How to start a PlayStation lounge: consoles, controllers, pricing and time control

You can start a PlayStation lounge without a big hall: 4–6 consoles, TVs with a game mode, comfortable sofas and spare controllers are enough. Most revenue comes in the evenings and at weekends, so you charge by the hour and keep prepaid time under tight control.

How many consoles to start with

Four to six consoles is a sensible start. With fewer, a queue builds up on Friday night and players go elsewhere. With more, half the seats sit empty on weekday afternoons. Adding a console later is easy; selling a spare one is not.

For example, 4 consoles at 30,000 UZS per hour, all busy from 18:00 to 24:00: 4 × 6 hours × 30,000 = 720,000 UZS. Daytime hours come on top, but don't build your plan on them.

Mixing PS5 and PS4 works: PS5 for the main hall and VIP, PS4 for cheaper seats. Give each type its own price so players know what they are paying for.

TVs, seating and rooms

• TV: 50–65 inches with a game mode and low input lag.
• Seating: a sofa for 2–4 people, about 2–2.5 metres from the screen.
• Console: on an open shelf. In a closed cabinet a PS5 runs hot and loud.
• Cables: HDMI and power fixed along the wall so nobody trips.
• Upholstery: easy to wipe, because drinks will get spilled.

An open hall is cheaper and easier to supervise. Private rooms with a bigger screen sell well to groups and birthday parties at a higher price; one or two are enough at the start.

Sound and noise

Shouting after a goal is normal. Partitions or acoustic panels and a volume limit on the TVs keep stations from disturbing each other. A soundbar belongs in a private room, not the open hall. In a residential building, check the night-time noise rules in advance.

Controllers wear out first

A console lasts for years; the controller fails first. Sticks drift, buttons stop responding, the charging port gets loose. Plan for it as a normal running cost.

• Two working controllers per console plus at least one spare. With 4 consoles, that is 8 in use and 4 spares.
• Number each controller ("3-A", "3-B") to see at once which console it belongs to and which one is missing.
• Keep spares on a charging station. If a battery dies mid-match, you just swap the controller.
• At the start of each shift, check that every controller turns on and the sticks sit centred. A faulty one leaves the floor.
• Post the rule on the wall and say it at the door: break a controller, pay for it.

Groups of three or four need an extra controller. Don't give it away free, since it wears out too. In ClubTime you add it as a rental item, and the amount goes onto the session bill and into the shift report.

Games and online subscription are a running cost

Games are not a one-time purchase. Budget monthly for:

• An online subscription (for example, PlayStation Plus), needed for online play and part of the game catalogue. More consoles mean a higher cost.
• New releases. When a new edition of the football game comes out, players ask for it the first evening.
• Storage. The PS5's internal drive fills up fast, so you may need an external SSD.

Build the library from what players ask for: football, fighting, racing and two-player games. Stop paying for games nobody plays.

Install updates in the morning before opening, so nobody waits for a download at 19:00, and run a cable to every console: Wi-Fi in a full hall is unreliable.

Check the terms for commercial use of consoles, games and subscriptions, as well as club registration and taxes, with a tax adviser and the government services centre.

Log subscriptions, rent, wages and purchases in ClubTime's expense tracking, and at the end of the month you see what is actually left from revenue.

Pricing: by the hour and prepaid time

The base price is a console hour or a room hour. A few rules:

• Cheaper by day, more expensive in the evening. A low daytime price fills empty hours; the evening price matches your busiest time. More in the article on day and night tariffs.
• A VIP room gets its own, higher price.
• Keep the price list visible at the counter. Many disputes start with a player who didn't know the price.

Players often arrive with a time or an amount in mind, so you need three kinds of session:

For example, at 30,000 UZS per hour, 50,000 UZS buys 1 hour 40 minutes of play. Working that out by hand is where mistakes happen.

In ClubTime you start a session as open, for a fixed time or for a fixed amount, and the app warns before it ends. Prices can depend on the hour: a session that crosses the day/night boundary is charged at both rates. For example, with 25,000 by day and 35,000 UZS after 18:00, a 17:00–19:00 session costs 25,000 + 35,000 = 60,000 UZS. You group consoles by type (PS5, PS4, VIP), each with its own price.

Peak hours, bookings and the bar

On weekdays the main flow starts in the evening. Friday and weekend nights are the busiest, and so are nights with big football matches. Staff accordingly: one person by day, two in the evening.

Bookings help for evenings and private rooms, but the rule has to be clear: 15 minutes late and the booking is released. For busy nights you can ask for a deposit. In ClubTime you book up to 14 days ahead with a time and a name, and overlapping bookings for the same station are blocked.

The bar adds revenue: after 2–3 hours of play people want a drink and a snack. Serve drinks with lids and snacks that aren't greasy, or the controllers and consoles will suffer. Keep drinks on a shelf away from the console, and keep the range small: 10–15 items that sell fast.

ClubTime tracks bar stock, FIFO cost and real profit, and a PIN lock hides cost and profit from staff. A message about every closed session and shift goes to the owner's Telegram, and you can watch the club live from another phone.

The "five more minutes" problem and switching the TV off

Time is up and the player asks for "five more minutes to finish the match". Staff are busy and say yes. Once is nothing, but it adds up. For example, 20 sessions a day with 5 free minutes each is 100 minutes. At 30,000 UZS per hour that is 50,000 UZS a day, or 1,500,000 UZS over 30 days.

The fix has three parts:

1. Warn in advance. 5–10 minutes before the end, ask the player whether they want to extend or wrap up. ClubTime warns before time runs out, so staff don't have to remember.
2. A rule. "Time is up, the screen goes off" is written at the entrance and on the price list. Extending means paying again.
3. A smart plug. Plug the TV into a Tuya (Smart Life) smart plug: power goes on when the session starts and off when it ends. No argument with staff: the screen just goes dark. Even if the internet drops, the plug works over local Wi-Fi.

Put the TV on the plug, not the console. Cutting power to a PS5 suddenly can lose unsaved progress and corrupt data, while for a TV it is routine. Some TVs don't turn back on by themselves when power returns, so test one plug before you buy a full set.

Setup takes about 15 minutes and needs a free Tuya account: see the smart plug setup guide. How the same approach works in other kinds of clubs is covered in the article on smart plug automation.

In short

• Start with 4–6 consoles and 1–2 rooms; adding consoles later is easy.
• Controllers are consumables: spares for every console, numbering and a charging station. Extra controllers are paid.
• Subscription, new games and storage are monthly costs; put them in the plan.
• Cheaper by day, more expensive in the evening; sessions are open, for a fixed time or a fixed amount.
• Warn before time runs out and switch the TV off with a smart plug.

Try ClubTime free for 15 days, with every feature included and no card needed. See what it does for console clubs on the PlayStation lounge software page.