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Hello all! My name is Anthony, and I've been a lucker for quite a while (and a poster only recently). My business partner and I have started the process of opening up a gaming tavern here in Northern California called Save Point Tavern. Our Kickstarter to make the final funding push is up and doing well, and in order to garner continued success I thought to post here on a community of geeks I value highly. Our Kickstarter link is https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/722215538/save-point-tavern and if you have the inclination, please help out by pledging or sharing the word.

Even if you're not in NorCal and have no intention to visit, the gamer community needs to stick together, so help a fellow geek out!

As it was brought up in the previous "kickstarter" thread (guy's opening a FLGS), if THIS is something you are actually relying on for funding, you really ought to look at your business plan, and realize that basically any bank (outside of a mob bank) will turn you down for a loan, if this is your "reliable" starting income.


I do wish you the best of luck... how are you going to balance the "serving beer" aspect against the "playing table top games" ??

Well, at least you did a little better than the last "help me fund my game store" person and figured out that you need to offer rewards in exchange for up-front funding instead of just begging for charity donations. But you're still making two mistakes:

1) You're depending on community generosity instead of a solid business plan. If you have a viable business plan for a store/tavern that will still be in business once your initial funding runs out then you should be able to get business loans from a bank and shouldn't need to ask for people to donate money. The fact that you are asking for help suggests that your business plan isn't very good and you won't be able to pay for everything out of the money you're bringing in from sales.

2) You're presenting this as a case of "gamers sticking together". That's not what this is. You aren't a charity providing help to people in genuine need, you're a for-profit business trying to put extra money in your pockets. So please don't try to pretend otherwise.

 Peregrine wrote:
Well, at least you did a little better than the last "help me fund my game store" person and figured out that you need to offer rewards in exchange for up-front funding instead of just begging for charity donations. But you're still making two mistakes:

1) You're depending on community generosity instead of a solid business plan. If you have a viable business plan for a store/tavern that will still be in business once your initial funding runs out then you should be able to get business loans from a bank and shouldn't need to ask for people to donate money. The fact that you are asking for help suggests that your business plan isn't very good and you won't be able to pay for everything out of the money you're bringing in from sales.

2) You're presenting this as a case of "gamers sticking together". That's not what this is. You aren't a charity providing help to people in genuine need, you're a for-profit business trying to put extra money in your pockets. So please don't try to pretend otherwise.

Gamers sticking together? Clearly he hasn't visited YMDC.

Interesting commentary. If that's the message you guys are receiving, then certainly the way I present this should be done differently. I'll take a look at it for the future. As it is, we've secured a vast majority of the funds to start the tavern based on our own incomes/savings. This Kickstarter was an idea we decided to go with for reasons twofold: first, the goal we have of $25k is that extra bit that will push us into a necessary overcapitalization, allowing us to bring the bar into being without having to take any loans out - a feat which is not often accomplished by bar owners (extremely wealthy owners notwithstanding). Second, we wanted to gauge interest in the communities (both local and the wider gaming group) and allow this to be as much a community effort as a venture like this can be.

Our business plan, which we keep private due to Kickstarter backers being pledge-supporters and not classic investors, certainly allows for both success and failure of the Kickstarter. I think your assertion that our business plan isn't very good as a result of using Kickstarter is...reductive, at best. With that said, your feedback is definitely helpful, at least in showing me that the tack of "gamers united" can seem disingenuous to some. It's certainly not our intention to imply that we're not a for-profit business - I think the vast majority of Kickstarter campaigners are such, and the website is a tool to involve interested patrons earlier and in a more intimate way in the process than they otherwise might be.

@ Ensis: Depending on the time of day and the day of the week, our focus will shift from being a "bar with games" to a "gaming bar." Key demographics go to bars at certain times, and our business plan accounts for that accordingly. If your question is referring literally to the problem of having beer (and drunk people) near board games, there's a certain amount of turnover in games we expect and have budgeted.

Good stuff guys, and thanks for the feedback. I'd rather see blunt wariness than simplistic gung-ho shouts any day.

At least you mentioned you had a business plan.