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| Sault Ste. Marie article http://www.scaratings.com/newScaratings/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1877 |
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| Author: | scar [ Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Sault Ste. Marie article |
plus some pics: http://www.sootoday.com/content/news/de ... sp?c=43505 Buzztime Trivia enthusiasts are putting Sault Ste. Marie bars on the map as the smartest in Canada and the United States. The team is running strong in Buzztime’s Smartest Bar Trivia Contest. It's already assured that Break Away Bar and Grill will compete in September after qualifying for the final round. Some of the regular players are Michael Meyers, a retired postal worker; Leeanne McIntyre, a retired nurse; Ed Butler, a retired English teacher;Shelagh Dowding, a Sault Area Hospital employee; Mike Smyth a marine parts and accessories mechanic; Denise Soderberg, a stand-up comedian; the youngest member, Jay Levesque, a security officer; and, Shauneen Perdomo, a high school French teacher. Although the team doesn't have a name, members call each other their trivia family. Originally teaming up at U-Betcha Bar and Grill several years ago, the team is uniting their intelligence and experience from different walks of life to ensure that Sault Ste. Marie is recognized for its diverse knowledge on various topics. “We encourage people to come out and try it," McIntyre said. "Since we don't have an official team name and because we are representing our region anyone who wants to play, can. The more minds we have working together, the more likely we are to be successful in outplaying other bars in different regions." The team usually meets three or four times a week to play at various locations in an attempt to qualify as many local bars as possible. “We try to split our time between the different locations, to show our loyalty to other bars even though we have already qualified to play in September," Dowding said. "We try to bring business to the other places that offer Buzztime Trivia." Last year, the team landed 21 in the finals out of only 40 bars that qualified. For these routine players, the game has ultimately become a team effort as they sit across from one another and use each other as resources. “It really is amazing what you can learn from one another, even after all these years playing together," Dowding said. "We learn from each other every time we play because some people have travelled to these parts of the world, some people have travelled to other parts and we work together to make sure we have the correct answers." Ultimately, each player benefits as he/she has an opportunity to earn top scores by selecting the correct answer in a shorter amount of time. This, in turn, allows the individual player to maintain a high score but also ensures that the bar itself has a high overall score at the end of each game. “For example,” Perdomo said, “Mike is learning all the names of the countries in Africa. Whether we use that information or not, it is still an opportunity to learn something you would not have otherwise known.” “I have been playing this game for a very long time with a number of different people, all of whom have been splendid," Butler said. "What I love, beside the challenge of the game itself, is you recognize the diversity in people, respect their different capabilities, and their capability to shine." This team which, after several years of playing experience can only be called “trivia all-stars,” has taken on the responsibility of forming a self-started unit that includes about a dozen routine players. Buzztime Trivia is a board game offered in many local bars. Players are required to select the correct answer from a list of four to five possible answers. Each question is timed and as the clock counts down players are provided hints to the correct answer. However, as the time decreases so does the total value of points a player can receive. One hundred and seventy-seven bars from all over Canada and the United States are separated into different regions and have the opportunity to compete in the Smartest Bar Contest. After two rounds, the top three bars with the highest overall scores will be the region's semi-finals winners and will move on to compete in September’s finals. |
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| Author: | tiefly [ Fri Jul 13, 2012 1:25 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sault Ste. Marie article |
So by having 21 bars in a field of 40, they have managed to cut the finals competition in half, since they can only play at one bar for the final...do I have this right? |
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| Author: | pengwn [ Fri Jul 13, 2012 2:00 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sault Ste. Marie article |
tiefly wrote: So by having 21 bars in a field of 40, they have managed to cut the finals competition in half, since they can only play at one bar for the final...do I have this right? No, most of the numbers in that article are just plain wrong 80 sites qualified for finals, and the article makes no mention of the wild card spots. Any group of people playing other sites with the intent of qualifying for finals then abandoning in favour of "their" location would be hard-pressed to reduce the finals field by more than one, let alone 40. (Disclaimer: in no way am I accusing the Soo folks of doing this) Also, there were certainly more than 177 eligible locations when Smartest Bar started. Buzztime's site count hasn't tanked THAT badly |
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| Author: | whales [ Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:06 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sault Ste. Marie article |
Yes a lot of the numbers are incorrect. But it does appear to be the accurate assessment that the team employed the strategy of qualifying two bars and then abandoning one (or selecting one). Break A Way is where they played the final; George Wellington is the other. Yes it reduces the field of 80 by one; there were about 8 or so sites last year that were abandoned in this way. |
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| Author: | tiefly [ Sun Jul 15, 2012 11:11 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sault Ste. Marie article |
whales wrote: Yes a lot of the numbers are incorrect. But it does appear to be the accurate assessment that the team employed the strategy of qualifying two bars and then abandoning one (or selecting one). Break A Way is where they played the final; George Wellington is the other. Yes it reduces the field of 80 by one; there were about 8 or so sites last year that were abandoned in this way. Thanks for the info. |
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| Author: | cards [ Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:52 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sault Ste. Marie article |
pengwn wrote: tiefly wrote: So by having 21 bars in a field of 40, they have managed to cut the finals competition in half, since they can only play at one bar for the final...do I have this right? No, most of the numbers in that article are just plain wrong What do you expect from the media. Do you think they actually take time to check the facts. 
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