front for selling crack or something. haha
 
knothead34 said:
i think i know the places tvdang is speaking of. i live in houston to. one place used to not even charge tax but that changed. the place used to have "lockins" where for 20 bucks can play all night. he had 20 computers if i recall correctly. never did upgrade the computers and the place finally turned into a day care center with kids all tripping out on energy drinks.

i would start small..........figure out what your gonna charge an hour. decorate the place to though atmosphere can mean alot. place above had weapons on the wall and cool shit like that. and i hate to mention the old saying but ...location ......location......location can be a big factor.
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yea the lock ins were cool. i was like 14 or so haha i think the first game i played was cs there.
 
its my dream to do the same. there is oen here called Arena Lans, which from what I hear has gone down hill and the owners are complete jerks.

the first gaming center I went to, got me hooked onto Quake II back in the day.
 
A few years ago you could attract people to LAN gaming centers (or "PC bangs") just with counterstrike.

Now what is there? WoW? People want to play WOW in a LAN? blah...

CS:S is somewhat popular still... COD... blah...

Maybe it'd be fun... but hardware depreciates quickly too.

I'd start small to test the waters.
 
I think you may find that this type of business is really just a fancy way to "buy" yourself a job. If you love it then go for it but realize that all your waking hours will be spent there. This may sound like fun at first but may not afford you a life outside work.
 
If your repair job is doing very well then, you can possibly keep a lan center going. Once it is up and going you shouldn't have to do much to keep it going.

Most LAN centers I have seen use http://www.smartlaunch.net/ too keep their computers nice and keeps tabs on everything. Also, getting in iGames helps a lot. Run tournaments and have consoles on hand. Have movie nights for your members and stuff =D Just make it fun and place for people to go and hang and don't be a dick to people like some the lan centers I use to go to.
 
problem with the clients you'll be serving is they are kids. Kids are dumb, and have low incomes. They eat and drink soda and will ruin devices. They will touch screens, they might even poke so hard monitors could break. They will knock things over. They will yell and scream, and play the volume loud causing them to scream louder to compensate. Head sets will blow out. Mice will be tourtured, keyboards slammed.

Then they will bitch about how the computers are not the latest and greatest. The software is not fully updated with patch 1.000232b that takes away the glitch where so and so and walk through the wall to the other side of the map. The network has lag issues. Whoever the host server is has a clear advantage.

It'll be like running a chuckie cheese but with expensive and fragile hardware.
 
the problem is the risk is high, and you will lose basically all of the money you spend on hardware. hardware gets outdated so quickly, and at a LAN you'll need to keep updated all the time. if your business fails, no one will pay you close to what you paid for the equipment you try to offload. also i believe the market had drastically changed. everyone has broadband, and high end computers, and consoles, making the LAN center less necessary than before.

my suggestion: host a tournament. get sponsors, rent space, get your temporary event permits, do it right, do it BIG. you can bring in business for your repair service, and you might make some decent money too.
 
There's a place near Chicago which had some success a few years ago called Ranked.

http://chicago.metromix.com/bars-and-clubs/bar/ranked-plainfield/319235/content

Unfortunately it looks like their website is no longer up, and I haven't been back to Joliet/Plainfield for a few months to check and see if they still exist. The MetroMix entry should give you a pretty good idea of their business model.

If they failed, maybe that's an indication that such a model is unsuccessful... but it sounded like a pretty good idea when I read about it in the local newspapers!

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I know of a game center that has been in business since 1995 and is still going strong, so strong they had to tear down the old house they were using and create new building. You have a find a nitch and a good pay plan. LAN is where it is at also. Anyone has high speed capability but dont have the option of having 10 or more decent computer tied together.
Also keep your staff very small. I used to run a game center myself back around 99-00. HL and quake were really big attention getters. Big problem I had was the main boss was a prick and took off with all the inventors money and went to CA with a woman that ran 3 game centers and he bankrupted her also.
My friends center was family owned and ran. They never hired anyone outside of family.
 
one around us has DDR machines, host magic tournaments. RISK nights, a bunch of other board games i've never played, tournaments out the ass. has free pool tables. They offer hourly play, or monthly memberships. Memberships give discounted entry fees into tournaments. They have a lot more consoles/tv then computer stations. I think only 2 guys work/own it so that overhead is cut. They also sell decent food and drink there where a lot of the profit is made. Nachos, hotdogs, foutian drinks. I think members get free refills.

You just a lot of different stuff to attrach more people
 
f1y said:
one around us has DDR machines, host magic tournaments. RISK nights, a bunch of other board games i've never played, tournaments out the ass. has free pool tables. They offer hourly play, or monthly memberships. Memberships give discounted entry fees into tournaments. They have a lot more consoles/tv then computer stations. I think only 2 guys work/own it so that overhead is cut. They also sell decent food and drink there where a lot of the profit is made. Nachos, hotdogs, foutian drinks. I think members get free refills.

You just a lot of different stuff to attrach more people
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For some reason, I can seeing this being VERY popular in areas that get a lot of snow. Sounds like a pretty cool place to hang out, even if I didn't game.
 
the one here in Tyler, TX "Arena Games" has goen poof, I never went there, mainly cuz the owners were a-holes. nor have I heard anythign about it....
 
f1y said:
one around us has DDR machines, host magic tournaments. RISK nights, a bunch of other board games i've never played, tournaments out the ass. has free pool tables. They offer hourly play, or monthly memberships. Memberships give discounted entry fees into tournaments. They have a lot more consoles/tv then computer stations. I think only 2 guys work/own it so that overhead is cut. They also sell decent food and drink there where a lot of the profit is made. Nachos, hotdogs, foutian drinks. I think members get free refills.

You just a lot of different stuff to attrach more people
Click to expand...

Something like this would definitely draw me back to a LAN center. That sounds like a lot of fun.
 
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