Mensa NTN SIG annual get-together

RickM · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:17 pm **Posts:** 193

Every year, on the Tuesday night before the American Mensa Annual Gathering, the NTN SIG (Special Interest Group) descends on a local Buzztime site, hoping to get enough brainpower together to win Showdown. While we've come close (and won some games before/afterward), I don't believe we've ever actually succeeded in winning Showdown.

This year's Annual Gathering is in Louisville, KY, and we've chosen Overtime Sports Bar & Grill for our June 30 event. Look for us in the standings (in the east this time), and see if you can beat us.

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose Sports Cafe

MitchWolf · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2015 8:55 pm

Wish you guys good luck

teverett · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2015 6:15 am

It looks like people will be getting there early - start looking around 4:00 ish.

MitchWolf · **Posted:** Wed Jul 01, 2015 8:29 pm

Saw a 4th place finish, good job Tiff, Rick, Brooke

cards · **Joined:** Mon Jan 11, 2010 8:48 am **Posts:** 553

They got a write up as well. Hope everyone enjoyed their stay in Louisville.

http://www.kcentv.com/story/29443168/me ... -challenge

RickM · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:17 pm **Posts:** 193

By my count, we had 22 players. In addition to 4th in Showdown, we had 4 1sts in Countdown (and a 3rd & a 4th), 1st in Glory Daze, and a "disappointing" 15th in Brainbuster.

Next year, Tuedsay June 28th in San Diego (site TBD).

--Rick Magnus/RickM

MitchWolf wrote:

Saw a 4th place finish, good job Tiff, Rick, Brooke

liljol · **Joined:** Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:41 pm **Posts:** 2497

RickM wrote:

Next year, Tuedsay June 28th in San Diego (site TBD).

Well, hell. Assuming that gathering is in the Convention Center, there is presently no BT site within walking distance. After all, that's NTN Buzztime's Site-Poor Backyard. :roll:

RickM · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:17 pm **Posts:** 193

Not at the convention center. We'll be based at the Town & Country Resort, in Mission Valley.

And there is a BWW close by, in Mission Valley--it looks like about 32 minutes on foot, and less by trolley. We'll probably have some cars available; everyone drove this year (about 3½ miles). Whether that site can hanle our needs is a different question, one that we'll check out over the next 11 months; the next closest site, Redwing Bar & Grill, appears to be about 3½ miles away.)

(BWW Mission Valley does appear to have a local team, which can be a plus or a minus. Since they've only broken 30,000 twice in the last 6 months, I doubt they're borging, so that won't be an issue. They appear to get 6-10 players, and the number of available tablets would be a significant question. And I have no idea how big the place is--whether it could handle in influx of ~25 players. Redwing has no team [twice one person has played], and appears to be mostly poker and lunch trivia.)

--Rick Magnus/RickM

liljol wrote:

RickM wrote:

Next year, Tuedsay June 28th in San Diego (site TBD).

Well, hell. Assuming that gathering is in the Convention Center, there is presently no BT site within walking distance. After all, that's NTN Buzztime's Site-Poor Backyard. :roll:

liljol · **Joined:** Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:41 pm **Posts:** 2497

liljol wrote:

RickM wrote:

Next year, Tuedsay June 28th in San Diego (site TBD).

Well, hell. Assuming that gathering is in the Convention Center, there is presently no BT site within walking distance. After all, that's NTN Buzztime's Site-Poor Backyard. :roll:

RickM wrote:

Not at the convention center. We'll be based at the Town & Country Resort, in Mission Valley.

And there is a BWW close by, in Mission Valley--it looks like about 32 minutes on foot, and less by trolley. We'll probably have some cars available; everyone drove this year (about 3½ miles). Whether that site can hanle our needs is a different question, one that we'll check out over the next 11 months; the next closest site, Redwing Bar & Grill, appears to be about 3½ miles away.)

(BWW Mission Valley does appear to have a local team, which can be a plus or a minus. Since they've only broken 30,000 twice in the last 6 months, I doubt they're borging, so that won't be an issue. They appear to get 6-10 players, and the number of available tablets would be a significant question. And I have no idea how big the place is--whether it could handle in influx of ~25 players. Redwing has no team [twice one person has played], and appears to be mostly poker and lunch trivia.)

--Rick Magnus/RickM

Well, hell, again. :lol:

WRT BWW Mission Valley, would strongly recommend using cars or bus/trolley. The walk under California 163 at night may be fraught with danger as more than a few homeless have been known to camp there. BWW Mission Valley is far more likely to handle a large influx than Redwing (more on them in a lil). The core players on Tuesday don't borg, but their actual body count is less than the Playmakers used since three of them use at least two. Total Playmakers is 50, so the only issue could be the number of kids to whom Playmakers are handed out like candy (imagine that).

Redwing has only 15 Playmakers for now (they still have the Blue). Parking in the immediate area is very difficult, so again the recommendation would be to use the 6 bus from Fashion Valley (just a lil walk from Town & Country, and *not* under the 163). One final lil note - Redwing is a rainbow bar.

RickM · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:17 pm **Posts:** 193

Every year, on the Tuesday night before the American Mensa Annual Gathering, the NTN SIG (Special Interest Group) descends on a local Buzztime site, hoping to get enough brainpower together to win Showdown. While we've come close (and won some games before/afterward), I don't believe we've ever actually succeeded in winning Showdown.

This year's Annual Gathering is in "site poor" San Diego, CA, and we've chosen BWW in Mission Valley for our June 28 event. Look for us in the standings, and see if you can beat us.

(For what it's worth, San Diego is site rich compared to Reno where we were a few years ago. There was one site available then.)

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose Sports Cafe

RickM · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:17 pm **Posts:** 193

We had a reasonably good night in San Diego. We thought we had finished 3rd in Showdown; the Hall of Fame shows us 2nd to a known Borg team in Little Rock (2nd by only 100 points). Yes, we play onsite liveware only.

We did get two 1st place finishes, in the 7 PM & 7:30 PM PDT Countdown games. We were playing with a small number of participants--many of our people left after Glory Daze. But those 1sts deserves asterisks--we were playing against only the Central Time Zone & points westward--the Eastern Time Zone starts playing Late Night Trivia at 10 PM EDT.

Next year we'll be playing Tuesday July 4 in Hollywood, Florida (if the holiday doesn't keep us from finding a site. I assume that fireworks will be scheduled many places during Showdown; July 4 sunset in Miami is listed as 8:16 PM, 14 minutes before Showdown begins at 8:30 PM EDT.).

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose

BUD · **Posted:** Thu Jul 07, 2016 10:09 am

Rick, although the BT schedule says otherwise, most eastern time locations play CD till 11pm.
There are a few that do get Lateshift at 10, it is an option at blue box locations. The tablet bars get CD till 11 unless the manager has programmed it out online.

So, you should have seen some eastern bars, but we don't play Tues at our BWW so maybe not without us. :mrgreen:

RickM · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:17 pm **Posts:** 193

Every year, on the Tuesday night before the American Mensa Annual Gathering, the NTN SIG (Special Interest Group) descends on a local Buzztime site, hoping to get enough brainpower together to win Showdown. While we've come close (and won some games before/afterward), I don't believe we've ever actually succeeded in winning Showdown. (Last year, we left thinking we were 3rd; the HOF showed us 2nd, and that to a known Borg bar. Perhaps we should count that as a win.)

This year's Annual Gathering is in Hollywood, FL, and we've chosen BWW in Aventura for our July 4 get-together. Look for us in the standings, and see if you can beat us.

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose Sports Cafe

Merkin · **Joined:** Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:16 am **Posts:** 772

Are you laying points?

GONE D · **Joined:** Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:33 am **Posts:** 710

Merkin wrote:

Are you laying points?

A penny a point across the top six players could run to some interesting money. Not that I would throw my hat in the ring.

As that other distinguished Chicagoan, Nelson Algren, advised, "Never play cards with a man named Doc."

Taking on a gang of roused Mensans is closer to that card game than I care to come.

spotes · **Joined:** Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:27 pm **Posts:** 1558

GONE D wrote:

Taking on a gang of roused Mensans is closer to that card game than I care to come.

Oddly, that's exactly the kind of game that I look forward to the most.

"Well, I haven't fought one person for so long. I've been specialized in groups, battling gangs for local charities, that kind of thing."

Gypsy · **Posted:** Mon May 22, 2017 6:51 am

spotes wrote:

"Well, I haven't fought one person for so long. I've been specialized in groups, battling gangs for local charities, that kind of thing."

Nice Fezzik reference.

RickM · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:17 pm **Posts:** 193

The best-laid plans of mice and Mensans often go for naught.

It seems that the proprietor of the Aventura BWW (a franchise) decided to close early for the Independence Day holiday.

So instead we'll be playing at the BWW in Pembroke Pines--a company-owned unit that's a little further away for us.

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose

RickM wrote:

Every year, on the Tuesday night before the American Mensa Annual Gathering, the NTN SIG (Special Interest Group) descends on a local Buzztime site, hoping to get enough brainpower together to win Showdown. While we've come close (and won some games before/afterward), I don't believe we've ever actually succeeded in winning Showdown. (Last year, we left thinking we were 3rd; the HOF showed us 2nd, and that to a known Borg bar. Perhaps we should count that as a win.)

This year's Annual Gathering is in Hollywood, FL, and we've chosen BWW in Aventura for our July 4 get-together. Look for us in the standings, and see if you can beat us.

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose Sports Cafe

RickM · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:17 pm **Posts:** 193

According to the network standings as posted, we finished 6th. (It showed up as BWW Hollywood, not Pembroke Pines.) We did get two 1sts and a second in Countdown, and I think we were 11th in both Brainbuster and Glory Daze.

Next year, we'll be in Indianapolis.

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose

RickM wrote:

Every year, on the Tuesday night before the American Mensa Annual Gathering, the NTN SIG (Special Interest Group) descends on a local Buzztime site, hoping to get enough brainpower together to win Showdown. While we've come close (and won some games before/afterward), I don't believe we've ever actually succeeded in winning Showdown. (Last year, we left thinking we were 3rd; the HOF showed us 2nd, and that to a known Borg bar. Perhaps we should count that as a win.)

This year's Annual Gathering is in Hollywood, FL, and we've chosen BWW in [Pembroke Pines] for our July 4 get-together. Look for us in the standings, and see if you can beat us.

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose Sports Cafe

RickM · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:17 pm **Posts:** 193

Every year, on the Tuesday night before the American Mensa Annual Gathering, the NTN SIG (Special Interest Group) descends on a local Buzztime site, hoping to get enough brainpower together to win Showdown. While we've come close (and won some games before/afterward), I don't believe we've ever actually succeeded in winning Showdown. (Two years ago, we left thinking we were 3rd; the HOF showed us 2nd, and that to a known Borg bar. Perhaps we should count that as a win.)

This year's Annual Gathering is in Indianapolis, IN, and we've chosen BWW in downtown Indianapolis for our July 3 get-together. Look for us in the standings, and see if you can beat us.

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose Sports Cafe

Merkin · **Joined:** Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:16 am **Posts:** 772

As usual, I quake in fear.

Teasers will be more drunk that usual in honor of the holiday.

RickM · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:17 pm **Posts:** 193

And once again, weird things happened. BWW in downtown Indy upgraded its Wi-Fi this weekend, and the technician removed some wires that seemed superfluous to him. And we discovered late Tuesday afternoon that BWW in downtown Indy had no working Buzztime.

So we made a last minute decision to go to Union Jack in Speedway. Just 10 Playmakers, 2 screens with trivia, weak Wi-Fi, and a DJ running a Feud game. A mobile Wi-Fi hot spot helped with more devices running the app.

And we finished 5th in Showdown. All in all, not a bad night.

Next year, we'll be somewhere in or around Phoenix on 7/2/19.

GONE D · **Joined:** Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:33 am **Posts:** 710

Apparently genius and adaptability are compatible virtues.

I don't have any first-hand experience with either attribute, but I can draw up a short list of things that will throw me off my game: bad sight-lines, crummy background music, pointless conversation, suspect devices, any and all which may be discovered at an unfamiliar destination.

Rick's SIG playing at the Union Jack beat the Tailgate, where we had none of those issues, neither in Brainbuster nor Showdown. I can't help but wonder what they might have accomplished had they actually been comfortably nested in their surroundings.

Next year they'll be in Phoenix AZ in the middle of summer. Only the collegial wisdom of MENSA could identify that destination, in that season, as desirable.

I feel as though Rick is trying to tell me something, and that I'm not smart enough to figure it out. On the other hand, it could be a conspiracy, where the really smart people just keep me around for their amusement.

RickM · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:17 pm **Posts:** 193

Where do you find reasonable rates for a summer convention? In warm climates, of course.

The last time we were in Greater Phoenix (2002, I believe), we were at a resort in Scottsdale. Reasonable rates, way below those in winter, and half-price food in the hotel restaurants; I was happy to order prime rib 2 days out of 3.

And, of course, in Phoenix, "It's a dry heat!" (Yeah, so is a broiler--but it sounds good.)

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose

GONE D wrote:

Next year they'll be in Phoenix AZ in the middle of summer. Only the collegial wisdom of MENSA could identify that destination, in that season, as desirable.

I feel as though Rick is trying to tell me something, and that I'm not smart enough to figure it out. On the other hand, it could be a conspiracy, where the really smart people just keep me around for their amusement.

GONE D · **Joined:** Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:33 am **Posts:** 710

RickM wrote:

And, of course, in Phoenix, "It's a dry heat!" (Yeah, so is a broiler--but it sounds good.)

I had long before decided to make love to Metilda Viscontini Dembowska, who had removed herself to Phoenix. I have seldom understood why my romantic aspirations have all failed. Only in a half dozen instances was I the plain culprit, and this may have been one of them. I went to Phoenix to pursue her, and while waiting her out, took a five mile jog from my motel room. The run took me past a horse track which was not merely deserted but ill-kept, and in the week after Labor Day in 1987, may have been abandoned.

Five miles and 45 minutes later, I returned to my motel, with itchy shoulders and a slightly stuffed-up nose. The temp was an easy 98 F, but there was so little humidity that my perspiration had condensed on my shoulders. From my shoulders I was brushing away saline crystals. Then I blew my nose. What emerged was 50-50, mucus and blood.

My nose was so often broken playing football, that at the age of seventeen I could sink my pinky nail between the bridge of my nose and forehead, past the unula and up to the cuticle. But I never had a nosebleed. And was the price of my motel room discounted?

One gets the impression that Rick is better informed.

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Mensa NTN SIG annual get-together

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