S O B wrote:
The numbers TIEFLY quotes are good and they don't even include several major players that have already transfered out.
The free drink issue there has been changed drastically over the past year. Back then, LAH gave a free drink to every player whenever the bar was #1. During the afternoon play, it wasn't unusual for the bar to be #1 several games in a row. That didn't do much for the bar's bottom line.
The policy was changed to only pay off on Thursdays (the main day for LAH trivia when players would convene from all over the area) and there was a two-freebee maximum per player rule instituted. That was eventually changed to only one free drink per Thursday. None of these reductions reduced the customer base one bit, everybody continued to come and drink just as much as always.
If the owner really believes we're all going to continue to sit there without playmakers, he's going to get a little surprise.
Remember: any bar with NTN is better than any bar without it.
That reminds me of when I started playing at Alibi's in January of 2000.
A buddy told me to stop by because they had been rewarding players with free drinks for every top 5 bar appearance for quite some time and he had just found out about it. I don't drink booze. But, what the heck, getting people completely plastered sounded like a fun hobby.
Sure enough, every top 5 appearance got a free drink for everyone playing. There were 4 of us and we made the top 5 in 8 games out of 8. (7 afternoon CDs and 1 WO...ah, the good ol' days). I told them I'd be back the next day. Eight regulars showed up. Think the bar made much money that day?
The next day they said only the top five players from the bar got free drinks with a top 5 bar score.
The very next day after that the bar required a top three ranking.
Two days later it was only for number ones.
When I stopped in the following week, the owner told me that we were only allowed to get one round of freebies for a #1 ranking before 5PM and one after.
Three days later it was only one per day for a first place ranking.
The following Monday, the whole free drink deal was scrapped for good.
It only took me two weeks to demolish a gravy train of booze that had been in place for about a year and a half.
How I escape lynching is beyond me...
As to your bar dropping BT; with the amount of trivia regulars that you have, I'm sure that your owner was recouping his investment having BT better than 99% of the other bars out there with it.
Curious.