New Scaratings

Granted, that is a big maybe, but is a real possibility.

As some of you know, I am a co-owner of Shenanigans Sports Bar in San Angelo, Texas. I originally owned 100% of it but I have since sold majority ownership to a business partner. He has never been in love with Buzztime (specifically the cost) but has deferred to me on the matter. And if it comes right down to it, he will continue to defer to me.

Recently a couple of events have brought the matter to the forefront again. I would like to upgrade our system to the tablet format. The trouble with that is the high initial cost to convert to tablets (although it does not affect the monthly payment). Now, in normal times we could absorb the cost without so much as a Howdy do.

The second event is what is holding things up. We are expanding into a space next-door in our stripmall. We will have some high initial costs with construction and so forth plus our total rent will be near double. That will certainly suspend upgrading to tablets for the time being. And the Buzztime monthly cost might be a factor as well.

My partner has brought up possibly of using TapTV trivia. Does anyone know anything about it? I apologize if this subject is been brought up before. I cannot find it in a search of the site. The research I've done so far looks promising. Their questions are not softball questions. They keep costs down by not providing playmakers. Players use their own smart phones and/or tablets with the free app.

At this juncture I would have a hard time arguing with my partner to keep Buzztime. I have talked to most of my regular trivia players and they have no problem with switching. Any comments?

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I don't know if I'm a typical player, so you can take or leave my comments as you wish. I can tell you that I would never set foot in a BWW, for example, if they did not have Buzztime, and they same goes for most other places. The main reason is not just that it's playing trivia, but the network-wide nature of it, and the premium games like Showdown.

If I may ask a question in return, what is the nature of the extra costs associated with the tablets?

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Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

Agree totally w/ BWW comment aand was wondering about tablets myself. A new BWW is opening in the town where I work soon and had asked about tablets, but got nothing back.

Per BO's comment in another thread, it seems that multiboxing w/tablets is difficult, though I've never tried.

This kind of boggles my mind, I cannot imagine any regular trivia player competing nationwide sharing this opinion. The nationwide competition is precisely why we play.

That being said, I have no clue whatsoever about Tap TV Trivia or what kind of competition it involves. Simply know you would not be competing against any of the BT regular sites.

As far as the tablets go, while they certainly bring in more casual players, they aren't yet ready for serious players. They do show promise, just need a bit of tweaking first.

It does suck that a lover of BT has to face a decision like this.

I agree. I certainly do not go to BWW for the food.

Granted, we will miss the premium games. What our particular group gathers for is the camaraderie not necessarily team scores although that is an important aspect of it.

The extra cost is a one time charge for the tablets. Roughly $3500 for the set up we want.

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Perhaps you can reach out to your regulars to help offset the $3500 conversion cost. Give the gift cards equal to 120% of their contribution.

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Lick me Charm City- you stole my team.
Quite crying about the Colts.

As a devoted player myself, it does make me sad to think we would be giving up our favorite premium games. And I for one would miss the ability to compete nationwide as well.

In the time since I made the original post I, have talked to three or four other bar owners/managers that have the TapTV system. All of them were quite enthusiastic about it. It does have national rankings though that would be almost meaningless because there are so few bars with it as of yet. And though there are no "premium" games, there are topix-like games every night. Sports, movies, the 80’s, to name a few. And they do not have badges -- yet.

Yes, it will be a tough decision. But it will boil down to a business decision.

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That is a great idea. I will definitely consider it.

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So Tap TV/ AMI is a jukebox company running behind Touch Tone that has come up with a Buzztime clone. They have over a hundred accounts for jukebox in the area and if they could bridge 20% I think they would equal buzztime and let us face it; given BTs poor showing over the last few years most of us have wondered why somebody hasn't stepped up and kicked BT out of the park. If Tap TV has a good game I'm more than happy to play rather than suffer BTs stupidity although I will loose P+ points and badges. Try Tap TV, just make sure they don't trap you in the contract if it doesn't work out.

I wish they had a site list on their web site.

Download their app and start an account and and you will have access to their sitelist, their game schedule and even the questions after they have expired.

I'm ready to go out and try it; I'd like to know if their three-hour primetime block, which thematically runs twice per night, is a repeat the second time.

Their schedule says it runs trivia for 22 hours from 7am to 5am the following day. Not sure why there is a two hour open block. Knowing that bars and restaurants don't open before 11am, this leads me to believe that a player could play from home.

I downloaded the app and you have to be at the site to see the questions. There are 4 locations in the Louisville area and one was an old Buzztime site. I plan on going to one of the sites this weekend and see all the details. I like what I see so far. 20 minute games with 12 questions. On the app there is a recap of the game after it is over with the questions and answers and which ones you answered correctly. Also, there is a national board on where you ranked with other players. I did not see any leader boards or accumulated individual stats. I am sure there will be some good and bad things with this company. But, it will solve some of the shenanigans that has been going on here and in other areas. I have played Buzztime for a long time. But, I am excited to see a new company that looks like they can improve trivia play in local restaurants and bars.

I downloaded the app and I must say it is an improvement over the Buzztime app in some regards. I like the fact that even though you can't see the questions in real-time (unless you are at the location) it does archive the last game so you can see what questions were asked (and the answers).

Like the Buzztime app it also has a site finder. You type in a location i.e "Dallas", "Louisville" etc. And it gives you any locations within 30 miles. Of course it also accesses the GPS in your device.

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22 hours is a lot of time everyday. Hopefully their question database is large enough to accommodate that without too many repeats.

My guys said they would be willing to submit a few thousand science-fiction questions if they wanted to start a sci-files type game.

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11am in Nova Scotia is 10am EST and 7am PST. I also know a couple casino bars that are open 24/7.

It looks like this TapTV (clone game) debuted in March 2013? I had never heard of it until this thread. And speaking of cloning, I see they're boasting that Texas Hold Em and Tournaments are coming soon

If they're going to clone, they should launch a site finder. Right now, I see that you download the app and then it will tell you if there are any sites in your radius. I want to know if there are any sites in the radius before I download the app.

If you are on the West Feed you should drop it like a bad habit. Wait, doesn't matter where you are you should drop them. Buzztime sucks ass.

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Buzztime is a company full of dumbshits.

I don't see this Tap TV format working around here. 99% of current players refuse to use their phn for BT game play.
If there are no playmakers very few will play.

At Hardtimes people are using their phn for too many other things, fantasy sports games, texting, calls... ohh and constantly loading songs into the touch tune juke box. So how can players play touch tune Tap TV and use the touch tune juke box phn app at the same time for 3+ hours? The juke box costs $ per song, so I wonder how long before touch tune starts charging a fee per game of the Tap Tv?? That will not fly with most players I know.

BOD do your regular players use their phones now for BT play? Do they play for 3 - 4 hours like most of us do? If they do then they aren't using their phones for other things. Battery life will never make it.

I see this Tap TV phn only system as a quick 1 or 2 game novelty not a serious competition that players will spend hours on as we currently do. The same goes for BT's attempts to get us to use phones, not going to happen with players that are there for 3+ hours.

BOD, Don't get the Tap Tv system and certainly don't pay the $3500 for the BT Beond system either, that is a rip off. The tablets don't work that well and the up front price is way too high. Stick with what you have and ask the regular players for a monthly donation only if you REALLY think the only other choice is dropping BT.

Just be glad you don't have to play with Bobby in the west. You could probably hear him complaining through the playmakers.

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BUD - Stained Glass Pub Silver Spring MD
OC BUD - Grotto Pizza DE near Ocean City MD

LET'S GO ....Caps and Os!!!!

As I mentioned before it does have a Site Finder. It automatically picks up your GPS and gives you sites within 30 miles. And you can also input, for example, "Dallas", "Phoenix," etc and it will give you locations within 30 miles of those areas.

And as far as I can tell there's no East-West split.

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We had some of the same concerns about phones ourselves. Also in talking to the bars that have the game, that is been a bit of a problem as well. I would estimate we are at 60/40 playmaker/phones right now. And by "phones" I mean phones and tablets, iPads etc.

My business partner located some android tablets for less than 50 bucks apiece. His thought is we can loan those out as we do playmaker's now. We would certainly have to hold a credit card or photo ID for security. But even if a stray tablet walks out the door it's not worth crying over 50 bucks. Especially if we have a valid credit card. Can you say penalty charges?

As I said before, the money wouldn't be a problem and probably isn't an insurmountable problem now. It is just that we are having a spend every spare dollar towards expansion at the moment. If we keep Buzztime, then the upgrade would be sometime after that event occurs.

We certainly don't plan to ask for donations from our players. What was suggested earlier was something like selling "bonds". That is, we would sell you a certificate for say $125 worth of bar credit for say, $100. Being bar credit, we would not have to pay the 14% sales tax on it so it would be economical for us. However if, and this is a big IF, is whether that would be legal through the alcoholic beverage commission and the state comptroller. Probably not.

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It has occurred to me that this thread makes it sound as if we are hard strapped for cash. That is just not the case. We have money set aside for the expansion plus a healthy reserve for the business. We are merely trying to stay away from the reserve unless absolutely necessary. And in my partner's mind Buzztime is not an absolute necessity, especially if there is a viable alternative. But as I said before he will defer to me if it comes down to it.

One of his arguments is that Buzztime's yearly cost is more than all our other sports packages put togethe -- NFL Sunday ticket,NBA basketball, college football, major-league baseball etc. etc. That is money that could be put into the betterment of the bar and, yes, our pockets. That is a very hard argument to refute. Now with the expansion it is even harder to refute.

Does it pay for itself? Possibly but it is a close call. We have some daytime players who drink heavily and at least two groups per week that average 8-10 players spending maybe $25-30 each. Even discounting fixed expenses such as rent and utilities and salaries, it's still a close call.

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I didn't see it as your business was struggling with a cash flow. But, I do wonder how many former Buzztime sites have switched over to this new company. One local site in Louisville has, but they were never a popular site when they had Buzztime. I will reserve further judgment on Tap TV until I have the chance to play it.

I hope you're able to get there soon. I am dying to hear feedback from a Buzztime regular. I would like to know how the questions stack up against Buzztime. I'd like to know about the pace of the games, the "look" of the screens, how fast the game sucks the battery down on your phone, etc. If you get to the former Buzztime site find out how they like it compared to the old system.

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I hope to go sometime tomorrow. We are getting ice and snow today.

Looks like TapTV was founded in 2005, but the trivia was recently added. Here is some company info. Looks to be privately owned. http://investing.businessweek.com/resea ... d=59056644

I like playing BT, and maybe a little competition might yield some good changes at BT? Not holding my breath on that, but it is possible. And as was said earlier, if BT goes the way of the Dodo, then we would at least have something to play. There are no TapTV locations in the Phoenix area at this time, but there are 3 in Tucson. I would like to play at one of their locations before I judge it.

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http://www.buzztime.com/profile?pid=4095712
http://www.sixchallenge.com