TheKing
 

any particular reason you were enquiring about the LAN stuff? well meaning interest or something I should be worried about?? lol.
How's your brother going? got the candy bar going yet?

Just curious. My brothers business is still growing. He is still tweaking to find the optimum rates...membership fees...day passes...advertisement etc. He is adding more computers...took out one of the big screen TV's that was hooked to Xboxes...as the big screen was leased and he was not getting enough Xbox play to make it pay...still has a big screen with Xboxes...but said he may end up taking it out also...if the Xbox play does not increase. He is not really into serving food snacks as of yet...though his building does have a kitchen...but to serve food requires another license. He did put in two vending machines...one for soft drinks and one for candy bars and snacks.

He was going to open another business in a different city this month but two things happened...some one leased the building that he had his eye on...and the fellow that he had been training to manage the new business...got an offer as a graphics designer in Las Vegas that he decided he could not refuse. So now he has to search for a building of the right size...location...and cost...as well as find someone else to train...and the latter may be the more difficult part.

One thing you may want to check into is the insurance factor. The company my brother was insured with when he opened went out of business...and it took him two weeks to find a new company that would insure his type of business at a reasonable cost. Apparently the insurance companies are reluctant to insure gaming types of businesses...at least at a reasonable cost. While he was searching for a new company...he felt obilged to sleep at the business...since he has been hit twice...someone climbed onto the roof and sawed off his Satellite Dish...someone broke in a stole an Xbox...and also someone bashed the rear window out on his pickup.

One note of interest...his business is only a few blocks from the Police Station and several of his best customers are policemen...he said they even come in to play during their lunch break.

Oh...left off one thing...he had his first all nighter this past weekend...he didn't close until about 8:00 AM.

wow great stuff. Yeah i was also thinking of doing the Xbox thing, but with a projector... hmmm so it's not that popular...

im really torn between three local towns.. all have populations of around 30,000. But slightly different age and wage distributions.
My hometown probably has the least people in the 15-24 year old category (4128) but they and their parents (25-44 year olds: 8891)have slightly more money than in the other two towns and the town is one of the fastest growing in the state - the one with all the uni students is very slightly shrinking and the other is very seasonal and tourist based but also growing heaps.
Also if it was here I would only be about 5 blocks away from the location meaning I could be at a break in with a baseball bat in about 5 minutes. And the cop station would be even closer. With the others it's a good 30minutes away.. enough time to clean me out if i rely on the security company and the cops.

I think one of the only ways I could really make it work well with such a small customer base is to sell syrup coke and fries.. y'know.. chip burgers or chips in gravy and a coke that sort of thing, something that you might entice the school kids and the office workers to for a cheap lunch as well as a game or 5.
without that license i think it would be tough going.
but it's hard and expensive to do.

what was the size of the office he had? im kinda thinking 10 computers a small serving/cooking bay and a side room for an xbox projector/chillout room.
there really isn't a lot to do here of a night and an avenue like this that would be open late would be a pretty good magnet. all nighters would be great if I could find the right lackeys to work overtime at minimum wage lol.

does he buy ten copies of every game? does he get bulk discount or something? insurance definately will be a bitch.

He has a good size building...with a bathroom....a small kitchen...a lounge room...a main room where the computers are...and the front area where the big screen/xboxes are...and his front desk is located.

I do not know how he purchases games...how many copies etc. I do know that he paid several hundreds of dollars for software (special gaming software) that is on a single computer that manages they whole affair...players time on line...payment...saving game play and profiles...credits...etc.

wow.. sounds almost like a house.. would you happen to know what the name of the software is?
im kind of looking at a feburary timeline for opening but that depends on several things... ie money, location and licenses.

also can i ask what was the town city he opened in just to have a look at some of the demographics?