How to start a gaming cafe in India: a step-by-step checklist

A gaming cafe can be a good business in India, but the ones that last are planned carefully. This checklist walks through each step, from working out your budget to filling your stations in the first month.

1. Work out your budget

A small-to-mid cafe with 10 mid-range PCs and 2 PS5s in a tier 2 city costs about ₹24.5 lakh to set up, including interiors, air conditioning and a rent deposit, and about ₹1.08 lakh a month to run. Use the free Hash gaming cafe cost calculator to plug in your own numbers before you commit.

2. Choose the location

• Near colleges, coaching centres, hostels and busy markets, where students and young professionals already spend time.
• Ground floor or easy to find, with space for signage.
• Check the electricity supply and whether the building can take extra load for PCs and ACs.
• Confirm a fast, stable fibre internet provider is available at that address.

3. Sort out registrations and licences

Requirements differ by state and city, so check with your local municipal office or a chartered accountant. Most cafes need at least:

• Business registration (sole proprietorship, partnership, LLP or private limited)
• Shop and Establishment registration under your state's act
• GST registration if your turnover crosses the threshold, or if you want to claim input credit
• A trade licence from the local municipal corporation
• Fire safety clearance where the premises or local rules require it

4. Plan the layout and fit-out

• Budget roughly 30 sq ft per PC station and 50 sq ft per console station, plus space for a counter, walkways and a washroom.
• Plan wiring for every station, a UPS for power cuts, and enough AC capacity: about one 1.5 ton unit per 180 sq ft.
• Good chairs and lighting matter; players notice them more than the paint.

5. Buy the hardware

Decide your PC and console mix (most cafes lead with PCs and add a few consoles for groups), then price PCs, monitors, peripherals, consoles, TVs and controllers. Buy a few spare peripherals from day one.

6. Set your prices

Hourly rates vary widely by city and setup. Check what cafes near you charge, then consider packages: weekday off-peak discounts, night passes and prepaid hour bundles help fill quiet hours.

7. Set up booking and session management

Paper registers and walk-ins lose money: idle PCs, arguments over time, and no record of who played. A system like Hash lets players find and book your cafe in advance, runs every PC with a kiosk that unlocks for a session and locks again when time runs out, and shows bookings, sessions and earnings on one dashboard.

8. Get your first players

• Run small launch tournaments for popular games like BGMI, Valorant and EA FC.
• Partner with nearby colleges and gaming communities.
• List your cafe where players already look for places to play, including the Hash app.
• Ask regulars to refer friends, and reward them for it.

Ready to list your cafe? Start on the list your cafe page on hashforgamers.com or onboard yourself at onboard.hashforgamers.com.