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v26.3

Game operations: pool, darts, karaoke

Game operations are for businesses that sell time at a station: pool tables, dart lanes, karaoke rooms or a game café with several play spots. DiKAS shows at a glance which station is free, reserved, in use, paused or blocked – with group, running clock, amount and next appointment. From the reservation through arrival and the start of the clock to payment, everything runs on one ticket: playing time and drinks are on the same bill.

There is no second clock and no second price calculation: a station is a table of the till, the time runs through the existing time billing (time article with time scale, maximum amount and rounding), and payment is made at the normal till. Game operations use the same screens as the rental workshop and are switched on in the same way; for pool, darts and karaoke DiKAS simply hides the fields that only make sense in a workshop (licence plate, vehicle, tools, deposit).

How to get the feature: Game operations have no module of their own. They are part of the Reservations & Appointments module (see Resources & Booking Calendar).

Activation: Admin → Settings → Operations → switch on Reservations. After that the tile Rental workshop appears at the till (overview of the stations) and the menu item Rental workshop appears in the back office. As soon as a station is set up, the overview and the administration use the terms of the station type, for example “Pool – tables” or “Stations – administration”.

Not in the Android till app

Game operations run in the browser till (cloud or server operation), like the rental workshop.

Who it is for

Business Station type Terms in the screens
Pool hall, pub with a pool table Billard (pool) Pool table, Table; overview “Pool – tables”
Dart bar, dart lanes Dart Dart lane, Lane; overview “Darts – lanes”
Karaoke bar, karaoke rooms Karaoke Karaoke room, Room; overview “Karaoke – rooms”
Game café with several play spots Spielcafé (game café) Station; overview “Game café – stations”

If stations of different types are set up in one business (or a rental workshop bay in addition), the overview is simply called Stations. In the detail view and in the booking dialog each station keeps its own term.

Overview of functions

Function Description
Station overview One tile per station with state, seats, group, running clock, amount and next appointment
Station profile Station type and seats per station
Appointment or walk-in Reserve with group size, arrival, start – or start straight away without an appointment
Time billing Time article with time scale, maximum amount, rounding; pauses are not charged
Price per person On request the clock calculates with the number of people; it can be changed during the session
Drinks and food Normal article lines on the same ticket
Change station The running clock moves to another station together with the consumption
Time corrections Reset clock, change tariff, discard clock – only with permission, with a mandatory reason, in the audit log
Block Defect or maintenance: the station is taken out of the offers

Setup

1. Create a station

  1. Create every pool table, dart lane and karaoke room as a table (Admin → Tables) and enter the number of seats under Seats. This number is the seat count of the station, for example 8 for a karaoke room (see Table plan).
  2. Open Admin → Rental workshop. Under Add a table as a station choose the table and click Set up as station. A table only becomes a station through its profile – without a profile it does not appear in the overview.
  3. For each station choose the matching Station type (Billard, Dart, Karaoke or Spielcafé) and save with Save profile.

The station type decides terms and fields. For pool, darts, karaoke and game café, licence plate, vehicle and tools are not shown. Under Seats the administration shows the number stored at the table (“The seats come from the table (table management).”); it is changed there.

No seat count stored?

If no seat count is stored at the table, DiKAS reports: “No seat count stored – the group size is not checked.” The station then accepts groups of any size.

2. Set the tariff: the time article

Playing time is billed through a time article. Creating and setting it up (hourly price, time scale, price rules by time of day) is described under Time articles. In the article editor the time rule contains these settings:

Setting Effect
Time scale (columns From min., Interval (min.), Price) Scale with cheaper following hours, for example first hour 8 €, every further hour 6 €
Maximum amount per session Upper limit for the whole session; empty means unlimited. Pause and resume do not start a new session
Bill started interval in full Off: proportional per second (default). On: even the first minute costs the whole interval
Round amount Cents only, To 10 cents, To 50 cents or To 1 euro
Rounding type Commercial, Round up or Round down
Price per person Off: the price applies per station or group (default). On: the price is multiplied by the number of people at the clock

Anyone offering several tariffs (for example pool during the day and karaoke per person) creates one time article per tariff; the tariff is chosen at the start. If there is no active time article, DiKAS reports: “There is no active time article. Please create one in the articles.”

How the price is calculated

The price follows the time article. There are two usual models:

Model Setting Example
Per station or group Price per person off (default) Pool table 12 € per hour, no matter whether two or four people play; one time article each for the small and the large karaoke room
Per person Price per person on Karaoke 5 € per person and hour: 4 people, 2 hours = 40 €
  • With Price per person, hourly rate, time scale and “started interval” are multiplied by the number of people at the clock.
  • The maximum amount caps the whole session, not each person individually. With a maximum of 30 € the group pays at most 30 €, even if the per-person calculation would give more.
  • Changing the number of people: the previous section is closed with the old number, the rest runs with the new one. Example at 5 € per person and hour: one hour with 2 people (10 €), then one hour with 4 people (20 €) makes 30 €.
  • Pauses are not charged, not even if the number of people is changed during the pause.
  • Following hours: a time scale can make later hours cheaper, see Time articles.
  • Rounding: the amount is rounded according to the chosen rounding to cents, 10 cents, 50 cents or one euro.

The station overview

Till → Rental workshop shows a tile for every station. The state is shown as text, symbol and colour:

State Meaning
Free The station is usable
Reserved An appointment starts within the next 60 minutes, or the group has already arrived
In use The clock is running
Paused The clock is stopped – the station is still occupied
Blocked Defect or maintenance

The tile also shows the seats, the group, the running clock, the current amount and the next appointment. A tap on the tile opens the station with exactly the buttons that are possible in its current state. The overview reloads silently every ten seconds; Reload refreshes by hand.

Above the overview is the button Book appointment. If no station is set up yet, it says, for example, “No pool tables have been set up yet.” with a pointer to the administration.

An evening from start to finish

1. The group arrives: with an appointment or spontaneously

  • With an appointment: Book appointment asks for station, start, duration, name, phone, e-mail and the Group size (default 1). If the station has fewer seats than the group has people, a hint appears: “The station has only … seats, the group has … people.” The booking is rejected and DiKAS asks you to choose another station.
  • Without an appointment: walk-in guests are started directly at a free station with Start.

When the group arrives for its appointment, choose Arrival at the reserved station. The clock does not run yet. If the group does not show up, No-show (“The booking is marked as a no-show and the station is released.”) – at the earliest 30 minutes after the start of the appointment. Before the start a session can be ended with Cancel (“The clock has not started. The session is cancelled and the station becomes free.”).

2. Start the clock

Start opens “Start rental – station”. Here you choose the Tariff (time article) and enter the Group (name); notes are optional. With Start the clock begins.

The dialog is called “Start rental”

Game operations and the rental workshop share the same dialogs. The heading “Start rental” simply means the start of the playing time here.

The same station is never given to two groups at the same time: DiKAS checks block and occupancy again immediately before the start. A double click on Start does not start a second clock.

3. During the session

Button Effect
Pause / Resume Stops the clock or continues it. Pause time is not charged; the station stays occupied
Check extension Asks for Additional minutes and shows “Possible until …” or points to a colliding appointment or a block; Replacement stations (suggestion) follow. Nothing is rebooked
Change table / lane / room See Change station
Block station See Block

Adding drinks: drinks and food are booked on the ticket of the station like at any table (till → open the table → tap the article). They appear on the same bill as the playing time.

Changing the number of people (with “Price per person”): open the table of the station at the till. The running clock shows “n persons”; with a time article that has Price per person there is additionally a counter with One person less and One person more. The number is between 1 and 99. If the price applies per station, it says “Price applies per station – the number of persons does not change the amount.”

4. Change station

The group moves, for example from pool table 2 to pool table 4 or from the small to the large karaoke room. Use Change table, Change lane, Change room or Change station (depending on the station type) in the open session:

  • The selection Move to shows only free, unblocked stations. Stations of the same type come first, stations of another type carry the note “other type”.
  • Change now takes the running clock, the consumption and the occupancy along. “Nothing is restarted.” The previous section is closed with the price rules of the old station; from the change on, those of the new one apply. A paused clock stays paused.
  • A change is only possible while the session is running. If someone repeats the change (for example by double-clicking), nothing happens a second time.

Changing with a different tariff: if a different time article should apply at the target (for example from the normal table to the tournament room with its own tariff), open the table at the till and choose Change table … at the clock. There you find the question “How should the clock move?”:

Choice Effect
Continue clock (default) The same clock keeps running at the new table; the previous section is closed with the old table’s price rules. Consumption moves along
Close section The clock is stopped at the old table (time line and consumption move to the new table), and a new clock starts there – on request with a different Time article at the new table

Staff members for whom Deny moving table is set in the staff administration cannot change tables. The target table must be free and must not have a clock of its own: “The target table is not free or already has a clock.”

5. Time corrections at the clock

If someone started the clock too early or wrongly, there are three corrections at the table of the station, each with a dialog:

Button Effect
Reset clock Time starts again at 0; the clock keeps running or stays paused as before
Change tariff The previous section stays at the old tariff; the chosen New time article applies from now on
Discard clock The clock is discarded without a time line. Consumption stays open; the table becomes free or goes to cleaning
  • The buttons are visible only to staff with a management role or void permission. If the right is missing, DiKAS advises having someone with a manager login take over.
  • A reason is mandatory (“Reason (required)”, at most 200 characters). Nothing goes through without one.
  • Every correction is recorded with table, state, reason and operator in the audit log.
  • If a different clock is now running at the table (for example because a colleague restarted it), DiKAS reports “A different clock is now running on this table – please reload and check again.” That way nobody silently resets a freshly started clock.

6. End the time

Start return ends the playing time: “The clock stops and the time is booked on the bill. The station stays in use until it is closed.” The wording comes from the rental workshop; here it means the end of the playing time. The amount is fixed from now on. If you run the clock directly at the table of the till, end it there with Stop (see Time billing at the table).

7. Paying: together or separately

Playing time and drinks are on one ticket and are paid at the normal till. Pay in the station opens the payment screen for exactly the open lines of the session; Close releases the station again.

  • Together: one payment for the whole bill.
  • Separately: as at any table, the bill can be split, for example per person or per seat, see Split payment. Every partial payment creates its own receipt.

A running or paused clock keeps the table occupied; the playing time only becomes a billable line when the time is ended.

Pay first, then close

As in the rental workshop: first Pay, then Close. Paid and Station free are two separate states (see Rental workshop).

Block (defect or maintenance)

Block station (for example “Block Pool table”) opens a dialog with Kind of block (Defect or Maintenance) and Reason (required). Affected reservations are shown but not changed – the groups must be notified yourself. A running session keeps occupying the station and is not ended by the block. It can only be lifted in the administration: Admin → Rental workshop → Unblock (“Unblock station?”).

Frequently asked questions and stumbling blocks

The group has more people than the station has seats. When booking, DiKAS rejects the group: “The station has only … seats, the group has … people.” Choose another station or check the seat count at the table. Without a stored seat count the size is not checked.

The change does not work, the target station is missing from the list. Only free, unblocked stations are offered. Messages such as “The target station is occupied by now.” or “The target station is blocked.” mean someone was faster. Reload the overview and choose another. For a change with the choice Close section, the target table must in addition have no clock of its own.

“A change is only possible while the session is running.” The change is only possible after the start, not for a reservation or an arrival.

The number of people cannot be changed. The counter appears only for a time article with Price per person. With a price per station DiKAS shows “Price applies per station – the number of persons does not change the amount.” instead.

The amount is lower than the per-person calculation would give. The maximum amount caps the whole session, not each person.

The correction buttons are missing. Reset clock, change tariff and discard clock are visible only with a management role or void permission, Change table … not when the staff right Deny moving table is set.

I discarded the clock – what about the drinks? They stay open and are paid normally. Only the playing time is dropped.

The table cannot be paid while the clock is running. An active or paused time billing keeps the table occupied. Only ending the time creates the billable item; see Time billing at the table.