[jollyllama]

>captive portal which leads patrons to a table-to-table chat system

The unreliability of captive portals across devices aside, they'll make you download some app you'll never use again, or they'll take your email and spam you later.

[krisoft]

That is not a “we can’t do it” problem. That is a “they don’t want to do it” problem.

If you want it and you think it is cool you can have prototypes in a day max. Making it usable enough so even drunk people won’t need help using it will take longer, but it is certainly more manageable than the vacuum tubes as a hobby project.