What makes a floor worth competing for.

• Dwell time, not headcount. The single most underrated one. A hundred covers that turn in forty minutes is a weaker floor than fifty people who stay three hours. Play happens in the gaps — waiting on food, after the meal, during a game on the TV. If your room empties fast, that's the thing to work on before anything else.

• Hours, especially the late ones. Evenings and weekends carry most of the play. Closing at nine on a Friday costs more than any hardware decision an operator could make for you.

• Where the machines go, and whether there's any privacy. An alcove, a back area, a separate space out of the main sightline. People play more when they aren't on display to the dining room — and it also settles the objection most owners raise, which is that a floor will change what their place feels like. It doesn't have to. Where the terminals go is your call, and it's worth telling terminal operators what you have in mind.

• The state of the space. Lighting, cleanliness, seating that someone would actually sit in for an hour. This is the cheapest thing on the list to fix and the most visible on a walkthrough.

• Whether your staff can help. Somebody on shift who can handle a stuck ticket or a jammed bill acceptor without it becoming a bad night. It costs nothing and it's the difference between a player coming back and not.

• Regulars over traffic. A steady crowd that knows the place beats volume that passes through once. It's also the thing you've probably already built and may not think to mention.

No account needed, and nothing you look up is shared with anyone. Look up your location.

• Your hours, plainly. Especially if you're open late. It's the fastest signal on the page and most listings leave it implied.

• Where the machines would go. A separate area, an alcove, a converted back space — say it. It answers the question an operator has to guess at otherwise.

• Who your crowd is. Regulars, shift workers, a post-game rush, a slow dinner room that lingers. Two sentences of this is worth more than any number.

• What you want from them. Be specific about service, not vague about wanting "a good partner". Newer cabinets, titles refreshed on a schedule, a response time you can hold them to — those are the terms an offer actually answers, line for line.

• What you're willing to change. If you'd move a wall, extend hours on weekends, or clear a back area — say so. It changes what a floor is worth pursuing, and it costs you nothing to put in writing.

• You have nowhere sensible to put them. A terminal in the middle of a dining room is bad for the players and bad for everyone else. If there's no corner, alcove or back area, that's the problem to solve first.

• Nobody stays. High turnover and a fast table is a good restaurant and a weak floor. It isn't a flaw in your business — it's a mismatch with this one.

• You close early. If the doors shut before the evening really starts, the hours are doing more damage than any operator could undo.

• You don't actually want them there. Plenty of owners don't, and that's a fine answer. A floor you resent is one you'll under-support, and everyone loses. Better to decide now than after you've signed a multi-year agreement.

If some of this is a “not yet” rather than a no, list when it’s a yes. Nothing here expires, and a stronger floor gets a better field of terminal operators competing for it.