New Scaratings

Here's hoping a new hour long sports game is in development.

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Merkin

Thank you Merkin for the post.Yes,indeed we and I have lost our pulse.I know some did not like it when hour long sport game was changed.My philosophy is to play the sports games they have.Sure there are certain ones I prefer that have disappeared but a piece of the pie sometime is better than no pie.Anyway,I agree, let's have another hour long game.They could have seasonal games,like football,basketball,hockey,baseball,fall sports,winter sports,spring sports,summer sports or a combination of sports,etc.It seemed the past Monday there were a lot less trivia players during the former,The Pulse time slot.We live in a sports crazed society.It surprises me more people do not play the sports games.But it also surprises me so few in US and Canada bother playing buzztime trivia at all.Thank you to those that do.Thank you again Merkin for your idea.It has always been a challenge and fun to try and top Walsh's in the sports games,just one of your many areas of expertise on the buzztime network.

I actually scribbled down a 52 week subject cycle in sports to the amusement (annoyance?) of my teammates. Super Bowl, Daytona 500, NCAA Playoffs....THE MASTERS. And the misc. week where we can do Iditarod, Dakar Rally.....

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Merkin

I disagree. The problem with The Pulse was that it was all current events, with little or no actual sports trivia. The half hour sports games we've been getting have in my opinion been an improvement, with a roughly 50-50 split between sports trivia and the sports page. Real sports trivia is timeless, and has no need to be in season. I'd like our sports trivia to be all sports, all year.

(Ok, almost all sports. My life won't be ruined if there is a dearth of synchronized swimming questions.)

Name the synchronized swimmer who married an MLB baseball player.

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Merkin

Kate Upton....won’t drown in a pool.

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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!!!!

I certainly agree that the sports game should be over a period of time.I remember the half hour football trivia years ago.It was not current events only.It was spread over time.Yes a broad based game covering various sports for an hour long game is appropriate.However ,I would not mind having seasonal broad based half hour games on football,baseball,hockey,basketball,NASCAR,etc.Sure The Pulse was current stuff,but if only game available what is one to do.The other games certainly have their flaws and thousands play them.If you want a real sports challenge play the games on the sports network .Those are way more difficult than the nightly 15 question game on the main channel.

The Sports Network? Huh? No one has been able to get that channel on since the advent of the tablets. That is a blue box bar only game. No way to get managers to program it at tablet locations. Thus that channel is as dead as a 1st gen tablet.

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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!!!!

I think most of the country has poker trivia on second channel.Being a sports fan,I must live in the right state as in Minnesota it is on the second channel.Very few even play it here.The games are extremely challenging even for the most informed sports fans.Certainly way more challenging than The Pulse or the current daily 15 question sports game on the main channel.

Quit. I'm not going to make an effort to play a shitty game. Me and a couple of others met every Monday night to play a true sports game (either SIQ or STC) and compete against other top teams on the network for countless years. The last time we played was the last game of SIQ. And most top teams quit as well. I played The Pulse solo the first week and only one other time after that. So to go from playing 95% of Monday nights to 0.4% of Monday nights should tell everybody something about the game content and design.


The questions are indeed difficult but also overly esoteric. That combined with the fact there is no competition and the limited database aspect doesn't make those games very appetizing either.

BT has tweaked all premium games over the years with only SD remaining relatively unaffected. Six, SL, and PB were all changed for the worse to appease the average dufus. If we had the premium games airing now that we had 20 years ago, I might play multiple times per week instead of the once or twice a month I get to play SD.

The management of Mad River runs a live trivia game on Tuesdays at the same time as Showdown. Live trivia draws an enthusiastic crowd, and I notice that their favorite topics are rap music, full-length movie cartoons (and they even know who voices the characters), and a music round when, as often as not, the questions consist of distorted versions of current songs that we never heard of in the first place. I consider it a matter of time before one of two things occurs: Buzztime fails as a going concern, or Mad River gets tired of paying for a game that only half a dozen or so old farts care to play. No wonder Buzztime tweaks its games in an effort to attract younger players. It's their only hope of surviving.
XT

The point of the thread is we need a new hour long sports game.I believe the hour long Fox sports trivia was the best one.Sports IQ relied on alot of a person's reflexes and asking exact year when something occurred seemed remote.Get a fun,legimate,well balanced, challenging game.I will leave brainbuster and showdown game to the brainiacs.I like sports.I like to challenge my knowledge against others in this area.

And how has that strategy worked out for BT the last 15 years? How long did games like Blur, Duh, and Know Your Server last?

Here's the error in that way of thinking and it's what I told BT way back when. There are two types of players, the serious hard core players and the casual players. The casual players stumble in for some drinks and randomly discover the game and give it a try. They play a couple of games and then go on about their lives. They are going to play no matter what. The hard core player plays because the content and games are good, the better the games the longer they'll play. Maybe 8-10 hours at a pop.

In a nutshell, the casual players will play regardless of content. It's just something to do. The hard core players will not play if the games suck. And that's what has slowly happened over the years. Fewer and fewer hard core players to prop up the network while the casual players keep on randomly pushing buttons.

At one time I played SL every Friday from the very first game 25 years ago. They tweaked it more than once to cater to the casual player and I lost interest. Six and it's predecessors was a great game that I played very frequently on various nights. Then they tweaked the rounds and started awarding silly bonus points and it just wasn't worth it. Except for special occasions of course. Played almost every game of SIQ over the years, now it's gone. Played a lot of the STC games over the years as it was actually the very first NTN game I played way back in 1992. Now it's gone and there hasn't been a sports game for years.

There are tons of hard core players that went through the same process over the years, so it's really no wonder why player count is way down. Even so, I hope to enjoy Tuesdays with the games, the competition, and my team while the network still exists.

I agree- there should be a replacement hour long SPORTS game Monday nights.

BT is gonna roll with a 30 min movie trivia game and that's it for their Monday 'premium' games?

Well I guess that's less questions for the BT interns to mess up or write the wrong answers to…..

While it wasn't perfect- we (at Walsh's) did enjoy meeting Monday nights and discussing/quizzing each other on the past weekends sports happenings.

We had a nice rivalry going with Ron's Pub in Houston (they enjoyed calling us when they managed to beat us!).

There's another thing that I've noticed. Several of the long-time players have cut their playing times considerably. In the past, these players would come in several times a week and stay for a few hours. Now, it's fewer times per week and just an hour or two at best. I have to include myself in this scenario.

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Middle age is when a broad mind and a slim waist exchange places.

I know our Monday night bartender isn't too happy we wont be there....he asked me to explain to the owner why all of a sudden the 5-6 of us that played on Mondays wont be there anymore....

Thank you BO and NASCAR.You both make valid points.There have been numerous games over the years that had a faithful following. Why discontinue them.It is hard enough to get people to play so keep that base.Add interesting games to attract new players.Some of those may become regulars.There are already plenty of the regular games played each and every day for the hardcore and casual trivia player.

I started this thread and there are a lot of good comments. I hope it all boils down to this:

1. That, on Mondays in particular, we get an hour long premium sports game. It would be best if it were a combination of current and historic sports knowledge.

2. That Buzztime succeeds as a business and continues to provide an 'intellectual' and 'social' experience for those of us who play and care.

3. That the quality of the Buzztime games, while inevitably variable, will (continue to) exceed the juvenile skewed pop culture in most live trivia.

4. That the usual suspects around the US and Canada will play as often as possible. We know who each other are. That is part of the fun.

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Merkin