New Scaratings

Dear Kent:

I have warned you against cheating, and held out the promise that I would enjoy your company if you desisted. But you have been unable to resist the temptation to cheat, and I need to wash my hands of you.

For the past several months, the Buzztime quizzes at Drkula's and B-52, located only a mile from each other, have been so far out of sync that Buzztime's phone app can convey the correct answer to the slower site without any loss of points. But that's not a game, it's a tech glitch. No honest player would take advantage of it.

But you have, repeatedly.

We haven't met in the last three months without your bringing me up to date with SLICED, the Las Vegas player who cheats in a more strenuous way. SLICED, living in Sin City, plays early morning games on an all-night server, and comes back 12 hours later to play the same games at a different site. (SLICED actually came to B-52, and when I told him that you were an admirer of his game, replied, "I'm basically an 11-12 player," in relation to his Countdown scores. Personable, articulate, maybe a bit glib, he seemed quite innocent of his stupidity. But I didn't have the opportunity to tell him that he was embarrassing himself with his implausible scores. A 14.9 average in Countdown? I couldn't get a word in edgewise. REVE had launched into SLICED, and refused to relinquish his grip: a punishment to fit the crime.)

You seem to find SLICED fascinating. In point of fact, he's just one more middle-aged white guy, much like yourself, with an inflated sense of entitlement, and an unusually high threshold of embarrassment.

Feel free to seat yourself wherever you wish. Unless I get there first, in which case I'll advise management that you're not welcome at my table.

Very Sincerely,

LI ZHU/MICE

Just reboot the computers in both bars and the game clocks will be reset to the proper time, there should be no advantage then. Ask the mangers to do the quick reboot, tell them there is a glitch going on that can very easily be fixed.

Of course if the BT computer is accessible do it yourself. I used to have to do that often enough back at Hardtimes Germantown due to the game hanging back in those days.

Rebooting is often the answer to many BT game play/no rankings problems at the bars often due to not being synched with the network.

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

LET'S GO ....Orioles!!!!

Thanks, BUD. I don't know anything about Buzztime equipment - willful ignorance - but I can pass your advice to players who frequent Drkula's, which quite recently gave up 15 next-to-dead playmakers for 15 lively tablets. Who's playing point in Drkula's management I couldn't guess, but I can advance your recommendation.

You've now got "Let's Go...Redskins!" at the bottom of your posts. Wasn't it only last spring that your tag was "Let's Go...Nobody"?

I predicted in an e-mail this past September 23, that the Washington Nationals - which at that point in the schedule hadn't secured a wild card - had the most formidable rotation in the National League, and by golly the Nats didn't let me down.

Nor will I brook any criticism of Case Keenum. Whatever other problems the 'Skins may have, in Keenum they've got a gamer at quarterback.

At the time BUD offered this advice, the server at B-52 was perpetually out-of-sync, and couldn't reliably supply a complete quiz, leave alone be synched. The issue ran on for probably 5-6 weeks, and, following numerous telephone calls between B-52 and Carlsbad, without any concordance, the issue somehow resolved itself. At present writing, the two sites, which lie within two miles of each other, are synched to within a second or two.

RUGCAT has honored my request. I haven't seen him since I posted it.

This was RUGCAT's entirely plausible conjecture. At the end of December I received a Personal Message on this bulletin board from a contributor unknown to me, requesting clarification regarding SLICED, who, last RUGCAT checked, was carrying 14.9 and 14.5 averages in Countdown. So prompted, I looked up SLICED's numbers. Sometime in mid-November, he gave up whatever technical advantage he enjoyed, and is now playing an honest game. He has Minnesota connections, and is welcome back at B-52 whenever he so chooses, enjoying a much higher esteem than when he first arrived, with that 14.9 average.

As has been many times observed, it's easier to make original policy than to reform it.