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What Would You Want In A "Geek Bar"?
NiceGeek asks: "Is there any interest in a 'Geek' bar? After reading a comment in a recent story on Slashdot, I started thinking about a 'geek hangout' type bar. Basically, beer, music, classic arcade and console games and maybe classic network games like Doom and Quake. One advantage to the 'classic' theme would be reduced overhead. I already possess a lot of classic consoles/games and older stand-up systems are pretty cheap also. I would also consider adding a 'cyber-cafe' for broadband access. I have several other ideas but would like to see if there is any interest." It's an interesting idea, but are there any other things that you think such an endeavor would need? NTN Trivia consoles would be a nice addition (it would fit in well with the other things listed). I have fond memories of playing NTN with friends when it was available at a local hangout.
Do you want it because it's Kosher, or because it's good?
Well if its not Kosher I won't eat it, if its not good I don't want to. Hows that for a reason. One of these years I'm going to move out of the boonies to somewhere where I can find a real deli. (I don't like driving almost an hour for food)
Erlang Developer and podcaster
Yes it is some sort of a troll.
I can see how the desire for a Deli sandwich causes the problems of the world.
And for why we think we are "Superior" you do not begin to understand. The idea that we have more times than you can even count looked the angel of death square in the eye and he blinked first. But the truth is it was the Jews who introduced such ideas a universal education, universal justice and the concept that Governece requires the consent of the governed, even when the governer is the almighty.
So go back under that little anonymous rock you were living under and if you come out again sign your name to your post.
Erlang Developer and podcaster
But I will admit that this is probably not a money making idea in most area the call for Kosher returants is not that high. But it does not mean that I don't want it.
Erlang Developer and podcaster
Designer-clothed lager louts = 'expensively' dressed (i.e. D+G, Hillfiger etc.) large packs of guys looking for alcohol, Essex girls and trouble. Usually from Essex themselves.
Essex girls = The county of Essex is to London what the state of New Jersey is to New York City. Big hair, white stilleto heels etc.
God, I'm such a snob....
-- "It's a sad day for American capitalism when a man can't fly a midget on a kite over Central Park" - Jim Moran
Nick
-- "It's a sad day for American capitalism when a man can't fly a midget on a kite over Central Park" - Jim Moran
A link to a page showing a VAX converted into a wet bar posted in answer to 'What Would You Want In A "Geek Bar"?' is considered flamebait? The moderation system is well and truly broken.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Drinking isn't the point of going to a bar. You can stay home and drink. Drinking in the presence and company of others doing the same is the point of going to a bar. (Well, that and the music and trying to get lucky.)
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
It was "you" when I clicked "Submit", honest.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Doormen and bouncers that can sense the approach of Jon Katz sufficiently ahead of time?
Or are you the type that wants him to park the bandwagon right out front for everyone to see?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Okay, I would like to second the thoughts of having no sports/no smoking in a geek bar. Not so much because I personally detest sports (though I do smoking) but because if you have Sports in there you're likely to turn into another sports bar and get those guys in there and I'll split.
:)
Well, all sports except for maybe Robot Wars or something.
Honestly, and this may be old fashioned and too geeky, I'd like to see stuff like chess tournaments going on. Yes I'm *that* kind of a nerd.
That network trivia stuff though is kinda fun, and if you get a good mix of geeks in your bar would likely kill other bars on the network, and that would be really fun.
I concur with the notion of booths that harness technology. Maybe wall mounted tv screens so that whatever you want to see could be on. A touch pad screen to manage a jukebox for the booth, like those old time jukeboxes in diners. Then some text pagers for booth intercommunication or order placement.
Lots of comfortable chairs, lounge style with arm tables and that text pager for orders. A small common area that can be used for gathering, or maybe even dancing if the mood strikes. A big thing would be space. Crammed into cubicles, crammed into bars ... that ain't cool. This should be a place to get away from the norms and play.
There should probably be foosball and pinball, if space provides, arcade style deathmatch area. 4-8 people, 20 frags, winner stays, nobody pays to play, just wait your turn.
You want the place to be techno-centric, not techie-centric. Techno-centric allows all other people to visit and affords the geek a chance to be seen in an environment comfortable to him/her without the pager or problem to solve. Techie-centric is just like work. Might as well hand everybody task list, let 'em leave when they're done ... but let 'em drink stuff while they're working.
A mechanic RAM! *rimshot*
-- Kaufmann
To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
A few years later we wanted to do it again, but the place had closed. Seems like you could make good money if you were prepared to rent yourself out as one of your main revenue streams.
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
Several comments have been made about the quality of the beer at a perspective geek hangout bar. Would good beer really make a difference? I work with databases during the day but brew beer during the evenings. Good beer could be made for just slightly more than standard (about $3 per pint) if a steady market could be locked in. Marketing, bottling, decor and entertainment lock up a big portion of the required capital of a brewpub.
So long and thanks for all the fish . . . !!!
I work on the damn things all day, I go to bars to get away.
:-)* Basically I like going to places where the bands have horn sections. In Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Velvet Olive is cool for that stuff.
When I'm drunk the last thing I want to do is hack. My girlfriend, a total non-geek, would definitely hate going with me to somewhere with computers everywhere. There's tons of cafe's with them around here that I avoid.
Actually, I want live music. If Pink Floyd (great hacking music also) played around here I'd be happy
Meanwhile, I have some drinking to do, so I'm off to meet my coworkers.
--Mike
After all, geeks need to get laid too. Of course, the old engineering addage applies to women, too:
Good, Fast, Cheap: pick two
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
There was a wonderful place in Manchester (uk) where I used to love to hang out with fellow comp.sci students.
:-(
They had a dalek, and a costume from babylon 5 by the dj's booth. They had a cabinet full of cult tv/movie related toys/memorobilia.
They had original starwars & space invaders arcade machines, house of the dead, pinball, etc. Instead of tables they had some of the old fashioned table format arcade machines (ie, the screen horizontal so you put your drink down on top of the screen (sadly they weren't playable, but the demos ran.))
They played funky 70s music, while showing wierd, surreal 60s/70s films, thunderbirds, old cartoons, etc. They put on a screening of Episode 1 the weekend after it was released in the states. (uk movie releases are months behind the states. Yes, this was illegal.)
Sadly, the place has gone badly downhill. Rough, overcrowded, bad music, grrrrr.
An overwhelming ammount of people keep talking about net connections and bringing their laptops and sitting booths and the like. Sounds to me like they want more of a library with a nice network drop. Something about the words "bar" and "privacy" don't mix!
If I've been working at my machine at home all evening, I really don't think sitting in front of a computer (nicer net connection or not) in a different location is going to help me relax/socialize/unwind, which is kinda the point of a bar. The suggestions some people are making sound like they want something along the lines of a coffeehouse taylored towards the geek crowd.
When I think of a bar, I'm thinking about Cheers; a friendly place with familar faces and nice people who share some sort of common bond with one another, in this case, geek-hood. A bar is not a place you go to sit isolated. You go to be around people and make some human contact, even if you choose not to actively socialize.
-- From my Best Friend (Written to me over ICQ): "i was gonna go to a party...but i had to reinstall windows"
Also, the drinking songs would get out of hand.
What do you do with a drunken coder?...
Who is going to understand the code that you wrote while drunk? You didn't comment it, you don't understand it, but it works!
Maybe have a section with scifi movies playing:
- Star Wars
- Star Trek
- Indiana Jones (OK, not truly scifi, but everyone loves Indy.)
- Blade Runner (Lots of Harrison Ford.
:)
- MST3k
- Babylon 5
- ... brain freezing, recall failing
...
This could be great. Where would this be, which city? I'm moving to Seattle, so maybe I'll find something like this there.Louis Wu
"One of life's hardest lessons is that life's lessons are hard to learn."
Good quality alcohol. (Absinthe (not that Absente crap), Cognac (at least VSOP, if not XO), Single Malts no younger than 16 years, Canadian hard cide or tap, and good micro-brews of various sorts.)
And for those of us who aren't alcohol snobs (with no offense intended to those who are)...blended drinks blended drinks blended drinks!
I would be more likely to patronize a bar that served frozen drinks (ie, pina coladas, margaritas, daquiris) just for that reason. What can I say? I'm a girl-drink drunk. Give me drinks with little umbrellas in 'em every time.
Sections that are quiet. (Sound-proofed if possible.) Half the time I go out I can barely hear myself think, let alone the person across from me.)
Seconded. One of my favorite bars has one room with dancing, loud thumping music, etc, and another that's fairly quiet, with some couches arranged around a tv or two, and another little setup with cards and board games. You can sit back there, play chess or cards and talk to people, then run out and shake your thang when you hear that song that you've just got to dance to. It's the best of both worlds.
Good live bands. (Groups like "Land of the Blind" that thrive on low crowd noise and lack of tobacco.)
Ack! I vote for NO live bands. They're uncontrollably loud, and they get offended if people don't pay attention to them. Also, the only bands I want to hear live, or for an hour at a time, are the ones I like well enough to buy concert tickets. Good canned music (ie, not too much you would hear on the radio, although a little is ok, say one song an hour) that can be turned down, that won't cuss you out if you ignore it, is my vote.
Networked deathmatch games.
Can I hear a "Hell, yeah?"
TVs that do not show sports. (Marx bros movies, Sci Fi, Ray Harryhousen movies, cartoons, Hong Kong action or fantasy films, or anything else I woul feel like showing.)
Sounds good to me. But not in the same room as the dance music, please? If I want to watch tv, I usually want to hear it too (unless its more of an ambiance thing, like Godzilla vs. Gamera or something)
Good looking females with an IQ.
I tell ya, we'll show up, if you give us good looking males who are capable of intelligent conversation...and, of course, Quake and Diablo and pina coladas...
Cyclopatra
"We can't all, and some of us don't." -- Eeyore
"We can't all, and some of us don't." -- Eeyore
LAN gaming is incredibly popular in Asia... Everywhere you turn in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, even Thailand and Indonesia (just the biggest cities), you'll find places with rooms full of top-end computers, and many of them sell drinks.
They offer internet connectivity and other things as well, but it generally happens that the places get completely taken over by gaming. The noises (speakers, yelling, etc.) are too loud for anything else, really.
On the one hand, it's good, because the atmosphere is more fun (I assume; I don't play video games) than you'd get in your house. Lots of people all playing at the same time and clearly having a lot of fun.
On the other hand, though, it seems hard to mix with anything else. Sort of like trying to have a dance club with a Ye Olde English Pubbe section as well; it just doesn't work unless you've got a huge building and some very impressive soundproofing.
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
Well, first, you should probably check out DNA Lounge. jwz (of Mozilla fame) is working on it, and he has some interesting notions.
I think that one of the important features is that it's somewhere where geeks can socialize offline. I've been to cyber-cafes and they are pretty lame. I think that jwz had it right when he decided to not be a cyber-cafe, while still retaining the geekish computer-centric attitude.
I think that you are on the right track with the video games. That appeals to the population you want and enables you to have more than just a terminal room.
I would say that you should have music at your club, since most geeks that I know will really appreciate it. See about getting live bands and DJs. But, based on my geek-centric concert activities, you want to turn the volume down below the earsplitting level, especially off of the dance floor. Most of my geek friends seem to dislike places where they can't hold a conversation. But you might as well invest in excess capacity so that you have the potential to crank up if I'm making a generilization that doesn't hold.
You didn't mention where you were located. Location is very important, because you need to be in a place where there are a good number of geeks. Bay Area good, Podunk Illinois bad.
Make it no smoking and have a wide assortment of drinks -- both alchaholic and non. Most geeks tend to have more diverse tastes in both categories, plus a lot of geeks don't smoke. You can always tweak both depending on demand.
And finally, make it look geek. Not cheezy-geek, but geek-chic. Comfortable, yet futuristic. You get the idea.
Gentoo Sucks
The usual stuff, I suppose... moussaka, dolmades, retsina, some guys playing the bouzouki...
Oh, geek bar. Sorry.
If I could set up the place, I'd have...
--an additional balcony level that opens into the main floor; throw in a small fountain and some good natural lighting.
--big, plush, upholstered chairs and sofas, and good rocking chairs.
--a good air filtration system
--a big 'no smoking' sign
--a big 'no Anheuser-Busch products' sign
--a separate, closable bar (thanks to the craniorectal "homeowners" around my neck of the woods)
--two acoustic music stages, one for each room.
--BYO-headphones, mice, keyboards, or rent for $2-$5. For mice and keyboards, this would require hot-swappables.
--color-controllable spot lighting for nighttime--some of those LED-based lights would do the trick.
--Bar and booths: solid wood, embedded flat panels, byo-peripherals (as above).
--Sound absorption in each room, to reduce echo.
--Subscriptions to math/sci/med journals and newsletters, made available for browsing.
I'm suprised that the various IP racketeers (RIAA, MPAA, etc..) haven't attacked anything like this.
The American Dream went to hell in a handbasket when someone decided that "The Customer" was King, and the customer beli
A room full of pocket protectors and pasty white faces that haven't seen the sun in years are flashing through my mind. Sounds like some parties I went to in university. ;-)
... Shadowfist and Guinness)
A nice quiet pub accomplishes much of what you're looking. And it doesn't reek of resigning yourself to being a separate caste from the rest of humanity. Who knows, you could meet some standard-model humans while you're at it.
On the other hand, having gaming tables and good draft ale could be an interesting mix. (Mmmmm
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Most of the things I would want in such a place would get it shut down by the forces of Moral rectaltude.
Good quality alcohol. (Absinthe (not that Absente crap), Cognac (at least VSOP, if not XO), Single Malts no younger than 16 years, Canadian hard cide or tap, and good micro-brews of various sorts.)
Sections that are quiet. (Sound-proofed if possible.) Half the time I go out I can barely hear myself think, let alone the person across from me.)
Good live bands. (Groups like "Land of the Blind" that thrive on low crowd noise and lack of tobacco.)
Networked deathmatch games.
TVs that do not show sports. (Marx bros movies, Sci Fi, Ray Harryhousen movies, cartoons, Hong Kong action or fantasy films, or anything else I would feel like showing.)
Good looking females with an IQ.
Of course, any sort of unsupervised fun is deemed wrong and immoral by the constabulary and must be stomped out without mercy.
"So shall it be, this is the land of the free..."
"Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."
One of these would be nice!
Previously, the space seemed to have been a used bookstore, so the walls were lined with shelves and lots of books (classic literature, philosophy, art, etc that you'd expect in a college town -- I didn't see any O'Reilly books... :), which you were free to peruse & buy. At the back was a little deli where you could get sandwiches, soft drinks, coffee, tea, and beer. Scattered all over the place were chairs, recliners, sofas, etc that could be moved around freely. Up front -- this was the best part -- was an area that would every now and then be cleared out so that rock bands could play, and none of that whiny Don McLean acoustic cover shit either.
That place had a great mix. Too many rock clubs are just flat out dingy, depressing places. Too many of the places you can go late at night will give you a choice between either a cup of coffee or a glass of beer -- you typically can one or the other, but not both from one establishment. This mix isn't really something "geek specific" -- maybe "me specific" more like :) -- but I thought this was an awesome place, and it sucks that it's well over 1000 miles from here (Boston). I would put it as a near ideal setup for a "geek bar"...
DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
Up at Purdue we had a split level ranch with the bar/den in the lower level. We could move the couches out from infront of the TV giving us a 50x30 room, that opened up to the back yard with a lake, waterfall, and privacy fence (can we say party). At any rate, black lights were the only source of lighting at the bar, aside from a 486/66 PC driving X11 Amp over VNC to a slackware box in the back room. We cabled the out to the surround system which provided plenty of music for the parties. What else does a true geek need? Highlighters! Yes, you don't have to be too techy to be a geek. Chicks let you draw on their faces and then they come back every couple minutes to show their friends their preety glow-in-the-dark faces. Don't forget the webcam, digital camera, palm pilot to hand girls to enter their phone numbers, and Mic's strown all about the bar to record girls comments about the tall dark dj, beer server. Three sound cards and a lot of disk space can make this fun. Festival running on your linux box can make the computer talk to people at the part, but only do this after 2:00 (when everyone is warm and fuzzy). Next, you might want to setup an IOpener at one edge of the bar (for sex apeal), to take requests. For some reason the flat screen jutebox request machine impresses chicks. Lie and tell them you can put it in your car and use it to play every song. If you have unlocked rooms in your home, consider putting hidden webcams in each room, routing them to your VNC server for entertainment (or security) purposes.
Moderate me.
Second thing I'd want in a geek bar: quiet space. Most places are too loud to have a conversation. Acoustic engineering isn't quite rocket science, you could have booths or entire rooms which are lined to absorb sound from people and things more than a short distance away.
Third thing: Connectivity and power, with table space. I'd love to be able to haul in my laptop and plug it into a 10baseT and a 12-volt supply (why not 110 volts? because the cable that plugs into a car is a lot lighter and smaller than the transformer for line power).
Fourth thing: security. Cable locks for computers, lockers for books and bags. Build them into the tables and booth-backs, charge a quarter to release the key like airport lockers. Maybe plant a security tag in the key so that anyone trying to take one out of the building gets "beeped".
Fifth thing: I want to be able to select my own entertainment. If I can't play what I want by streaming it from my laptop (or even if I can, because laptop speakers are so tinny) I'd like to be able to pick what's coming over the speakers in my booth. Let the speakers cancel what's coming from the booths on either side (active noise cancellation). Or put the building inside a Faraday cage and broadcast different music, news and TV sound channels over little 100 mW FM transmitters. Bring a headset radio and tune in whichever thing you want for background, put the volume up or down at your pleasure.
Sixth, food. Geeks get enough grease and too little exercise at work. I want to be able to get good coffee, fresh salads and tasty low-fat food. If the kitchen doesn't even have a grill or a deep-fat fryer, GREAT. Put it next door to a sushi bar for real fun, man I'd never leave (what's that smell?).
I second the vote for "no sports". SciFi, Cartoon Channel, financial news, but no sports.
--
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No one expects the Spammish Repetition!
Scientists restrict study to entire physical universe; creationist
Alcohol behind lockable cabinets or a separate closable bar so that you can serve coffee and websites after the bar closing time and be open all night.
l
Dont forget a free email account with your first pitcher.
And no pisswatery beer.
I also recommend tabletop / board games. You could even have tournaments. Beats frickin' karaoke. Hell, at a place like that I could have some interesting MTG games.
I had the same idea about a year ago, but personally I dont have the funds nor associates who think its a good idea, nor do I relish the idea of having to fight Boston's repressive tendencies. I'd open it in a tight place like Flann's, call it something corny like "The Root Sheller," and wait for Cambridgiophiles to deign to visit it. (Maybe it's not such a great idea.)
BTW, have you seen jwz's notes on the DNA Lounge that he is building in SF? Dunno if he has 'geek bar' in mind, but his experience is still helpful:
http://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/log/latest.htm
Kdt
Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
In fact, turn off the damned ESPN entirely. Give me the Sci-Fi Channel, 24/7.