7 min read
Notebook, Excel or software: choosing a system for your game club
Game club management software vs a paper notebook or Excel: what each does well, where money leaks, a checklist for choosing, and how to switch in a week.
Whether you need game club management software or a notebook is enough depends on how many tables you run and how often you stand at the counter yourself. A notebook and Excel are free and familiar, but as a club grows they start losing money in places you cannot see. Below is a fair comparison of the three options, a checklist for choosing software, and tips for switching over in the first week.
The notebook: what it does well and where it fails
The notebook has real strengths. It costs nothing, works during a power cut, every staff member can use it and nobody needs training. With one or two tables and the owner at the counter, a notebook can be enough.
The problems start when you hire staff and stop being in the club every day:
- Lost sessions. Staff forget to write a session down, or plan to do it later, and that hour is gone. You cannot tell a forgotten entry from a deliberate one.
- Arithmetic errors. For example, 1 hour 47 minutes on a 45,000 UZS per hour table is 80,250 UZS. A tired cashier late at night does this in their head and rounds it to 80,000 or 90,000. The gap on one check is small; over a month it adds up.
- No history. To find out what last month's Tuesday brought in, you flip through pages. A torn page or spilled tea means lost data.
- The owner is blind when away. The notebook stays in the club. From home or on a trip, the only way to know what is happening is to call and ask.
Excel: a step up
Excel or any other spreadsheet is far stronger than a notebook. Formulas do the maths, months are easy to compare, you can build charts and the exact report you want. As an owner's analysis tool it works well.
For daily work at the counter it has limits:
- Manual entry. Someone still types in every session. If staff write it in a notebook first and copy it into the sheet later, the work doubles.
- No timers. A spreadsheet does not track time and will not remind anyone that a prepaid hour is over.
- No control. In a plain spreadsheet any cell can be changed, and you cannot see who changed it or when.
- Everything is separate. Bar stock, shift handover and receipts each need their own sheet and strict discipline.
The reports can be good, but the quality of the data depends entirely on the person at the counter.
Dedicated software: what changes
With dedicated software, a timer measures the time instead of the cashier, and the system calculates the amount. Sessions, bar sales and shifts are stored in one place. That fixes three of the four notebook problems: arithmetic errors, missing history and the owner's blind spot, since the club can now be watched from a phone. The risk that a session is never opened at all remains; smart plugs (no session, no light) and owner notifications reduce it.
There are downsides too: a monthly fee, a device at the counter and time to train staff. Badly chosen software can be more awkward than the notebook it replaces. So choose from a checklist, not from an ad.
Choosing software: a checklist
| Requirement | What to check |
|---|---|
| Works offline | Turn Wi-Fi off: can you open and close a session, and does the data reach the cloud later |
| Your devices | Does it run on the phones, tablet or computer you already have, or do you need new hardware |
| Timers | Open sessions, fixed time and a prepaid amount, with a warning before time runs out |
| Day and night rates | Is a session that crosses the boundary split correctly, can VIP tables have their own price |
| Bar and stock | Can you see stock levels, cost and profit |
| Shifts and access | How is cash handed over, and what can staff see and not see |
| Owner notifications | Do you get a message when a table closes and a shift is handed over |
| Receipts | Which printers, from which devices |
| Smart plugs | Do lights or a TV switch on and off with the session, and what happens without internet |
| Pricing model | Priced by number of tables or per feature, and do staff devices cost extra |
| Free trial | Without a card, with every feature |
| Language | Is it available in the language your staff speak |
Look closely at the pricing model. When features are sold separately, the starting price looks low and grows as you add what you need. Work out the full monthly cost with everything your club will actually use.
During the trial, run at least one busy evening entirely in the software. On a quiet afternoon everything feels easy; the friction shows up on a Friday night.
ClubTime against this list
ClubTime is an app for clubs that charge by the hour. Briefly, point by point:
- works offline: everything is saved on the device first and syncs to the cloud on its own when the internet is back;
- runs on Android, iPhone/iPad, Windows and macOS; the owner watches the club live from another phone;
- timers are open-ended, set to a fixed time or a fixed amount, and the app warns before they run out;
- day and night rates, with a session that crosses the boundary charged at both prices; tables can be grouped into types, each with its own price;
- bar and stock with stock levels, FIFO cost and real profit; a PIN lock hides cost and profit from staff;
- shift cash is handed over in one tap, and every closed table, shift and sale is sent to the owner's Telegram;
- receipts print on Android through a Bluetooth thermal printer and on Windows or Mac through any system printer; there is no receipt printing on iPhone;
- works with Tuya / Smart Life smart plugs, even without internet, over local Wi-Fi;
- the plan is set by the number of tables, every plan includes every feature, and staff devices are free; prices are on the pricing page;
- the app is available in 11 languages, and the free trial is 15 days with no card.
The first week: moving off the notebook
- Start on a quiet day. A Monday or Tuesday afternoon works, a Friday night does not.
- Set up the day before. Enter tables and their types, rates and bar products. Count bar stock by hand: if the starting number is wrong, every number after it is wrong too.
- Teach staff four actions first: open a session, close it, sell from the bar and hand over the shift. The rest can wait.
- Keep the notebook going for 3–5 days. Compare the two totals at the end of every shift and track down any difference the same day.
- Turn on notifications from day one. When the owner sees every closed table, going around the new system gets harder. For more on this, see controlling staff and cash.
- Leave extras for later. Add smart plugs, bookings and the receipt printer once the basics run smoothly.
- Close the notebook at the end of the week. Keep the old notebooks and write down last month's revenue so you have something to compare against.
In short
- A notebook is enough for one or two tables with the owner always present; in a bigger club, lost sessions and wrong totals go unnoticed.
- Excel is good for analysis, but entry is manual and there are no timers or controls.
- Choose software from a checklist: offline work, timers, rates, bar, shifts, notifications and the pricing model.
- Test it on a busy evening and run the notebook alongside it for the first week.
Try ClubTime free for 15 days with every feature and no card, and compare it with your notebook on the very first evening.