FAQ

Gizmo is an all-in-one solution for managing entertainment venues: PC and gaming clubs, internet cafes, VR arenas, lounges and more. All of these components are parts of one ecosystem, and each one covers its own area of the business. The central component is Gizmo Server: it is the core of the whole system. It processes operations, stores customer data and manages the other components.

A database is a digital archive where the software stores information about how your club runs. The database holds the important data: guest profiles, account balances, the price of gaming time, purchase history and much more.

It's simple — just two steps:

1. Sign up on our website.

2. Install and set up the software by following the steps in Quick install.

Yes, you can upgrade on your own. We describe every step of moving your club settings to Gizmo V3 in the Migration to v3 guide.

⏱️ Time: 30—50 minutes

Where you can connect to Gizmo Server from depends on the Hostname set in Settings → Server → Network. By default it is "gizmo.local", and the server is reachable only on the local network.

1. Inside the club. On any PC on the same local network, open http://<server local IP>/apps/manager/signin in a browser, for example http://192.168.1.25/apps/manager/signin.

2. From the internet. In the Hostname field, enter the server's public IP address or a domain name you have bought.

3. If the server is in the club and not on a VPS, the public IP is the external address of your router. Set up port forwarding to Gizmo Server on the router. By default this is port 80 for http and port 443 for https.

For https, Gizmo Server uses a built-in self-signed certificate by default, and the browser may not trust it. To get rid of the error, install your own trusted SSL certificate in PFX format:

1. Open Settings → Server → Network.

2. In the PFX Certificate block, click Browse and select the certificate file.

3. Restart Gizmo Server — the new certificate is not applied until you do.

Signs of the problem: Gizmo Client never finishes loading, the server icon is red, or the PC does not appear in Hosts → Computers. Before you contact support, go through this short checklist:

1. Licenses. Open Settings → Organization → Subscription: the subscription must be active. You need at least as many licenses as connected gaming stations, consoles included.

2. Network. The client PC must be on the same local network as the server. In Settings → Server → Network → Connection Rules, Auto Discovery and Hostname Recovery must be turned on. Also check that an antivirus or firewall is not blocking the connection.

3. Client. Download the Gizmo Client installer from Settings → Others → About, so that its version is compatible with the server. Then restart the client and the PC, and make sure only one copy of the client is running.

4. Assignment. If the PC appears in Hosts → Computers but is not on the map, set its Branch, Host Group and Layout.

It depends on the network settings of your Gizmo Server. Clients can connect over standard TCP, and also over ws and wss.

You can turn on a PC that is off right from Gizmo Manager — this uses Wake On LAN.

1. Turn on Wake On LAN on the client PC itself — in BIOS/UEFI and in the network adapter settings.

2. Make sure the computer's card (Hosts → Computers) has a MAC Address — the power-on signal is sent to it.

3. In the Map section, select one or more gaming stations and click Power On in the Hosts group. The same action is in the right-click menu. The operator needs the Power On Hosts permission (Management category) for this.

Club settings and data are stored in the database, so updates within V3 usually keep them. When you move from V2, you will have to enter some settings again — see the Migration to v3 guide. Keep in mind that Gizmo V3 is currently in beta and under active development: from version to version, some settings may move to another section, change or appear for the first time. So after every update:

1. Open the Change log section and read what changed in the new version: which bugs were fixed, which features were added and what moved in the interface.

2. Check the settings that the changes affect.

3. Make sure the client PCs were updated too. If Automatic Shell Update is turned on in Settings → Client → Shell → System, Gizmo Client updates itself whenever a new server version requires a client update.

While the server restarts, client PCs lose the connection to it. What happens to customer sessions depends on the shell settings in Settings → Client → Shell → User Session:

1. Check the Log Out Disconnected Clients and Terminate Pending Sessions options. If at least one of them is on, a customer's session ends when the connection to the server is lost for longer than the Timeout field (180 seconds by default): in Gizmo Client when Log Out Disconnected Clients is on, and on the server and in Gizmo Manager when Terminate Pending Sessions is on.

2. If these options are on, restart the server so that it is back up before the timeout runs out. If they are off, customer sessions do not end automatically because of the lost connection.

3. Restart the server. If it runs as a service, stop and start it again in ConfigurationTool, in the Gizmo Service Management section. If it runs as a console application, close it and start it again.

Most often the cause is the subscription or the settings of the hosts themselves. Check in this order:

1. Licenses. Open Settings → Organization → Subscription and make sure the subscription is valid and Total Licenses is not less than the number of gaming stations you have connected. Keep in mind that this number includes not only computers, but also consoles and other gaming stations added as endpoints.

2. Host assignment. In Hosts → Computers, check that every PC has a Branch, Host Group and Layouts set — without them the PC does not appear on the map.

3. Layout. If the club has several layouts (for example, floors or zones), switch to the right one — the map shows only the stations of the selected layout.

4. Operator access. The map shows the gaming stations available to the current operator. Check that all the needed Branches are selected in the operator's card.

Most likely the operator's permission set is missing a permission, or shift handling is set up wrong in the operator's card. A staff member with permissions from the Settings category can fix this:

1. Open Settings → Operators and permissions → Permissions and select the permission set assigned to this operator.

2. Turn on the missing permissions. For register work, check the Terminal category (viewing transactions, pay in and pay out) and the View Expected permission in the Shift category. For sales, check the Sales category. The Search field helps you find the right item.

3. Open Settings → Operators and permissions → Operators and select the operator. In the Permission block, check the Permission Preset and Branches fields. In the Shift block, check the mode: with Disabled, the operator does not use shifts. If the operator needs to open and close shifts, select Optional or Required.

Most often a report is empty because the filters were not applied or the selected period has no data. Check:

1. The filters are applied. In reports with filters (for example, the Financial report), click Apply Filters after you choose the parameters.

2. The period is correct. Check the dates and times. If a Custom period covers a stretch with no shifts and no sales, the report is empty.

3. The filters are not too narrow. If a specific Operator or Cashier Location is selected, the report includes only their operations.

4. Time zone and schedule. Settings → Organization → General must show your current time zone — it sets the date and time of all records, transactions included. In the same place, check the Default Work Schedule — reports are built with it.

In Gizmo V3, a barcode scanner works through Gizmo Companion — an app that connects the Gizmo server to POS hardware. You install Companion on the PC used for sales and link it to a register.

1. In Gizmo Manager, open Settings → Server → Companions, click Create Companion and give it a clear name (for example, after the location of the point of sale). Open the new companion and copy its token.

2. In Settings → Others → About, download Gizmo Companion and install it on the operator PC that the scanner is connected to.

3. Open Companion on this PC (the desktop shortcut, or localhost:8000 in a browser). Enter the Protocol, Hostname (the server IP) and Port, paste the token and save. In the Manager, the companion status should change to Connected.

4. In Companion, open POS Devices in the left panel and set the COM port of the barcode scanner.

5. Go to Settings → Finances → Registers, open the register of this PC and set the Branch, Companion (the one you just created), Number and Name. Save the changes.

First you create the product in the Shop section. Then you add its quantity to the warehouse with a stock operation.

1. Open Shop → Products and click Create Product. Enter the name, product group and price, and attach an image if you like.

2. In the Availability block, turn on the right Branch and select the user groups the product is available to.

3. In the Warehouse block, turn on Stock Control if the product should be deducted from stock, and save the card.

4. To add the quantity, open Shop → Stock Operations, click Stock Operation and select the Incoming type, with Manual as the receipt method.

5. Select the branch and warehouse, add the products, enter their quantity and cost (0 is fine) and click Continue.

You can give free time with a 100% discount on tariffs and/or time products. The discount goes into a discount group, which is assigned to a user group, and you move the user into that group.

1. Open Marketing → Discounts and click Create Discount. Turn the discount on, enter a name and make it available for your branch.

2. In the Target Groups block, click Create Target Group and select Tariffs (and/or Time Products). Add the items with the + button or check Include All. In the Group Activation and Activation Condition fields, select Any.

3. In the Reward block, select the Discount type, Order Line in the Apply To field, and the Percentage calculation type with the value 100. Save the discount.

4. In Marketing → Discount Groups, create a discount group and add this discount to it.

5. In Users → User Groups, create a group (for example, "Free time") and set the new discount group in the Discount Group block.

6. Open the user's card and, in the User Organization block, select this group in the User Group field.

In V3, special prices for groups are set in the Marketing section, with discounts. For each product you create its own discount with a fixed amount equal to the difference between the regular price and the price you want.

1. Open Marketing → Discounts and click Create Discount. Turn the discount on, give it a name (for example, "Energy drink — VIP") and make it available for your branch.

2. In the Target Groups block, create a Products target group and add the product with the + button. In the Group Activation and Activation Condition fields, select Any.

3. In the Reward block, select Discount, Order Line in the Apply To field, and the Fixed calculation type. Enter the discount amount: for example, if the product costs

   $3.00 and should cost $
   2.50 for the group, enter 0.50.

4. Repeat steps 1—3 for each product with a special price.

5. In Marketing → Discount Groups, create a discount group and add all these discounts to it.

6. In Users → User Groups, open the user group and set the new discount group in the Discount Group block.

A customer has two different values: Deposits — the amount on deposit, and Balance — the state of the customer's money account. A negative balance means a debt. Check the settings:

1. Credit in the user group. In Users → User Groups, open the customer's group and look at the Credit block. If Allow Credit for Sales or Allow Credit Usage is set to Unlimited or Limited, the customer can go negative.

2. Payment from deposit. The invoice settings (Settings → Finances → Invoices) have the Withhold Deposits for Unpaid Session Time option. When it is on, the amount for unpaid time is automatically taken from the deposit when the balance is closed. In the same place, you can turn on Auto Pay from Deposits for automatically issued invoices for each user group.

3. Time payment sources. In the Billing block of the user group, check whether Time Product and Deposits are turned on. If Deposits is off, time is not paid from the deposit.

Points are the club's internal currency: a guest earns them for purchases or gaming time, saves them up and spends them on later purchases.

1. Points for products and time products are set in the item's card, in the Reward block.

2. Points for hourly pay are set for user groups: Users → User Groups, the Loyalty section of the group card. You can award points for money spent or for time played.

3. Spending points is set in the Pricing block of the product or time product card: you can set a price in points and choose whether the guest pays with money "AND" points or with money "OR" points.

Use a security profile for this. The Policies section of the profile already contains ready-made policies that block Windows features — you only need to check them. The Start menu is hidden with a separate option, and the taskbar can be locked against changes and have its notification area hidden. The security profile has no option to hide the taskbar completely.

1. Open Hosts → Security Profiles and create a profile or open an existing one.

2. Turn on Hide Start Menu and Prevent Shell Minimizing. In Windows 10, the Start menu is hidden. In Windows 11, it stays in place, but it is empty and stops working.

3. In the Policies section, check the taskbar restrictions, for example Explorer Taskbar Lock All (fully locks the taskbar against changes), Explorer Taskbar No Notification (hides the notification area) and Explorer No Win Keys (disables the Win key and its shortcuts). You can also turn on all policies with one button — this is the maximum level of lockdown.

4. Link the profile to a host group: Hosts → Host Groups → the Security Profile field. Without this, the profile is not applied.

Use personal user files (PUF) for this. Gizmo saves the specified folder from the client PC to the server and brings it back when the guest starts the game or logs in on any PC in the club. This way saves are not lost, even if the PC is reset after every session.

1. Open Hosts → Apps, then the game's card and its executable.

2. Go to the Personal Files tab and click + Create New Personal File.

3. In the Source field, enter the path to the saves folder on the client PC. To save a registry entry, turn on the Registry option and enter its path in the Source field.

4. Select the Activation: On Startup — the files are returned to the PC when the game starts; On Login — when the guest logs in to their account (with many PUFs, login may get noticeably slower).

5. If needed, set a Quota — how many MB one customer's save may take (0 means no limit).

Files are always copied from the client PC to the server when the guest logs out. You can set the server folder where personal files are stored in Settings → Client → File System → User Storage Path.

Use deployment profiles for this. You update the game once in a folder on the server, and Gizmo compares it with the folder on the client PC and copies only the changed files. If needed, it deletes files on the client that are no longer in the source.

1. Open Hosts → Apps, then the game's card and its executable.

2. Go to the Deployments tab and click + Create New Deployment.

3. In the Source field, enter the folder with the current version of the game on the Gizmo Server PC, and in the Destination field, enter the game folder on the client PC.

4. Select the Comparison Mode. The more thorough the comparison, the lower the chance of an error, but the slower the update. The fastest option is Quick, the most reliable is Thorough (it also checks the file hash).

The deployment runs before the game starts. If the Auto Launch option is on, the game starts right after it, without a second click.

Open Settings → Client → Shell and, in the General block, enter a new value in the Manager Password field. This password opens maintenance mode from the hidden Gizmo Client window. In maintenance mode you can minimize the shell, deactivate Gizmo Client or remove it.

The look of the shell is set with skin profiles. You can make different profiles for different host groups, for example a separate one for the VIP zone.

1. Open Settings → Client → Skins. Create a profile with the Create Skin Profile button, or open an existing one with "..." → Edit.

2. Set up the sections you need: background and logo (Media), the login screen, the home page, the shop and the apps page. For fine-tuning the look, use the Custom CSS field in the Others section.

3. Assign the profile to hosts: Hosts → Host Groups → the Skin and Skin Profile fields. To make a profile the default one, click "..." → Set as Default.

Most likely the password does not meet the club's password policy. The policy sets the minimum and maximum password length and the required character groups: lowercase letters, uppercase letters and digits. The policy applies when a customer creates or changes a password in Gizmo Client. If, for example, uppercase letters are required and the password is typed only in lowercase, it can't be saved.

1. Open Settings → Client → Shell → the Password Policy block.

2. See which requirements are on and come up with a password that meets them. Pay special attention to letter case and digits.

3. If needed, relax the requirements. Keep in mind that simpler passwords are easier to guess.