Farewell to Buzztime!

HoopScoop · **Joined:** Mon Jul 02, 2012 4:36 am **Posts:** 113

One question that I have is before you left, how close was Buzztime to putting the games of Showdown and Spotlight on the playmaker app?

Thanks.

kaufman · **Posted:** Fri Apr 10, 2020 3:14 pm

Tom D wrote:

Bugg wrote:

Thank you so much,Tom.You did a fantastic job.I have played a long time.I started at Sunsets in Woodbury, Minnesota when I ambled in and saw a screen with questions.Your sports games were well written.I enjoyed them.I did like the Pulse.Sure,it was not as challenging as some of the other sports games,but I still enjoyed it.The one thing all businesses could learn from this-Listen to your current customers.Too many of my favorite games were dropped.Most businesses do not have enough customers.It is important to keep them.Buzztime in my estimation lost far too many customers both owners and players by not meeting their needs.A job well done,Tom.

Thanks for liking the Pulse. I recall you and your crew getting a ton of top finishes. One thing I never understood was the dislike for that game. There was a time when the premium games were run at staggered times so people on the west coast were seeing a "repeat" game that had run three hours before on the east coast. People complained about that and justifiably so. There was no premium sports game at the time and players complained about that also. So along comes The Pulse: a sports game that was shown at the same time across the network. You would think that would fit the bill exactly but the reaction was: We hate it! Ugh! FPULSE!!

I guess our player base was just too difficult to please.

That's an easy one to answer, Tom. There's sports trivia, then ... there's what was on SportsCenter or the sports page of your newspaper this past week. STC and SIQ satisfied the first urge, dipping deep into the fertile reserve of sports trivia. The Pulse was not that, and to many of us players, it seemed like Buzztime as a whole was turning a deaf ear to us and not providing any real sports trivia, especially since until we spoke up a bit, sports questions were as rare as religion ones on Countdown.

In all fairness, their recent nightly sports game was a major improvement, with its mix of sports trivia and current events.

PS: We'll miss you!

Tom D · **Joined:** Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:21 pm **Posts:** 19

AARDVK wrote:

Thank you, Tom, for letting us know the current status of NTN/Buzztime, as well as for all the questions for all the great games you've worked on for so many years. I remember you from the Buzztime Forum where I was one of the player moderators.

I started playing at Catbirds on Pearl Harbor Day in 1995. My now-husband who had been playing at other places in the Houston area for a year or so checked out the location as it was close to where he worked downtown. Besides a spouse, NTN/Buzztime has given me friends across the country, and friends here who got me into pub quizzing about 6 years ago. Now my daughter and I have a small trivia-hosting business, which is something I would never even thought of doing but for getting hooked so hard on trivia via NTN/Buzztime---not just on answering the questions themselves, but doing so working with other people.

Again, thanks for being part of a business that quite literally changed my life, and best of luck to you going forward.

Brooke/AARDVK

You always seemed to be one of the few sane people on that forum.

I first started playing the game in 1993 and applied for a job in 1995. When I got it I thought it would be for a few months or a year and I could pick up some extra money. Had absolutely no clue that it would go on for so long. Like you and many others, the game totally changed my life for the better.

Tom D · **Joined:** Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:21 pm **Posts:** 19

Merkin wrote:

And let me add all the same best wishes from myself and on behalf of the Chicago crowd at Teasers, Walsh's and Sweet Spot.

Best of everything to you and I speak for many in saying that I have looked forward almost every week to the Tuesday night game line up of Brainbuster, Showdown and Glory Daze in one form or another for more years than I would like to admit.

Thank you for providing a product for which I was happy to be a customer. I hope it will continue in some fashion when the dust clears,

Lorin/Merkin

And thank you for playing all these years. I had just as much fun making the games as you did playing them. Plus, I got paid!

Tom D · **Joined:** Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:21 pm **Posts:** 19

FOG wrote:

Tom,

I add my thanks to your many contributions to this pastime that so many of us have enjoyed over the years. (BTW, "Pastimes" was one of my favorites -- especially on those rare occasions when our crew at the old Cadillac Jacks/Kettering OH could top NYDAVY, etc.)

If the network does indeed shut down, what I will miss most is walking into a place I've only seen on the big board or on internet rankings, and meet like-minded people who share the love of this game, and enjoy our instant camaraderie over a few game boards and pints. Thanks again for all that you've done for us.

Terry/FOG, aka OBXFOG

I edited Pastimes (now History) the last several years. Unfortunate most of the questions were recycled from 5 to 10 years ago so it wasn't as good as it could have been. Did you like the Wild West questions? Somebody wrote a whole bunch of questions about outlaws and lawmen back before I got there in 1995. I love Western history so I enjoyed putting those in the game. Everyone needs to know about characters like Mysterious Dave Mather and Curly Bill Brocius!

Tom D · **Joined:** Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:21 pm **Posts:** 19

-BO- wrote:

It's always nice when one totally understands their audience as TomD did. Why else would he add the factoid "It must really suck to be a Mizzou fan" MULTIPLE times during sports games? Knowing full well everybody was going to laugh their asses off including the insulted Mizzou grad.

I had a lot of fun doing that. Sometime long ago we did a special game for somebody that involved playing video clips of great athletes and moments in sports. We had film of Wilt Chamberlain totally dominating in college and of course the notorious fifth down game which still amazes me to this day.

-BO- wrote:

Tom, something that has bothered me a bit over the years is the Buzztime message board. It was tons of fun having you and other BT employees in addition to the other players. But I was in a position to encourage other players and grow the game among the average players and I tended to do just the opposite. And I felt more than a little guilty when the board was taken down. And for those actions, I humbly apologize.

I wouldn't be too hard on yourself about that. There was a lot of negativity on that board from sources other than you. There were some players that were downright hostile and the people in charge finally said enough's enough.

Tom D · **Joined:** Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:21 pm **Posts:** 19

diablo2112 wrote:

Other's have said it better than I could. Your body of work is astounding. I'm a bit of a latecomer, only seriously playing with the Albuquerque team since 2009, but I've thoroughly enjoyed the devilish challenges you presented each week. As BLZBUB said, with 200,000 questions and only a handful of mistakes, that's an amazing amount of quality. I hosted pub trivia for 4 years, and wrote weekly questions. I know how hard that is, and I produced maybe 1% of your output!

It was always obvious, the writer of Six and Showdown was a polymath. Your body of knowledge and deep interests impressed us all. I just wish you didn't have such an afinity for Opera. And Charles Dickens.

I still have to point out your most famous mistake. You asked, what is the Venus de Milo missing? In addition to her arms (your correct answer), you included "necklace" as a distractor. I still love that question. We would refer to it when we (very rarely) spotted a slight error. As BLZBUB would say "It's Buzztime, not trivia!". I hope you can see the affection we have in those comments, and thank you, for an incredble contribution the last 24 years.

Sorry about the opera and Dickens questions. Dickens had so many different characters with really odd names like Seth Pecksniff, Horatio Fizkin and Abel Magwitch. They made for easy question writing. As far as Venus de Milo, for something to be "missing" wouldn't she have had to had it to begin with? I mean, you can't miss something that you never had in the first place.

Tom D · **Joined:** Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:21 pm **Posts:** 19

DRoll wrote:

I want to echo what everyone else has said. Thank you for your incredible work, Tom. Playing Buzztime has given me so much joy over the past six years, and if this really is the end, I don’t know what I’ll do to fill that void.

Best of luck to you!

Thanks. Here's hoping you, I and everyone can find a trivia fix replacement if this is truly the end.

Tom D · **Joined:** Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:21 pm **Posts:** 19

PaulP wrote:

I'm sorry to hear you are unemployed. As a trivia writer myself I tend to be very hard on other people's questions but I always thought Showdown was superbly done. I hope when the world comes back, so does NTN and that they bring you back.

Thanks for the compliment. I too can be quite hard on other people's questions but not as hard as I am on myself when I screw something up.

Tom D · **Joined:** Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:21 pm **Posts:** 19

HoopScoop wrote:

One question that I have is before you left, how close was Buzztime to putting the games of Showdown and Spotlight on the playmaker app?

Thanks.

I was working remotely for the past few years and wasn't in the loop as far as the tech stuff goes. I know they were working on it and it would be mentioned off an on in company meetings but I have no clue as to how close they were to getting that done. Sorry I can't answer that one.

Bugg · **Joined:** Sat Jan 21, 2017 8:42 pm **Posts:** 136

Thank you for replying Tom.Yes,I was surprised also that that some who liked sports had a negative perception of The Pulse.I enjoyed it.I also played Nascar,Football, Hockey trivia and other sports games that I really enjoyed. I thought the Fox Sports Trivia Challenge was great.Unfortunately,these games were eliminated.I played other games.One of my favorites was when I first started playing was Abused News.I believe in the beginning it ran at 5:30 central Monday through Friday nights.I thought it was an appropriate time for it.I knew many people that liked it.Eventually it became a once a week game late on Friday nights.That game and many others that loyal folks would show up to play were eliminated.I feel when you have a loyal following to a game it would be wise in many cases to continue them.Tom,you did a wonderful job contributing to the happiness of many over the years.Only the best for you with your personal and professional life.Thank you so much.

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

Tom D wrote:

Merkin wrote:

And let me add all the same best wishes from myself and on behalf of the Chicago crowd at Teasers, Walsh's and Sweet Spot.

Best of everything to you and I speak for many in saying that I have looked forward almost every week to the Tuesday night game line up of Brainbuster, Showdown and Glory Daze in one form or another for more years than I would like to admit.

Thank you for providing a product for which I was happy to be a customer. I hope it will continue in some fashion when the dust clears,

Lorin/Merkin

And thank you for playing all these years. I had just as much fun making the games as you did playing them. Plus, I got paid!

Oh, I got paid too, often enough.

My vote each week was always more opera and less Wild West.

AARDVK · **Joined:** Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:30 pm **Posts:** 554

Bugg wrote:

One of my favorites was when I first started playing was Abused News.I believe in the beginning it ran at 5:30 central Monday through Friday nights.I thought it was an appropriate time for it.I knew many people that liked it..

I was one of the people who really enjoyed it. I was still playing at Catbirds then every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, and one of the owners of Catbirds, Hank/BUZARD, also really enjoyed it, so I made a special effort to get there each time. It made me pay a lot more attention to current events, particularly any "News of the Weird" and the like, as Hank and I had a friendly rivalry as to who of us had seen the most unusual story.

Brooke/AARDVK

STRO · **Joined:** Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:00 pm **Posts:** 237

Tom D wrote:

This post took like two hours. I'm done for now.

Sorry it took so long, but thanks for all your efforts, both now and in days of yore!

scar · **Joined:** Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:57 pm **Posts:** 2218

Tom D, what I always most appreciated about NTN and BT trivia was the fact that people of all ilks could come together and contribute something. Everybody knows something, right ? Lawyers, Marines, German immigrants, National Guard members, librarians, restaurant servers, IT folks, professors and teachers, bankers and finance, police, Airborne paratroopers, receptionists, bartenders, doctors and nurses (two different versions of KIDSRN !), retirees, sales people, homeless who never had a job, criminals, swingers, drug addicts, alcoholics, accountants, stock brokers, newspaper business databasers, and a whole lot more were just a sampling of some of the regular players I was fortunate to share the games with.

Part of the magic was the structure of the game and quality thereof, including your thousands of questions. Time to play, time to talk about the question, time to sip a beer, and then looking forward to the next question. You could be social, and be competitive as much as you chose.

Everyone could feel a part, for those groups that shared answers. No one was looked down upon, as they could all contribute. I personally had a time in my life for years where BT was the only connection to a troubled family member. Gotta Play Tuesday was appointment playing, and all the sheer insanity of the previous week was suspended as we came together. I'll never know for sure, but I think having the outlet to still connect and communicate EVERY WEEK over years without arguing and judgement, while seeing value from all the assembled family members, contributed to saving my loved one's life.

Beyond my own personal gratitude there, was the fact that since everyone could contribute, everyone BELONGED and was NEEDED. Over the years, we had many broken people on our teams (after a while I discerned a pattern of attraction for them). You could tell that trivia was one of the few things in life that they still felt a sense of purpose about, that other people actually wanted them there and respected their knowledge. It certainly added to their well being, and improved their quality of life.

Some of those broken folks repaired their lives; too many others sadly have passed away, some tragically, but BT meant a whole lot to them.

Tom D, your part in quality sure had a big part in the magic; the results of your efforts have rippled far beyond what you would have imagined. My troubled family member has improved a lot over the last 20 years and I am forever grateful for BT's role in that; and for providing an avenue for my many friends who needed it to have some enhanced feelings of self worth in their lives.

So, let me add my heartfelt thanks to the others, I really do appreciate your years of efforts to make BT the quality offering we all loved.

Scar

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

Great post Scar!

A great Topix game would be to name the Louisville players described in your first paragraph. I remember many.

BUD · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 11:39 am

Good job Scar on describing the dynamic that was present at a lot of Buzztime bars across the country.

I have played with you on a few occasions in WV or at one of the Triviapaloozas so I was trying to figure out which one of the people on your list I might have been.

There was German Immigrant on the list, well my great grand parents were from Germany but you wouldn't know that. Then a bunch of noble professions, no, nope, no. Ahh, now towards the latter part of the list we're getting warmer. Sales people - yes. Criminal - sure things happen a while back. Alcoholic - maybe borderline back in the day leading to several of the previous Criminal situations. :roll:

(Some of you may remember the Buchannon WV bash) Stock Broker - yes. Swingers - tempting but No, tell us about these people Scar.

Nice post Scott, well said.

Stejjie · **Joined:** Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:13 pm **Posts:** 37

Tom,

Many thanks to you for a magnificent career. Like others in this thread, my NTN career tracks yours, starting in 1995 and with plenty of gaps. Inasmuch as BB was always my favorite game, you hooked me on to this product. Your writing has always been stellar and your meticulous nature shows in your question writing. While we are all reasonably confident the end is nigh -- let's hope we are wrong -- I and so many others are grateful for the obvious passion you put into your work.

BGTUNA · **Posted:** Sat Jul 18, 2020 10:32 am

Merkin wrote:

And let me add all the same best wishes from myself and on behalf of the Chicago crowd at Teasers, Walsh's and Sweet Spot.

Best of everything to you and I speak for many in saying that I have looked forward almost every week to the Tuesday night game line up of Brainbuster, Showdown and Glory Daze in one form or another for more years than I would like to admit.

Thank you for providing a product for which I was happy to be a customer. I hope it will continue in some fashion when the dust clears,

Lorin/Merkin

As part of the Chicago contingency of departed places such as Michael Anthony's, TGI Friday's in Darien, LeCue in Darien, Mister Mo's, Falco's, Bennigans in Woodridge, and currently Walsh's, I also thank you for your body of work and wish you the best. Like Merkin, I hope there is some kind of continuation.

BGTUNA · **Posted:** Sat Jul 18, 2020 10:37 am

Thanks for that post Scar. Perfectly sums up my relationship with NTN Buzztime. I made one of my best friends playing Buzztime, meeting he and his wife at Friday's in Darien. Vern has since passed, but the memories are still there.

BUD · **Posted:** Mon Jul 04, 2022 2:29 pm

Tom D is back at Buzztime it seems. He has posted on FB Badbart that he is the Six editor. Hopefully he’s also back to writing many of the other games as well.

Several steps in the right direction here. Player numbers are increasing.

-BO- · **Joined:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:20 pm **Posts:** 2291

That is most excellent news.

BUD · **Posted:** Tue Jul 05, 2022 12:15 pm

Further post from Tom D:

"If you see a mistake in any of these games, I’m the one to blame:
Showdown
Six
Glory Daze
Lexitopia
Brainbuster
History
Any sports game
Categories on demand
The countdown games are autogenerated but I have access to the database to fix anything."

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

Welcome Back Tom D!

ANON · **Joined:** Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:59 pm **Posts:** 2232

Wow--great news! Welcome back, Tom D!

New Scaratings

Farewell to Buzztime!

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