Magic the Gathering

You should do this. You're in the right spot. Sell comics, too.

 

I've got some ALF pogs. Remember ALF? He's back, in pog form.

 

If you eventually franchise to other cities, you can have cities play each other in tournaments/leagues. That'd be cool.

 

Ok, I play, yeah huge dork here :grin:

However, I ditched the card based one for online version (google magic online). It's a rip off, and I'm basically paying for stuff that I will never be able to use if they shut of the server but.... it's so much superior to the card board version in deck construction, not having to lug the case around, and not having to go to the comic store during a magic "event" which is usually overly crowded and honestly not pleasant for me. Don't have a magic the gather section, a lot of comic stores don't host them because they either can't get enough of a crowd, or the payoff (margins) just isn't big enough to make it worthwhile to handle a 50+ 14 year olds (at least mentally) .

As far as your ideas go, sounds cool, but also risky. Hardcore gaming is still a niche market but like comic book stores, I think part of the reason people go to a place like Gamestop is to be close to the gaming "culture" so there could be some opportunity. The startup isn't that much but what will make it better than playing at some one's house? Also while it's cool to cater to the hardcore crowd, I think a lot of money can be made if you have a casual section targeting the corporate outing/team building segment, but it can't just be come and play video games and I don't know what it will take but I would think along those lines.

Lastly, if you can create a system where there is leagues and prize support, where kids can pay to play for a chance to win something, they might come to your store and try for the prize, and give the top players special treatments that would make them envy of other players/kids that they would want to maintain a top position while have people below them coming back to reach that top position (free soda, special chairs, I don't know). This kind of thinking is similar to Vegas for adults except on kids and not as evil. Tournaments are also great way not to make money off of it, but to get people into the door and stay for a few hours, which will increase desire for impulse purchase from games you sell to just soda cause people get thirsty.

 

Take what Wizkid is saying into account.

Like he said, it's about the culture; a place to gather. I'd say the nerd/game culture is dying for the personal experience. I like to just go in to game stores for the ambiance.

That said, you need to compete with online stores, price wise. And I think there is a big market in old-school games. Look at GOG.com.

Also, the rental-based-scheme is dangerous from what I've seen. Be very careful with the one fee. I saw a video store going out of business a few months ago. I stopped by to check out their deals. When I was checking out, the clerk told me that they were going out of biz because of a subscription-based model that went wrong.

I'd say look at the successful comic shops in the area and emulate them, but with the slant on gaming.

 

there used to be a place called cyber jocks that sounds very much like what your talking about. it was in strip center in north austin off of 183 around anderson mill i think. i went out of business a few years ago though. the sign is still up there though.

 

I'm suddenly reminded of my old retail days, when the store I worked in decided to start hosting Pokemon tournaments. On the first day, about a dozen 12 year old kids showed up.

And one 40 year old dude.

The store decided to stop holding the tournaments.

 

Yea Pat's Games is where my friends go to buy/sell/trade cards and play games. Though I think they make their money mostly through card transactions. They let people play there just to get them in.

Honestly, I don't now how much demand there would be for a console gaming center. With xbox live and PSN being so accessible, the draw of a centralized gaming place is diminished.

When I was a freshman at UT six years ago, they opened up a gaming center at the basement of Jester Dormitory. It had quite a few LAN computers with games as well as networked consoles and multiple HDTVs. You'd imagine it was sitting on a goldmine with 3000 students just an elevator ride away, but it closed in a year (maybe 2?). Maybe students isn't the right target (lack of funds?), but who would the target audience be then?

 

I have some friends in the business you are wanting to start. Some of the keys to doing well are building an amazing staff that gets the kids wanting to come back over and over. They hold lock-ins every weekend, and they are every to sell out at least one of the two nights every time, and many times both. Summer is obviously the best season since parents will use the center as day care if the hourly rate is reasonable.

If you are going forward with the idea, send me a pm and I can go into more details.

 

why play xbox or psn when you can play at home?

I think thats why arcades died out, no?

 

Uhhh... was the old dude in the tournament?

Yes, definitely. A place near where I live does that and it's absolutely packed. Along with the console gaming, they rent out PCs for both gaming and surfing on a per minute basis. They also serve food - nothing fancy: chips, pop, instant noodles. So it's kinda like a 7-11/ Starbucks.

 

From my experience, both gaming shops that I played tournaments at/bought cards went out of business, but then again, they only held card game tournaments and Warhammer matches.

 

your going to have to find a trick to get all the hot girls to come in to you know

 

It sounds good in theory but you're basically doing a variation on the arcade/gaming cafe, both of which are almost extinct in America. With online play and the proliferation of big-screen tv's, I don't see your business model working.

You'd probably be better off being more like Dave and Busters which identifies themselves as being in the restaurant business and not the arcade business. So you'd have a restaurant section and a gaming section. And you can have similar combos to D&B like pay $15 for an entree and also get 1 hour in a gaming booth.

Or maybe go in another direction and make it a bar/club. $10 cover charge. Some open gaming booths that are first come first serve. And reserved booths that people can rent out. But the gaming is essentially loss leader and you'd be making money off the drinks.

Either way, you'd need another hook than just the gaming to bring people in. Otherwise you're competing against online play and house parties.

 

Yes played for like a year or so during Onslaught block.

As for your business plan, I think it kind depends on what image you're trying to present with your store.

Should probably look up if there are any internet cafe around and how they're doing.

 

I think your idea works if there is a champagne room

 

There's actually a documentary about Magic: The Gathering in production right now that I'm kind of looking forward to. I'm hoping it will be somewhat in the vein of "The King of Kong."

http://icametogame.com/

I played in high school, but those days are long behind me. It's been more than 10 years that I've allowed myself to pick up a card just because of the stigma, but I have some friends that actually played on the Pro Tour. (yes, they have a Pro Tour and everything)

Most of those guys moved on to Poker when it got more popular, and for the most part they're all independently wealthy now.

 

It is an interesting idea, but I can't imagine people playing an hourly rate when the hardcore gamers that would be into it would play at home for free via Xbox Live or PSN. I think the rest of the idea could work out, and you could have the memberships for playing and renting be one in the same. You could also have gaming tournaments with buy-ins that have cash prizes(If legal). If that isn't legal you could definitely do the same type of things for members and people that made a recent in store purchase and offer coupons or something instead of cash.

 

I remember first hearing about it at some summer math camps I attended at SWT back in high school (thanks, Mom; and affirmative action). After sitting through 10 hours a day of Number Theory/Abstract Algebra lectures and group homework, then learning how to get raped at chess, I kind of just assumed Magic would be over my head.