Yakuza Kiwami 2: Cabaret Club Guide (2024)

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Unlocking The Cabaret Club Mini-Game

Running A Night

Recruiting And Managing Hostesses

Partnering With Businesses

Cabaret Club Grand Prix

As with every game in the series, Yakuza Kiwami 2 contains plenty of optional activities for you to experience. One of them is running a Cabaret Club named Club Shine. It's very similar to the mini-game from Yakuza 0. However, instead of Majima, Kiryu is in charge of running things.

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The protagonist doesn't seem like he'll be well-suited to the role, but with your intervention, he can become the top Cabaret Club manager in all of Sotenbori. Before you can reach those lofty heights, though, you need to know how it all works. Everything you must learn is in this guide.

Updated August 2, 2023, by Sean Murray: If you're looking to win the Cabaret Club Grand Prix in Yakuza Kiwami 2, you've come to the right place. We've refreshed this guide with improved tips and better formatting to make becoming the Cabaret Club champion that much easier.

Unlocking The Cabaret Club Mini-Game

Kiryu doesn't begin the game in the Cabaret Club business, so you have to play through the first few chapters to unlock the mini-game. However, it's still impossible to miss.

Late in chapter four, you have to walk past a place called Club Shine. Once you do, a lengthy cutscene ends with Kiryu becoming the manager of the club. It's at this point that you gain access to the Cabaret Club activity.

Running A Night

After the tutorial, you can open your Cabaret Club for the night by interacting with Yuki and selecting Ranking Match from the menu.

Selecting Your Hostesses

Before starting, the game will ask if you're happy with your hostess line-up. You can either change your crew from here or in the hostess menu.

Early on, the line-up will effectively pick itself as you won't have many options. However, once you start building up your roster, picking your crew becomes important. Here are the things to consider:

Things To Consider	What It Is And Its Impact
Their Mood	The game indicates what mood each of your hostesses is in with the use of smilies. If they have a blue frown face, you will want to take them out of the line-up if you can. This is because the sadder they are, the worse job they will do. The mood is primarily dictated by how often you make them work. So, you can keep their spirits up by not putting them in the line-up every single time you open.
Their Stats	Every hostess has different HP, Talk, Party, Love, and Skill stats. HP is essentially their stamina, which will drain while working. You obviously want higher HP, but a talented woman with low HP can be useful as well. As for the other stats, each hostess will vary significantly. As customers want different things, it's best to have a set of women who excel in different areas. There's a graph on the right side of the screen, showing the balance of your line-up.
Their Looks	The looks of your hostesses are split into four categories: Sexy, Elegant, Cute, and Funny. Every woman has a grade for each category. Nobody will be perfect across the board. Like with the stats, you want a range of different-looking girls so you can cater to every type of client.
Their Special Quality	Some hostesses have a blue or pink icon on their profile. This is a special individual quality or behavior they possess. They can be either: Serene (never has trouble events), Relaxed (recovers more HP when on the sidelines), Escorted (begins the evening already sitting with a customer), Spoiled (gains more from trouble and support events), Feisty (more likely to have trouble events), and Stressed (doesn't recover as much HP when on the sidelines).
Their Salary	Each girl has their own salary. At the end of the night, the salaries of the girls in your line-up will be taken away from your total intake. You should be hesitant about putting all your most talented women in one line-up as their salaries will be high, and it might not be worth it.

Pairing The Right Hostess To The Right Customer

When a three-minute shift begins, customers will come in and sit at one of the six tables. Each man will have a preferred type of hostess. For instance, they may be looking for a cute talkative girl.

Thankfully, the game simplifies picking the right woman for each client. Simply select the customer and then scroll through your available hostesses. The customer's mood when you hover over a woman will show you how happy he is with that choice. So, you're looking for smiles if possible.

Along with mood, the game also tells you how rich the customer is. For example, early in your Cabaret Club career, you will see lots of 'poor' or 'average' clients. Naturally, the richer the man, the more he is willing to give.

You certainly want to make sure the richer clientele are paired with the hostesses they want.

Helping The Hostess

During a shift, some of your hostesses may ask for help. Select them to go over to their booth.

Once there, the woman will do some sort of hand signal. You have to decipher what it means. This is the correct response to each signal:

Signal	Meaning
Making an 'L' shape with fingers	Guest Glass
Making a 'C' shape with fingers	Ladies Glass
Wringing out an invisible towel	Towel
Making a circle with fingers	Swap Ashtray
Sticking out her thumb and pinky	Refill Ice
Opening up her hands like a book	Menu

If you get it right before the game has to tell you what the signal means, you get a bonus order, the woman recovers some HP, and the customer's mood improves.

Alternatively, if you get it wrong, the hostess loses HP, and the client's mood gets worse.

Dealing With Trouble

Occasionally, a customer will cause trouble for one of your hostesses. So, you need to go over and defuse the situation.

The correct thing to say depends on what the customer is doing:

Customer's Actions	Correct Response
Has got a phone out	No Photos
Aggressively gesturing towards the girl who has her head down	No Harassment
Tries to hand her a business card	No Scouting
Attempting to feel her breasts	No Touching
Raising a fist toward the girl	No Violence
Stood up with a bottle and dancing	No Noise Pollution

Ifyou don't choose the right response, the client will leave, and your hostess' HP will drop.

Providing The Check

You will be notified when a session is finished and a customer is ready to leave. When this happens, go over there to choose what to do.

Regular Customer
OPTION	RESULT
Extend Session?	They won't always accept extending their session, but they're more likely to do so when they're in a good mood. If they accept, you can make more money off them.
Give Gift	Significantly improves the customer's mood as they leave. Yet, it also costs you some money, so you want to do it sparingly.
Thank You Very Much!	A simple thank you slightly improves the mood of the customer.
Our Apologies	An apology can improve a customer's bad mood.

Very Satisfied Customer
OPTION	RESULT
Give Expensive Gift	Significantly improves the customer's mood and earns you many more fans. However, it costs plenty of money.
Gracious Send Off	Improves the customer's mood and gains the club a few more fans.
Give Girl A Reward	The gift helps the hostess recover plenty of HP, but it costs you some money.
Praise Girl	Praising the hostess helps them recover some HP.

Fever Gauge

You may notice during a shift that there is a bar in the top left corner. This is the Fever Gauge. As you're making money, the bar begins to fill. Once it fills at least one segment, you can activate it to trigger Fever Time.

In Fever Time, every affected session lasts longer, the hostess' HP gets increased, the customer's mood improves, and, most importantly, more money gets spent.

The number of tables it impacts depends on the level. Level one will only impact a few clients, while level three will affect almost everyone. The more the bar fills, the higher level of the Fever Time.

You may feel like you always have to wait until level three. However, it can sometimes be beneficial to activate it on one of the first two levels. For example, you don't want to run out of time waiting for it to hit level three.

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Recruiting And Managing Hostesses

There are four levels of hostesses: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Naturally, Platinum girls are the most talented, while Bronze ones are the worst. Yet, with experience, they can all somewhat improve.

At the start of the mini-game, you have one Platinum and two Bronze. You will want to add to your roster as soon as possible.

Getting More Hostesses

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There are three ways to add to your roster:

Scouting	You can find this option in the main Cabaret Club menu. It costs money to scout talent, with the price increasing each time. And you're not guaranteed to find someone every time. However, you can also get some great hostesses this way.
Completing Sub-Stories	You get some hostesses after completing certain sub-stories. The women in question will appear at your club when you next visit.
Progressing In The Cabaret Club Grand Prix	Every time you beat a rival in the Cabaret Club story mode, you get one of their top girls, who are always Platinum level.

Managing Your Hostesses

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Most of your hostesses have set stats, looks, and special qualities. Yet, you can change the looks of your Platinum girls. This is possible by going into the makeover section of the hostess menu.

It's more about altering their looks as opposed to improving them, as pretty much every dress, piece of jewelry, or wig you select will boost at least one looks category but lower another. For instance, you may make a girl sexier but less cute.

When you've got multiple Platinum hostesses, make sure you cover all bases. Therefore, if you've got a cute and funny girl, try to make another one elegant and sexy. As a result, you'll have a Platinum girl to fit every taste.

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Speaking of the platinum girls, you sometimes get the chance to go on dinner dates with them. In these moments, they get a black and pink icon over their heads. Talk to them to start the date.

You shouldn't see these as romantic encounters as they basically function like advanced training for your top talents.

During these dates, you have to fill the love meter by choosing the right dialog options. The better you do, the more experience points the girls receive.

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Partnering With Businesses

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Along with putting on good nights, another way to increase your club's fanbase is through partnering with other businesses.

What places you can partner with depends on your current Cabaret Club Grand Prix league.

To partner with one, you have to go up to the establishment in Sotenbori and press the prompted button. You can tell which are the right buildings because they have a unique icon above them that contains champagne glasses.

These business deals aren't free, though. You have to fork over some cash to partner up. But, in theory, these deals will make you more money in the long run.

Cabaret Club Grand Prix

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The Cabaret Club mini-game has a story that plays out over the Cabaret Club Grand Prix. This competition is separated into four leagues: Fresh League, Paradise League, Executive League, and Millionaire League.

You begin in the Fresh League, and your goal is to make it to the top of the rankings. The said ranking is dictated by how much money you earn in a single night. So, if someone has earned 1.2 million Yen in a shift, you must beat that.

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When you reach the top, you face off against one of the clubs owned by your rival. This grants you access to a championship match - it's in the main Cabaret Club menu.

These head-to-head battles aren't too different from normal shifts, except the game tells you how much money your competitor is making, and you need to beat them.

If you are successful, you're promoted to the higher league, where you must repeat the process. You complete the game mode when you've conquered all the leagues.

Next: Yakuza Kiwami 2: How To Unlock Beam's Weapon Dealer