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Crazy ass Cyber Cafe! Loaded with xbox 360s and hundreds of gaming rig's

tgdaily.com — You would think that it would be easy to find a seat with 200 computers, but this author waited 30 minutes for a computer station to open up. Space is scarce, as families and groups of friends routinely come in and reserve banks of machines.

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  • thewayne, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15I am not big on gaming cafes, but that is really cool.
    • beelz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8http://www.howies.com/contact.htm
    • OwenX, on 10/12/2007, -14/+4Hey all those computers have the same case as mine! :D

      I wish I lived in California :(
    • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4One of the cool things about 'em is you can pop in, and play a bunch of consoles and games w/o having to buy anything, or rent, or any of that.

      We had something like this in Palo Alto for a few years, but they just didn't get enough traffic. That was back in the late 90's though. Gaming's grown since then. I think that's one of the big things that makes this sort of business more feasible these days.

      On the other hand, there are a couple of places that only have PCs in local (SF bay area, CA) malls, but they're never full.
    • dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -9/+8I was first thinking, "How cool would a job there be?". Then I realized that place is probably a veritable haven of network glitches and PEBKAC. I'd rather work at a Burger King...

      Would you like to King Size it for 49 cents more?
    • mordain, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0But can you buy coffee there?
    • Killerah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yep, this is pretty much the best gaming cafe I've ever seen. When I move to cali I'm heading over to that place. I really hope this guy does get his goal of 300 of those across the nation. I know I'd love open one if I could.
  • VipeNess, on 10/12/2007, -20/+3NICE! i use to run a cyber cafe. best one in vegas. they closed down due to the property management setting them up.
    • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20I'm sure your tenuous grasp on the English language had nothing to do with it.
    • sclozza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Setting them up with the bomb?
  • tysat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22I wish my parents would have dropped my off at a place like that when I was younger rather than making me go around the mall with them.
  • Teh_Psyren, on 10/12/2007, -42/+10"Rigs", not "rig's". Idiot.
    • kolavar, on 10/12/2007, -8/+52"The", not "teh". Hypocrite.
    • solidcube, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1"The," and "teh." not "The", and "teh". Ill-educated user of quote-punctuation precedence.
    • tower31, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Who ***** cares idiot!
  • aaronlidman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9holy crap i live pretty close and have never heard of it. Might have to stop by this weekend, looks awesome.
    • newezra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Same here. I live less than 5 miles away and I'm over there all the time. I just never bothered to stop in there because by the name I assumed it was a Chucky Cheese type spin off.
  • wicked9, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10awesome, dont know how i feel about having the computers 10 feet above your head near a ledge...
  • badbox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5ass cyber cafe? crazy? damn.
    • Nobi-Wan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Look at it this way: At least he didn't title it "AMAZING Cyber Cafe."
  • Lazybones, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Wonder if he will be targeted by the license police.. I know a few years back Valve went after net cafe owners because they had a special cafe license, and the normal off the shelf EULA forbid using the games in a cafe without the special license.
    • sert, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4actually there are no Valve games there, someone down lower in the thread pointed that out and it makes sense. I've heard of other LAN centers not including cs and it confused me because its obviously the most popular online shooter ever. It must be because of Valve's monthly liscensing fees, I dont know the details but if it was even something like 5 bucks per comp per month then it would be a major hit especially to a big place like this.

      I also think that the key to this place's success is the location. Its in the middle of Orange County, chock full of rich kids with time and money to burn. I figure the most popular game would be Halo 2 and other easier games considering who the patrons would be, so not including CS might not be as bad a hit as you would think.
    • themightychris, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0It's $10 per seat per month
  • chad78, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1This rocks the house! That's a freakload of gaming!

    When the End comes - I know where to run.
  • shadcrkd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16"We saw one father hand his son a $20 dollar bill telling him to stay and play for a few hours."

    Cheapest babysitter you'll ever get. Nice parenting =D
  • short_man, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1HOLY *****
  • bSimms, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Planning on 300 more centers?!

    Props to this guy for biting the financial bullet and trying to make something work.

    $4 an hour seems incredibly cheap too! I wonder how much like a yearly pass or something is.
    • d0nk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2$4 is the average price around where i live. Our "favorite" gaming cafe has "two dollar tuesdays", which we usually fill up, and now "two dollar thurdsays" (doesn't quite have the same ring).
    • pabster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Yeah $4 per hour seems REAL cheap. So does a $15 "day pass" ...

      In the end, it might be TOO cheap. Then again, if he can sell enough bottled waters @ $5 each and hot dogs @ $5 each... (I have no idea the cost of the concessions items but I'd imagine he is using a movie theater style pricing format.)
  • tjg66, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I want one of these in my mall. Totally awesome

    + digg
  • samrij, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19Last time I went to a cyber cafe (only one in a college town), I was surrounded by teenage overweight nerds with bad body odor cussing like sailors even when next to the kid computer stations. I thought the stereotype was BS until I saw it for myself.
    • OwenX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Somehow I agree.. as cool as this place looks, I feel that I might end up stuck to some smelly asshat. In cases like that you would probably rather be at home ;)
  • Archeologist, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1I live by a cyber cafe too. http://www.nervcenter.com/
  • redalert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3They must make a ***** of money...
    • VipeNess, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5you would be surprised, some lan centers dont make that much for money, they barly make by sometimes.
    • phlavor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah, I'd like to see the numbers on that place. I started to figure in all the costs but there are too many variable to even guess.
  • Blackthorne, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Too bad it will all be destroyed when the Earthquake hits.
  • joemawlma, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8That is CRAZY ASS!
  • Pile, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I'm not quite sure how the guy actually makes money. He must be BS'ing... $10k/month in electricity, $700k in upgrades every 18 months? And he charges $4/hour or $15/day? 5 T1s? All those software licenses and maintenance time & costs? This must be a nightmare to manage. And probably all day you have kids whining about not having this-or-that software or hardware.

    What's most depressing is that probably his main source of business is from crappy parents dumping their kids off there as an alternative to day care.
    • rauz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13They're open around ~14 hours a day. Assuming they're as busy as the article claims (let's say 80% coverage, all day), these are the maths with a ***** of guesstimation:
      245 spots (Comps and XBoxes)
      80% of that is 196
      196 spots x 14 hours = 2744 hours per day = $10.976
      Assuming one fourth of the visitors use daypasses and stay ALL day, that's still $8232 for the per-hour-guests and $735 for the day passes. $8967 per day.

      As I said, a lot of guesstimation and not rock solid maths but still...
      I did the plus side, now someone else do the minus :)
    • newezra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Keep in mind he also has a bit piece of real estate he's renting in one of the most expensive regions in the US (southern Orange county), excluding major cities.
    • Pile, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You can bet thought that when school is in session, his place is largely empty. So the notion that every computer is being filled and all the time is covered is a very hopeful projection.

      It sounds like a cool idea in theory, but as I've said before, if gaming centers were profitable and easy to manage, there would be all sorts of franchises and they'd be everywhere. The truth is, gaming centers have an even worse business record than restaurants, and they're probably even higher maintenance. They may work in a few isolated markets, but generally speaking, unless you have very low overhead, it's probably not very profitable.

      Where I live, I've seen at least a dozen of these places open and they didn't even last two years.
    • Johnny1337h4x0r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6lets not forget that people that stay there all day still have to eat and drink. Most of the money he's making is from drinks and food, not from the 4 bucks an hour or the 15 dollar all day fee.
    • l124rd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Someone else did the plus side, so here I am, the minus side. Assuming the $8967/day figure is accurate (within guesstimatic reason) for an entire year we get:
      $8967 * 365.25 = $3,275,196.75
      Minus the expenses laid out in a previous post:
      $3,275,196.75 - $120,000 (electricity) - $700,000 * 66% (Upgrades every 18mo) = $2,703,196.75
      Of course, we still have concessions, the T1 lines, rent, etc however, this leaves $225,266.40/mo for those expenses.

      Lots of guesstimation, not so much excellent math (go windows calculat0r)
    • rauz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2GJ @ l124rd
      I guess the main factor that separates this café from others is that they're so busy. I don't think it would work without such a high amount of spots and guests.
      Even if "our" numbers are 50% off, this would still be a good deal...although it seems you forgot wages.
      Maybe they pay the employed nerds with day passes :)
  • BlindIrishman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9"Every 18 months, I basically have to throw away everything and buy $700,000 in new computers,"

    Can I have them?
    • Daniel591992, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2He should at least donate them to people who need it. :(
    • Solidcell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Think of the rendering farm you could rig with all those computers...
    • MasterDwarf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2He can probably write off a portion of that expense, especially if he donates the parts, or he could always resell them at discount.
    • Ilyanep, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think I need to go make a new friend
    • swaxhog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2As a business he probably gets to write off a large percentage of the hardware purchases over several years. That, plus selling the older hardware to close the gap more.

      He might also look into leasing hardware instead of buying it.
  • abdulmueid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Have a look at their Party & Events page (http://www.howies.com/parties.htm)... I wouldn't mind spending my money on this and invite my whole crew to play UNREAL.

    Totally Cool... Digg+
  • mikesty, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have no idea how he makes money either, but mad props to this Howie Makler for being adventurous and living out many-a-gamers dream :)

    I think he fibbed a bit on the upgrades. He doesn't throw everything away. I could probably make some return on my 18 m/o components :)
  • GTPilot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6i thought this looked familiar .. i work down the street. it's a pretty impressive place for sure. i've spent a couple hours there with some co-workers after work on a weekday, .. and then another time met up with some gamer friends at around 10pm. the place was packed with a lot of kids till around midnight, .. then the younger ones thinned out, but there were still a lot of players there when we left.

    most everyone plays bf2 on a local network there. it isn't open to outside servers, but there are enough people playing to where that is no big deal. i asked howie why they don't have counter-strike and he said he really is just not impressed with the game. i guess if the head cheese doesn't like the game, it's not gonna get purchased. i can imagine it wouldn't be cheap to purchase 200 copies as well. their website is http://howies.com/
    • Solidcell, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Isn't it about time that CS just faded away already? Sure I liked it a few years back, but come on people, let it go already. Right on Howie, I wouldn't want to be watching that POS all day either.
    • sm3lly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2There seems to be some misinformation above. You can in fact connect to outside servers for BF2 and every game that is installed on the systems. Xbox live is available as well.
    • ecow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0There's a very good reason why they don't have CS at almost any cybercafe, and the ones that have it would like to get rid of it if they had the option. Steam. Just think about how much Steam would mess with their setup.
  • thevsteh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Since when did Howie's get 360s? They were all regular Xboxes like a week ago.
  • Rasitiln, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I bet he gets a ton of money of advertising too. Check out that monster energy add.
  • zbeast, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2So why in the world would you go out to play video games worse yet
    home console games and PC games? Unless your doing the lan party thing,
    I guess if you can't buy or pirate games.
    Cant afraid a Gaming rig or a Game Console.
    Live in a car and not a house. You would go to a place like this.
    All "game" centers like this one at lease in my local area have all failed.



    • konkushn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10A Microsoft Word grammar checker just rolled over in its grave.
    • Solidcell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0And this "game center" hasn't failed, so what's your point?
    • zbeast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My point is, besides the bad grammar.
      If you have money burning a hole in your pocket and your thinking about
      investing in an operation like this. You may want to think about it again.
      These type of businesses don't last. I'm very surprised that this one is reportedly
      so successful. Arcades are dead, most computer Cafes are dead.
      Whats so unique about this one.
  • bsantos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2The article says they sell concessions too. They're probably making a killing selling marked up Bawls and Red Bull.
    • thevsteh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Just Monster. 2 bucks each, a dollar for water or a can of soda. Not too bad.
    • Solidcell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Wow, not bad at all, this guy knows how to get a cyber cafe going.
  • bchang, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1This place is awesome. My cybercafes all suck with lame Rigs and poor enviroments.
  • qbix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I often go to this place and I can confirm that their prices are 4/hour or 15/day. Fridays are the time to go as they open until 6 am on Saturday giving you the best value. I must note, however, that they don't actually have Xbox 360s, but regular Xboxes, unless they changed that since last friday and they don't have plasmas either but DLP HDTVs which are nice too. It's a cool place though and the best reason to live in the OC.
  • chadu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Man, I love Dave and Busters and would totally wlecome a place like this. Would be perfect with some Beer (Preferably Flying Dog) or BYOB.
    • qbix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Actually, they don't allow outside food or drinks. I think they have a deal with Monster and the pizza place on the second level of the shopping center where Howies is located (The Kaleidoscope). I sneaked a case o' Bawls one time and they didn't say anything when they saw them... beer?... that might've been a problem :)
  • bSimms, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I know at the bowling alley where I work, just for comparison, we make a large amount of money off of food and drink. I'm not sure how extensive their snack menu is but we make much more off of food/drink/alcohol than we make off of our leagues and open bowling.
  • GT4NE1, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0Why does he have 5 T1s when everything is local network? Xbox live maybe?
    • qbix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Very few people go on xbox live. Why would you if you can do 8 on 8 through system link? Well, I can see why, but it's not the case at Howies. Hell, even the guards at the mall come and play after midnight. I think most of the bandwidth is used by WOW and BF2 gamers.
  • drwhitley, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Very cool... I'm not much of a gamer, but it would be a blast to go to a place like that with a bunch of friends. Nice digg!
  • VipeNess, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2well now that they have this lovely digg effect, the marketing on the web site traffic google rank goes up, and they could place some bigger, more expensive banners on their site ;)
  • AlPal, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0You think that is cool? Check out what they have in Tokyo.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/arts/14heff.html?ei=5088&en=2a3fec3fe06339b6&ex=1305259200&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1148688020-Givz+kkZ5pAahqjSFYlgfA
  • Sicel1304, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This story definitely gets a digg. Awesome cafe!
  • BassCadet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+27FWIW - I worked in a cybercafe about 8 years ago and I can accurately sum up the types of people who visit:

    1) "the kid" - 12-15 years old, from a poor background, doesn't have many friends, but finds comfort socializing with cybercafe regulars. Parents dump him off cheap babysitting. Usually a nice kid.

    2) "the homeless guy" - To him, the cybercafe is just like the library except open later. Invariably smells of cigarettes and coffee and wears the same thick, heavy coat every day even though it is about 60 degrees outside. No interest in gaming, spends his time searching for russian brides.

    3) "elite gamer" - Guy who has zero confidence in himself so he goes to the cybercafe to repeatedly pwn newbie gamers who haven't figured what "Reverse Y Axis" means, much less pose a significant challenge in a FPS. The elite gamer never gets tired of the victory and will play any game of your choice just to beat you.

    4) "fat girl" - There is always one fat, nasty girl hanging around a cybercafe. Usually she is the girlfriend of "the homeless guy" or the "elite gamer". She most likely has black finger nail polish and has an AIM screename that somehow references Trinity from the Matrix movies.

    All of these people (save for "the kid") reek. I have been to at least a dozen cybercafes in my life and they ALL SMELL.
    • spacebar14, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5ROTFLMAO I think thats the best comment I've ever seen. The part on the fat girl cracked me up, as I goto a local place like this, and I know exactly what you mean. Too bad there's not just one, but dozens!
    • EnjoyTheFact, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Ah, that's awesome.

      Don't forget the "Confused Grandma" usually seen between 7-9AM. The smell still applies.
    • Xtrem3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1EnjoyTheFact @

      If you read the article you would know that they're not open until ~2 PM
  • CompWhiz2010, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I go to Howie's and they don't have any Xbox 360s but their set up is pretty nice
  • kjcdude, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1http://podcast.howies.com/
    http://podcast.howies.com/
    http://podcast.howies.com/
    http://podcast.howies.com/

    Check out the Howie's Podcast and see what it's all about!!!!!!
  • NerdsOnSite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0LOL just watched that podcast, love the end, what is a dipe? haha
  • MasterDwarf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Nicely done, thats for sure. I am uncertain that the market I live in would be able to support such a setup, but if it keeps the drugs away and prevents kids from spray painting everything, then yay. You obviously have to do it up right.

    The rent for that place must be a pretty penny.
  • Bootes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There was something similar here in the late 90's. It was pretty popular, but the entire chains went out of business though.
  • Pharoah6905, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5howies isnt just an average gaming cafe. its a place for people to hang out, where you can make new friends and have a great time. I luckily live literally 10 minutes away so i go there often. I really recomend it if you live in the area (as several of you look like you do(meetup???))
    havent seen any xbox360's there, but its still amazing
  • TheBestNameEver, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If I lived near a place like this, I would be in there 24:7, and eventually totally broke.
  • smikwily, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0NCSoft was having a post E3 Meet & Greet, but we couldn't attend due to our flight leaving early that AM. Seemed like it should be an interesting place though.
  • BigBucksT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This place rules big time. The rent for this guy at the Kaleidoscope is 30k per month. Big props for taking the risk.
  • Pretty1, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0 Digg sucks. To many nigglets, frosted mini-wheats, queerios, and wiggers..
    You wal-mart shoppers continue posting inane drivel.
    Bye Bye.
    • distrbnce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2lol, and one dude who tries to send insults over the internet.
  • drksun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i can see howies from my window, its stupid all the emo middle school kids go there and play bf2, they all suck and eveything gets up and cheers when then win.. its pretty funny.
    • Pharoah6905, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1how can you see howies from your window if on one side is the freeway and the other side is the mission viejo mall?
  • Frinkahedron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I would kill for a place like that in the DC area.
  • djnick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1only 5 T1's? he should get OC3 up in that bitch!
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