Per station: simple, and what most lounges do
You charge an hourly rate for the PC, console or VR setup, however many people are on it. It's easy to explain, easy to time, and nobody has to count heads.
It works well for PCs, where it's one player per station anyway. For consoles it means four friends sharing a PS5 split one hourly rate, which they'll like and you may not.
Per player: fairer on consoles, harder to run
You charge each person, so four on one console pay four times the rate of one. It reflects how much space and attention the group takes up, but it means counting people, handling players who join halfway, and arguments when someone "was only watching".
The middle way most lounges land on
Price consoles per station, but set the console rate higher than a PC, because it's usually shared. Then split the bill between the players at the end.
| PC | Console room (up to 4) | |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate | $5 | $12 |
| 1 player, 2 hours | $10 | $24 |
| 4 players, 2 hours | $40 (4 PCs) | $24, or $6 each |
Four players on a console still pay less each than on PCs, which they'll see as a good deal, and you get more for the console than a single PC rate.
Don't forget the minimum and the peak
A minimum charge, like 30 minutes, stops the five-minute visitors from costing you more in admin than they pay. And weekday afternoons after school are often your quietest hours on PCs, which makes them the place for a cheaper rate.
Food and drink do more than you think
In many lounges, energy drinks and snacks bring in a big share of the money. Ring them up on the same bill as the station time, so a group pays once and you can see which stations sell the most alongside the time.
How playdesk handles gaming lounge pricing
playdesk prices per station. Each PC, console or VR setup has its own hourly rate and minimum charge, with off-peak windows if you want them, billed on the time actually played. Players can be added to a session and the bill split between them equally, by shares or by amount, or each player can pay and leave on their own. It doesn't charge per head automatically. More on peak and off-peak pricing.