New Scaratings

I’m playing at Stained Glass Pub and there are no questions on the app. It says see tv for the question.

Now we have to be in front of a tv which isn’t always possible.

The scores are really low as 80% of the LT players are gone.

Good news is it’s very easy to be #1.

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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 figured this would eventually happen. I got away with playing once a week at Elsas, and playing from home for “free” the rest of the time. This will strongly encourage us to actually go back to the way it probably should be. I’ve noticed some folks that play 10 or more hours every day on average, this will be a life changer.

Yes this is a big change. I’ll call it a new era in Buzztime history. The end of remote play after 4 years, maybe longer for others that had the gps deal earlier.

In Maryland it only really effects Malalo from the other Stained Glass Pub. He played many hours every day from home. A few of us played remote a couple times a month.

Huge drop in scores I’ve seen today. Bar scores around 1800 to make the board in LT and around 5500 makes the bar board in CD. Brainbuster will be light tonight.

The big problem at Stained Glass today was everyone trying to jam into the small space near the 1 tv that gets Buzztime.

It’s a new era. Playing like it’s 1995 again, gotta be in front of a tv.

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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!!!!

Two things about this.

1. It’ll affect players who live far from a site that used to play but now no longer will.
2. How does this affect streaming sites that have no tv and require the question, clues and answer to be on the phone?

I’m assuming at newer pad sites the question still appears on the pad thus eliminating the need for a monitor?

The streaming sites will have to hook a tv up to the little box. There is one HDMI out port on the small streaming box. It can be done though very few did. The app has no questions no matter what type of bar you are in. Rankings are coming through so at least we can see that terrible part with large numbers of players gone.

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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 would assume the questions are still seen on the BT tablets. it's just the app as far as I know. But often I have gone into Tablet bars and not been able to get a good tablet that works for long. We use a phone for our 2nd box anyway. Now you have to hope to get a tablet that works or be near a TV that will be soon changed to some sport or worse Poker, without notice.

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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!!!!

That is the one thing it is not. Call it what it is:The Triumph of the Old Fogies, or, if you prefer,
Dinosaurs. The world has changed; they have not. They needed to get people to pay for individual access.
They did the opposite (though this seems like something that could be easily reversed).

No, that's not the way it probably should be in 2022. The way it probably should be is to have people who don't
want to play in a bar to pay a subscription to do so, like they do for so many other things.

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“When I see the right and the ability to do everything granted to any power whatsoever, whether it is called people or king, democracy or aristocracy . . ., I say: there is the seed of tyranny, and I seek to go live under other laws.” --de Tocqueville

Yeah, got the email about their app update today. But the reason they give of going back to pre-pandemic/in-person seems questionable as the questions started appearing on the app well before the pandemic since I remember it being a response to the complaints of places not putting it on TVs and boxes losing charge quickly (which is still an issue). I emailed them but don't expect anything to happen. Oh well, was fun while it lasted.

Not sure what 2022 has to do with it, they could have implemented a subscription option back in 1990.

My point was that I was playing for free and not paying anyone, whether it be Elsas or Buzztime directly.

Surprised they are still operating with the 95% or more drop in players, but most of us thought it would go extinct years ago. As I learned in the stock market this year, profitability is vastly overrated.

I checked the app here as well and I concur. I know of several spoofers that won't be happy.

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

IMHO, if Buzztime is to survive (how many times have I heard that phrase over the past 20 years?), it has to find a new business model. Relying on bar/restaurant income just won't bring n enough in today's world. Many of the pre-pandemic customers (such as the bar I used to play at) closed and will not reopen. Those that did reopen are looking for ways to cut costs. I don't know how many earn back the monthly fee from increased customer sales, but it's not enough. New avenues of income must be found. I suggest using a subscription model so that individual players or groups of players pay for the right to play the games (including questions) via computers tablets, smart phones or whatever is invented next.
The other is of course advertising. There's plenty of empty space in the game broadcasts, as those of us who will never forget John Quincy Adams can testify. But you can't make a buck out of advertising until and unless you get enough people playing the games. I don't know what the number of players was at the peak (STRO will know), but it's pathetically below that now. This makes the first method I mentioned even more important. It looks better--and you can charge more--to have 20,000 subscribers than (what?) a few hundred bars paying for the game. I hope the people who are calling the shots now will be open enough to consider these ideas, and perhaps the brainy people who play and love the games will have more, and better suggestions.
XT

Given how many folks have been complaining on other social media platforms about losing a free way to play, I am something less than sanguine about the odds that Buzztime can convince a critical mass of individuals to pay for the service. I have noticed some more ads of late (including some Fan Duel ads this past week), so maybe they are trying to make more from that revenue stream.

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

To those who disagree, if Buzztime lost about $140 million over the years when it had 2,600-4,000 sites and over 10,000 players in a game like Showdown, how do you think it's going to do when it has 800 sites and 650 Showdown players?

Yes, it may be too far gone to be revived, and yes, it would probably take big promotional money to make it work, but the alternative is extinction. Selling broken Playmakers and having puppy pictures contests sure isn't going to do it.

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“When I see the right and the ability to do everything granted to any power whatsoever, whether it is called people or king, democracy or aristocracy . . ., I say: there is the seed of tyranny, and I seek to go live under other laws.” --de Tocqueville

This makes sense. We players are not Buzztime's customers. The "customer" is the establishment that pays for the service. While I really enjoyed being able to play during my recent Mediterranean cruise (thanks to a fake GPS app) too many people are abusing it and not financially supporting the establishment that pays the bill. [Aside: the coolest thing was answering a question about the Arno River while looking out my Florence apartment window at the Arno River!}

Another change I've not seen mentioned here is that now the local top 10 list isn't locked in once there are 10 perfect scores. We noticed that Lunchtime where we had filled the top 10 with 7000's by Nov 4, anyone getting a 7000 now goes to the top of the board and a previous 7000 scorer is bumped off the board. This seems consistent with the App change in that it gives those that care about seeing their names on the top 10 list hope to make the top 10 at their current location rather than having to wait until the next month or go to another Buzztime site in order to see their name on a board.

That makes sense. The players at Angry Pepper who are complaining the most about this change are, however, skinflints. LOL

My trivia buddy Zebra even paid to have his home be a Buzztime site!

Buzztime seems to realize that its niche is having TV screens in many locations across the country. While a Tampa Fl business might not place any value having its ads shown Seattle WA, a company with nationwide presence might see the value. I hope they succeed and stay in business. If I had to find ways to spend the time I spend playing trivia on something else I might discover a cure for cancer. LOL

That business model was at least understandable when Buzztime was introduced, given the state and cost of technology at that time. It didn't quite work even then, because most of the time, Buzztime did not make money for the place and there was a high churn rate. An Angry Pepper is the exception, not the rule, as is Florida which has by far the most sites (only Texas comes close). It is no longer technologically necessary.

Are there freeloaders who wouldn't pay no matter what? Of course, but there are also those for whom there is no convenient place to go, and I think more importantly, those who liked the convenience of playing wherever whenever and want to keep that. It's just like hybrid work; Pandora's box has been opened, and it won't be shut again. People know the old way isn't the only way.

One last thought: there are many, many activities that are not economically viable in a brick-and-mortar incarnation (just too few customers in a geographic area) that survive and thrive on the Internet. This may be one of them

Can you tell me some more about this? I assume he got Buzztime Lite? How much does it actually cost him
including taxes, fees, etc.? Did they give him any problems about providing this to an individual rather than a business?

Hey Stro, sorry I haven’t had a chance to send you a detailed response yet.

The story with Zebra is that was over 10 years ago. He has dropped it and it was the full elite tablet package. My wife I went to his house a few times back in the day. Good times with that crew including Tiefly and Speigs.

Bottom line these days is I don’t think Buzztime is allowing home installs any longer. That guy MACDAD in Indiana back in the spring was abusing the privilege by lag cheating all day and night. I think BT has cut off home sites after that.

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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!!!!

It was the same system as any bar. He got 10 of the blue boxes and a charger and paid ~$400/month (this was over 10 years ago). I'm not sure how he talked Buzztime into doing it. His home site was listed as Rick's Cafe Cuban but did not appear in a site search on the Buzztime website or list his home address. I posted a spoof review of it on the old Buzztime board.

Virtually all the players at Angry Pepper are retirees with lots of time on our hands, which may explain why AP and many other active Buzztime locations are here in Florida. Even here in Florida, though, we lost ~2/3 of our Buzztime sites during the pandemic. Of the 5-6 sites we visited when Bud and Opie were here ~5 years ago, only Angry Pepper still has Buzztime. Angry Pepper's owner has talked about getting rid of it but when we point out that the 6 or so afternoon Buzztime players spend $30-$40 per day at the restaurant he relents.

I suppose Buzztime could convert to an internet only business plan, but for me the camraderie (sp?) with the other players is much of the fun. Especially when I was traveling and met many players including Bud (at Hard Times in Rockville, I recall) and SCAR and his cohorts at TGIF in Louisville (neither of which has Buzztime today). With the exception of a visit to the BWW in Salina, KS o few years back the locals were welcoming. The one player in Salina was openly hostile to my being there, even more so when I put up the first 15,000 on the local board for the month - LOL. I missed the socializing when I played on my phone.

It doesn't have to be an either/or. You could have both, and I described how it could be done here: http://www.scaratings.com/newScaratings/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4109. Until a few days ago, Buzztime was effectively doing both, and it worked fine, because the Buzztime app is actually a separate system from the old computer and boxes. The only problem with that was Buzztime wasn't getting paid for it. Buzztime's "solution" was not to come up with a paying mechanism, but to cripple the secondary system.

When we and others have been playing remotely, we see each other through a Zoom video link. Do people find that the same as being together? No, they usually don't, but it's much better than not doing it at all, which is the choice we and many others face.

Per hostile loners, I've had a few interesting experiences along those lines over the years.

Well, Buzztime went back to the old app -- you can now see the questions on your phone again.

I still think a better solution would be for the app to detect and not work if the phone has fake GPS enabled. That's how FanDuel and gambling apps prevent users from online gambling from states that prohibit it.

So, what is our solution in the medium/long run? How does remote play make money for Buzztime? In Chicago, it seems only to aloow spoofing cheaters to become a nuisance to many locations. How can that be minimized and how can remote play be designed so it does not take customers away from the actual Buzztime subscribers, the restaurant/bars?

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Merkin