The Treehouse - board game cafe

[AndyH]

Morning everyone!

As some of you may know, me and Ruth have been running a games, beer and pizza night in Sheffield for a little while. What you may not know is that we've been beavering away planning something a bit more... permanent.

We're really excited to announce that things are falling into place for the Treehouse board game cafe to open later this year, hopefully in September if all goes well.

You can find us on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/treehousesheffield) and follow our progress, and there's more info on our website (www.treehousesheffield.com), where you can sign up for email alerts when big things are happening.

We'll be at the Uni Arms tomorrow too (as well as every Tuesday that time will allow), and we'd love to hear any and all suggestions/opinions/requests, and talk to you about what we've got planned - tell us what you'd want from us and we'll do what we can to make it happen.

Thanks,

Andy & Ruth

[paulyg]

Excited to hear about your plans and see this up and running. I like the name!

[PaulC]

...but if it's not in a tree house, I'm gonna be p****d! ;-)

[Admin]

Any ideas where this will be? Venue seems the greatest sticking point to most of these ventures... city centre rent is just too expensive.

Have you married up to any of the local retailers?

[BeardyTom]

Put it next to the cat cafe!

[AndyH]

Excited to hear about your plans and see this up and running. I like the name!

Cheers Paul, and glad you like the name - we spent a fair while trying to come with the best board game related pun possible, before thinking "maybe it doesnt actually need to be a pun" - and we've been getting pretty positive feedback on it so far, which is great

...but if it's not in a tree house, I'm gonna be p****d! ;-)

Prepare to be dissappointed I'm afraid - there is a disclaimer on the website though, so hopefully not too many people will get their hopes up!

Any ideas where this will be? Venue seems the greatest sticking point to most of these ventures... city centre rent is just too expensive.

Put it next to the cat cafe!

The place we're looking at is actually pretty close to the cat cafe, just round the corner on Boston St, so you can have a niche cafe crawl if you fancy it!
Finding the premises has been tricky, there didn't seem to be a huge number of suitable premises around - the right size for the right price, good location and with the potential to create the right atmosphere - but we think we've found somewhere that's pretty ideal.

Have you married up to any of the local retailers?

We've had a few good chats with Jim at Patriot, and he's been really supportive and generous with his advice - as for a more official arrangement, it's definitley something we'd be intersted in exploring, and I'm sure we'll be speaking to them a fair bit more before September.

[Lizzy]

There's a cat cafe?!

[DaveB]

Good luck Andy, hope it goes brilliantly!

[AndyH]

Afternoon all, exciting news time - we've just launched our crowdfunding campaign for The Treehouse!

Whether you think you might drop in once to check us out or make use of the discount rate annual membership, there are deals available. Plus there's the opportunity to join us for our opening party or get your hands on a special lifetime membership.

We'll use the funds we raise to put the icing on the cake of the cafe - a bigger games library, more food on offer, a wider range of drinks - we think we can create something pretty great in the space we've got, and this initial funding boost will help us achieve that from the start.

Please check out the crowdfunding page, and you'll get the added bonus of seeing what is surely the start of a glittering career in front of the camera

[Scott_Fryer]

Best of luck with the campaign, and the cafe ... look forward to visiting!

[SamVS]

That logo is ace. Who made it?

[AndyH]

That logo is ace. Who made it?

Thanks, we're really happy with how it turned out too.

Its the work of Vicki Johnson (http://cargocollective.com/VickiJohnson) a designer, illustrator and printmaker based in Norwich, who just happens to be Ruth's sister.

It's really handy having talented family members

[Admin]

What's the inspiration for the name?

[AndyH]

What's the inspiration for the name?

The hope is that it gets across something of the atmosphere we're trying to create - a combination of play, adventure, nostalgia and escapism - that and all the good puns are gone.

[SamVS]

Nah, far better than a punny name, I think. Also... trees. Wood. Paper. Board.

[AndyH]

And now, in 'finally joining the 21st century' news - we're on twitter!

[Kes]

Need to expand the library?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253036623754

[AndyH]

Need to expand the library?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253036623754

Cheers for the heads up Kes - certainly looks like decent value for someone wanting to start a collection in one fell swoop, we've already got about a third of them though, and the 4 hour round trip to pick them up makes it a bit less enticing.

Plus we're still thinking about how best to work games like X-wing, GoT card game, Netrunner etc. in the cafe setting, so not sure how much value those would be for us either.

[Kes]

Well you could sell them. Pretty good set though

[systemsam]

A wee (I'm in Scotland) suggestion: some of the cheaper backing options could be a good use of club funds with the rewards being prizes at the Xmas do?

[systemsam]

Are you interested in any game suggestions? I've been using Taluva recently as a great game for both gateway and more experienced gamers. Samurai is nice. And if you ever want any suggestions for abstracts...

One suggestion I made for the club a while back was to have a cheap/old tablet set up with some quick 'how to play' vids for some of the games we have. Could be something e.g. for if you get busy, or just for people to kill some time while waiting for friends.

Beer advice: if I can't smell the hops from a nautical mile away I'm not interested.

Stock Birdhouse teas please. Preferably with some of the proper single origin varietals, not just their blends.

Good bagging can make some games a lot more pleasant to play. So can printed out crib cards for games that don't already have them.

[karl_b]

Good suggestion about Christmas prizes Sam.

[Admin]

Good suggestion about Christmas prizes Sam.

tbh I totally disagree... and this will sound super negative so sorry Andy... but... these are the reasons I haven't backed...

The £7 tote bag - ok - but in terms of Xmas prizes... why not get tote bags with the SBGC logo on? Kes can probably get this sorted... and for not much more
£10 - Tote bag and a free gaming session - really hate the wording - that's a tote bag and a discounted gaming session for £3...
£12 - Bring the family... once? Jeez... if this represents a reduced cost I can quite easily state now I will never go... on top of this cost we as a family would want food and drinks... makes for an expensive afternoon out - especially considering that there are free venues for playing (Patriot) and plenty of cafes around.
£15 - 4 people... similar to above. And also confused me as I thought the cover charge of £5 would be per table not per person... Is it really £5 per person? If so you should really consider putting this cost against food/drink orders made every hour or so...
£20 - Membership gets you 50% off... so at the stated £2.50 saving - you have to go 8 times to even break even. Presumably you would be going with friends also so there is an additional cost to them... would you risk paying £5 to sit and play with no-one?

All the above apart from the tote bag are super high profit for the Treehouse... unless you intend to go and not buy drinks/eat... and then you could argue that estate and staff cost are barley covered...  and yes the point is that this will help expand their library... but to me these just aren't perks or rewards on any level...

For the vouchers we get for Patriot - our winner gets to buy themselves something to keep - they can either spend up to the amount on a small game /expansion or add some of their own funds if they wish...
The above as prizes really are pretty much all - spend more of your own money to enjoy it for 2/3 hours.

I'm yet to be convinced.

I understand that the idea of a gaming café in Sheffield is exciting - but as the various messages on this forum prove... we don't charge anything and still people wont put money behind the bar... I doubt the people that are ok with doing that will pay £5 per person just to sit down and play...

[Meurig]

Do the cover charges cover a set period or are they unlimited?

Been to one of the Derby cafes a couple of times this week and they have a really nice set up. Casual and lighter games downstairs with no cover charge. £4 per person for as long as you like upstairs with their full library of games (and it's pretty good). Means they aren't excluding people who just want to pop in for a quick drink, and provides a gateway for getting newbies into games.

Of course, this is possible in part because they have a great building with plenty of space.

[Meurig]

Oh, and the Derby club nights get free access to the upstairs.

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