Venue admin guide

Your claim has been approved, so you can now manage your venue on Roll for Company. This page walks through everything you can set up, roughly in the order that matters most. You do not need to do it all at once. The first four sections take about ten minutes and make the biggest difference to how players see you.

Every admin page has a Help link that brings you back to the matching section here.

Getting started

Here is the short version. Do these and you are in good shape:

1. Write your description so players know what you offer.
2. Set your opening hours, which also drive table bookings.
3. Add contact details: a website, phone or email.
4. Upload a photo. Venues with a photo appear on the home page. Venues without one do not.
5. Add your games library so players searching for a game can find you.
6. Create your first event.

Then, when you are ready: table bookings, payments, closures, group discounts and the front desk.

Signed in? Your live progress is on your dashboard and at the top of this page.

Where everything lives

• Dashboard (/dashboard): your venue card with followers, next event, upcoming bookings and recent posts. Use the buttons across the top to jump to Bookings, the Front desk, the public page and Edit.
• Edit (the Edit button on your dashboard or public page): tabs for Basics, Tables, Bookings, Closures and Group discounts.
• Public page: what players see. Open it with View as player on the dashboard to check your changes.

Description

Found under Edit, then Basics, in the Venue Details card.

The description is the first thing players read. A good one says what kind of place you are, what you have (games, food, drinks, space), who you welcome, and anything that makes you different. Two or three short paragraphs is plenty. Write it as you would say it to someone walking in for the first time.

If your listing was imported, the description may carry an AI (generic) or AI (website-informed) label. That means we wrote a starting point for you. Replace it with your own words and the label changes to Manual.

There is also an Etiquette / House Rules box for things like table time limits, whether outside food is fine, or how you handle reservations on busy nights.

Opening hours

Found under Edit, then Basics, in the Opening Hours card.

Tick each day you are open and set the open and close times. Overnight hours (for example 18:00 to 01:00) are supported. Leave a day unticked to show it as closed.

Hours matter twice over: players check them before travelling, and table bookings can only be made inside your opening hours. If you run a separate bookable window (for example bookings only after 17:00), set that under the Bookings tab. The edit page warns you if booking hours fall outside opening hours.

For a one-off closure, such as a private event or a bank holiday, do not edit your hours. Use closures instead.

Contact details

Found under Edit, then Basics, in the Contact & Prices card.

Add your website, email and phone number. Any one of them is enough, all three is best. The Pricing notes box is for things like table charges, minimum spend or membership prices so nobody is surprised on arrival.

Your address is in the Location card just above. Make sure the postcode is right, because it places you on the map and powers "venues near me".

Photos

Found under Edit, then Basics, in the Photos card.

Upload a few photos of the space: the main room, a table mid-game, the games shelves, the counter. Landscape photos work best. The first photo is used as your cover on cards across the site.

Venues with a photo are shown in "Find your local game spot" on the home page. Venues without one are skipped, so this is worth doing early. If your venue came from Google, we show its Google photo until you upload your own.

Games library

Found under Edit, then Basics, in the Games library section.

Players search by game, so an up-to-date library is how they find you. You can:

• Search and add games one at a time. Type a title, pick the match, done.
• Import in bulk from a BoardGameGeek collection if you keep one. Paste the username and we pull it in.
• Paste a list of titles and we match each one for you.
• Mark a game as featured, note the condition and number of copies, and tick teaching available if staff can teach it.

Players can also suggest games for your library. Suggestions land in Game requests (linked from the dashboard) where you can add or dismiss them with one tap.

You can also set a bring your own games policy under Basics so players know whether they can bring their own.

Events

Create an event with New event on your dashboard, or from the events page.

Events appear on your public page, the events listing and the map, and go out to everyone following you. Set a date, a start time and how long it runs, a description, and how many players you can take. Events can be free, pay at the venue, or paid online (see payments). Recurring events are supported, so a weekly games night only needs setting up once.

Players RSVP on the event page and you can see the count on your dashboard. Events that have started stay listed until they end.

Table bookings

Found under Edit, then the Tables and Bookings tabs.

Bookings let players reserve a table in advance. Setting up takes two steps:

1. Tables tab: add each bookable table with a name and how many seats it has. You can add a photo and a price override per table. Tables can be switched off without deleting them.
2. Bookings tab: switch bookings on and set the rules. Minimum and maximum booking length, the time grain players can pick (for example every 30 minutes), cleaning-up time between bookings, how far ahead people can book, pricing (per table or per person per hour), cancellation policy and any deposit.

Choose a payment mode: pay at the venue needs nothing else. Online needs a connected Stripe account (see payments).

Once on, players find you under Find a table and on your public page. Every booking gets a booking code and a confirmation email. You can see upcoming bookings on your dashboard and manage them all under Bookings at the top of the dashboard, including a timeline view of the day.

Front desk

Open with Front desk at the top of your dashboard.

This is the screen for the counter on a busy evening. Check people in as they arrive (by name, booking code or by scanning the QR code from their confirmation email), add walk-ins so the table shows as taken, and see who is due next. Guests on a booking each have their own QR code, so a group can arrive in dribs and drabs.

Closures

Found under Edit, then the Closures tab.

Use a closure when you will be shut during your normal hours: a private hire, refurbishment, a bank holiday, or an emergency such as a flood.

• Planned closures are for dates you know about. Give them a start and end and a short message for customers.
• Emergency closures are for right now. You can leave the end open and set it later.

While a closure is active your public page shows a banner, bookings for that period are blocked, and any existing bookings in the window are cancelled and refunded automatically where a payment was taken. Your dashboard shows active and upcoming closures with a link to manage them.

Group discounts

Found under Edit, then the Group discounts tab.

If gaming groups meet at your venue, you can link them to your listing (under Linked Groups in Basics) and offer their members a percentage off bookings. The discount is applied automatically at checkout when a member of a linked group books.

Linked groups can also ask you for a recurring hold: a regular table reservation for their weekly session. Requests arrive by email and you confirm or decline them.

Payments

Found under Settings, then Payments.

Connecting a Stripe account lets you take money online for table bookings and paid events. Listing, events, bookings and promotion are free. When you take payment through the site, Roll for Company charges a platform fee on each transaction, Stripe's card fees are billed to your Stripe account, and the balance is paid out to your bank on Stripe's rolling schedule. If you only ever take payment at the door, you do not need this.

Setup takes a few minutes: press Connect, follow Stripe's onboarding, and come back. Your dashboard tells you if anything is missing.

Posts

Found on your dashboard, in the Recent posts column.

Posts are short updates that go to everyone following your venue: new games in, a change of hours, a tournament, a quiet-night offer. Add a photo if you have one. A quick hello after your claim is approved is a good first post.

Followers

Players can follow your venue to get your posts and event announcements. The follower count is on your dashboard, with how many joined this week. The best way to grow it is to keep events and posts flowing and to mention Roll for Company in the venue.

Getting found on Google

Most new visitors still start on Google Maps. Our Getting Found guide checks whether your venue is on Maps with the right category and gives you a short list of fixes.

Need help?

Something not covered here, or not working as described? Contact us and we will sort it out.