New Scaratings

As of the first week of October, South Eastern British Columbia no longer has Buzztime . Our little group last played in Nelson at Finley's Irish Pub & Grill. Management kept it going for about three years; a tribute to them since folks rarely played, and we, the regular trivia players, were few. Our monetary contributions were not enough to pay for the BT games, and management made the decision to pull the plug.

Finley's was a good little pub. The staff always greeted us by name, and handed us our playmakers as we entered, and always bid us goodnight as we left. There were live bands, and comics, and karaoke nights, and fight nights, and all manner of entertainments, but the only thing we will miss will be trivia. I suppose they will not miss our "nickels", perhaps amounting to about half of the cost of the system per month.

It looks like South Eastern BC is now void of Buzztime for now. Cranbrook, Fernie, Kimberley, and now Nelson, have all fallen. 250 miles to the west (400 kms), is the Okanagan Valley with several locations still in operation.

I've played since 1994, and consider this just another minor "dark age" in my life as a trivia player. For those of us not living in major cities, and have no other locations in which to choose, this is a frequent inconvenience.

Oh, and by the way, the owner was very gracious to sit down with me and to explain the situation, even though other pub business demanded her attention.

I'm sorry to read about your loss.

Just out of curiosity, how far are you from the Alberta border? Could there possibly be a place in AB less than 400km away?

-- RWM

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"...It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED...."

Sad to hear it.

Lethbridge is 530 km to east, Spokane, Wa is 200 km to south. I feel like a shipwreck survivor at the moment.

You should consider moving to Louisville KY.

I know the feeling Courtenay on vancouver island used to have two sites. both gone! Duncan took up the slack with a new site replacing two others down there in june 2009 but dropped it in january 2010 ( it was 200 mile round trip for me) Nanaimo has a sports bar with Buzztime but they only play poker there. Parksville has a nice little bar with Buzztime but no one plays but me and the 100 mile round trip is daunting late fall and winter, so it looks like they are going to drop the game too. My only hope is that the new Applebees opening in Courtenay sometime in November will have the game- i am having all my aquantances who are going to try the place out asking why they do not have the games there.
I hope you find a replacement site soon

Its always sad to lose a trivia home.

The owner was gracious to explain why to you.

Yeah, much better than the bastard who ran the TGIFriday's in Darien, IL who sat down with us, led us to believe he was going to keep it due to the number of players who came out in support of keeping it (there were 30 regular players who showed up), and pulled the plug the next week.

(Yes, I'm still bitter.)

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Malort. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

Scar: the Louisville area looks saturated with Buzztime. Must be nice.

defined1: Good luck with your area. At least you are on the main Vancouver Island north-south artery, and the BT possibilities are always present.

ranger: Yes, the owner was gracious, but if I was the owner I think I'd join our small group on a day when we were all present (Showdown Tuesday), explain the situation, give us a date when the game would be killed, thank us for our patronage, apologize for the inconvenience, and buy us a round of beers ($4.50 X 3). What the hell, I'm a dreamer.

bgtuna: I guess no one is safe, if, with 30 regular players, the game is still dropped. It looks like you have many alternative sites in your area in which to play.

This was actually a few years ago and all of us have gone on to different, and in many ways, better locations. But it's like that girl who you treated well that dumped you unceremoniously without warning; you find a great girl to take her place, but you always remember the bitch.

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Malort. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

I stopped in to Finley's on the last Saturday in August to play a few games, and was treated very well. Good prices, too
The doorman was even good enough to waive the cover charge, since I wasn't there for the band

It's quite unfortunate to see the only site in a rather large area drop BT. I venture into BC several times a year for the hot springs. Usually I only go as far as Radium, but if I have the time and gas money, I prefer Ainsworth. Now I suppose I would have to go to Mickie's in Kelowna for a road trip trivia fix

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/°v°\ • Every time Linux boots, a penguin gets its wings
I'm a solipsistic conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I must be up to something, and I won't stop until I find out what
Why not downgrade Plutonium to a dwarf element?

City Centre is about to drop trivia. That will leave Ross Bay pub the only location left on Vancouver Island, pop 750 000. It will be 10 mins further for me from home or work.

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Work, the curse of the drinking class.

No matter how hard you push the envelope, it's still stationery.
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I am very sorry to hear this. Losing one's home site is never good, but one site for 3/4 of a million people is even more unfortunate.

I hope to see Ross Bay Pub up on the boards.

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

Is this the old Douglas Hotel? If it is, you guys had the game for at least 15 years! It looks like Nanaimo and Parksville still have the game, if that means anything.

I wonder why our pub, Finleys in Nelson, is still reporting out (Last Reported 11.22.10). Maybe I should check to see if they really did give up the game.

City Centre is gone as of today, made it to the Ross Bay Inn and played tonight. They had pints, 20 oz, of chocolate porter on special for $4. Had a good time. Will be there again tomorrow, just later than if I were going to the City Centre.

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Work, the curse of the drinking class.

No matter how hard you push the envelope, it's still stationery.
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No, the Dougie's been gone some time. The hotel was sold and the new owners thought BT was too low class for their image so they moved it from the lounge to the bar. It was the last of that class of old school bars where the patrons have few if any teeth, there are black lights in the washrooms to force the junkies to shot up in the alley behind it, and they took Canadian Tire money at par. It has since been closed, gone through a major reno, and become an upscale boutique hotel.

City Centre is 5 blocks north of the old Dougie in what used to be called the Crown and I. The Ross Bay pub is just across the road from the Ross Bay cemetary.

The City Centre is still updating but that is because they removed the boards and nothing else. When I was playing Showdown Tuesday night at the Ross Bay the City Centre was still open for its last night but boardless when Lynky appeared on the Ross Bay board and played the game. As near as I can tell, he was sitting 3 km away in the City Centre playing with his I-phone. I wonder if BT knows this is possible.

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Work, the curse of the drinking class.

No matter how hard you push the envelope, it's still stationery.
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