New Scaratings

For those of you Canadians not on Facebook, I wanted to invite you out to any stop on my Epic Canadian Trivia Tour.

It’s not until June, but I gotta plan ahead because it involves many flights.

CALGARY
Saturday, June 15th: Ed’s Trivia on Tap. Info to follow, if you’re interested.
Sunday, June 16th: Buzztime at Stavro’s with PENGWN.
WINNIPEG
Monday, June 17th: Pubstumpers with David Kendall.
Tuesday, June 18th: Buzztime at Big Guys with MADMAN.
SUDBURY
Wednesday, June 19th: Buzztime at Eddie’s with JUPIE.
OTTAWA
Thursday, June 20th: Some sort of pub trivia with Paul Paquet.

This is all assuming Buzztime’s still around. I know. No need to comment any negativity.

GYPSY

Flights are all booked.

Hi, GYPSY--your Canadian trivia odyssey does indeed seem epic--wish I were up there and could join in. I was hoping that as you meet up with Canadian Buzztime players that you could ask them about something that is puzzling me regarding the Location Finder. Although you mention in your post that you are playing Buzztime at Big Guys in Winnipeg (lovely city BTW--I was there for a WorldCon about 20 years ago), I not only can't find Big Guys in the Location Finder, but it keeps taking me to Dallas. I also have not been able to find any locations in Manitoba where it would seem Big Guys should be.

I'm curious because I'm trying to describe Buzztime locations in a book about trivia I am writing. I've verified that all 50 US states have at least one location, but for Canada, I'm coming up with zero not just with Manitoba but with Labrador, New Brunswick,North West Territory, PEI, Newfoundland, and Nunavut. I suspect that this is because the Location Finder is screwy (it doesn't work the way it used to for finding sites in Houston), but if you could after your trip verify for me that Big Guys is alive and well and therefore Winnipeg/Manitoba does have a location, even if it's fallen off the Location Finder, that will give me great ammunition to contact Buzztime and ask that they fix it.

Brooke/AARDVK

I saw a note about Big Guys recently from one of the players that plays there. Big Guys is alive and well. BT removed it due to a troublemaker that was causing problems. I'll see if I can find it. I don't remember whether I saw it here or on FB.

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

Big Guys is very much alive and well Brooke. You should see them quite often on the national (er...North American) bar boards, I do.

They are not in the site finder, didn't know why, but Gogetem seems to know something about it.

You can get to the Big Guys' BT home page by going through the Hall of Fame. They are listed in 2nd place for SD on 6/4.

BT can't keep bars out of the Hall of Fame so start your search for possible bars/territories in there.

I'd think Don Denton's site would also be helpful in finding bars in certain territories. (but it's not because he stops at top 100)

As far as Washington DC goes there is 1 location, a BWW just outside center field of Nationals Park. So by Nov. DC may be without BT.

Good luck with the book.

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

LET'S GO ....Caps and Os!!!!

I did find 1 in NT, The Black Knight Pub in Yellowknife. However, no game play or players listed but I've seen that turn out not correct for other bars. I do not see anything for Saskatchewan or Yukon. The other provinces/territories listed don't look good either.

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

LET'S GO ....Caps and Os!!!!

GYPSY, we did indeed see Big Guys up on the board last night, as No. 1 in the first game we were were there to see the rankings--congrats! Buzztime needs to get its location finder fixed. It used to work fine for Houston: it would show about 10 locations in the downtown area and right around it, but you could ask for more and then click on the map (which correctly reflected the locations) and move in whatever direction you wanted. Now it gives 6 centrally locations (fortunately including our at Coaches Pub, so people can and do find us), and when I click on the map, it just shows me one of the state of Texas with no locations marked. If I put in a zipcode in the location field it opens up, it ignores me and does absolutely nothing. If I put a zipcode into the "Find a Place to Play" box on the main page, it will turn up a few more places outside of central Houston, but again limits the results to 6. As travelers would be more likely to search by city name than by zipcode, the locator is not effective at generating all possibilities, and seems to leave locations such as Big Guys completely out in the cold.

I really wonder if the contract between Buzztime and the location has any sort of clause indicating that Buzztime will list the location on its website and make it findable via the location search functions. If so, Buzztime is in breach of that obligation as to Big Guys and any other location that isn't showing up. But more to the point, how can a company expect people to use the services of its clients if the people can't locate the clients? And if a location doesn't generate enough customers via word of mouth, why would the location keep the network? The answer is probably that they don't, which may be part of the reason that the number of locations in Houston has plummeted from the days when we had 60 or more.

Brooke/AARDVK

Brooke, I believe Big Guys management has asked Buzztime to remove themselves from the site finder because of a trouble maker player that has been banned from Big Guys. The bar thinks that will make them invisible but of course it doesn't when they make the Hall of Fame.

So it is not Buzztime's fault. But yes the sitefinder is messed up.

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

LET'S GO ....Caps and Os!!!!

5463 air miles in eight flights on four carriers in seven days.

Soooo . . . any book recommendations. Besides “Infinite Jest?”

"30 days to your best Marriage" ??

That would work. And give me 12 days to spare!

I’m not sure how many of you care about the status of my Epic Canadian Trivia Odyssey, but here’s an update, anyway:

The Stavro’s crew in Calgary was awesome, eight of them showing up on a night they don’t normally play. Good food, great people. We’d won pub trivia before we played Buzztime.

Now I’m in Winnipeg and I got a couple of the guys from Big Guys to come into the city for pub trivia. Our score portends well for Showdown tomorrow.

So far, this has been a fantastic trip and I’ve met some really awesome people. And it’s only Day 3.

GYPSY

Well of course a great country with great people.Certainly,I cannot speak for everyone,but a nice relaxed country with a competitive spirit.Having good relationships,excellent food,great atmospheres and playing trivia what a great combination.

I’ve also fielded inquiries about, and shout-outs to, ANON, DUFF, BLZBUB, MICE, MERKIN, TIEFLY, LILJOL, and REB.

To all inquiries I answered that you were doing great. And to all about-outs, I promised to pass them along.

Thanks, GYPSY! Do please pass on my greetings to the folks at Big Guys, especially MADMAN, who is probably sick of me contacting him regarding tournaments by now. They have been killing it this year on Tuesdays.

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

We plan to kill it tonight.

Narrator: They would not, in fact, kill it that night.

But we tried and we put up a couple first places. Big Guys was gracious enough to even let “GYPSY” take the first place spot on the national board.

The bar was absolutely my kind of place and we managed to round up 17 players, including some Buzztime virgins we plucked from the pub trivia crowd from Monday night.

Special shout-out to MADMAN, for giving me a tour of Winnipeg before the six-hour trivia marathon. And also to PEGGER and the man who may or may exist who may or may not have played as NOVA.

I had a fantastic time. Thanks, Big Guys!

GYPSY

Reminds me of an old joke told by Trawntonians.

1st prize, a one week all expense paid vacation in Winnipeg!
2nd prize, a two week all expense paid vacation in Winnipeg!

The Calgarians mocked the Winnipeggers, who mocked the Sudburians. I told JUPIE he needed to talk trash about the Ottawans.

By the way, “Calgarian” is my new favorite word. It’s very Star Trekkian.

Winnipeg-One Great City.I believe this at one time was on their signage as one entered city.I absolutely agree with moniker.Great people etc.There are many great cities worldwide.For me it comes down to what does one enjoy.Since we are all different each finds their own contentment.Relationships,great food,great atmospheres,trivia,the simple pleasures in life,my interests like reading and sports etc. are some that are important to me.

JUPIE and I did our best at Eddie’s in Sudbury, each playing three old-school Playmakers. We got on the national leaderboard many times but, alas, not for SIX.

The owner actually came in on his day off to meet me and lamented how expensive Buzztime was. He basically kept it around just for JUPIE. I told him that bars on the national (well, “International” — the Canadians don’t appreciate the BT advertising that shows an outline of only the U.S.) do get noticed throughout America. And I promised to try to get his bar up there and to spend a lot of money.

At least one of those two things was accomplished.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/fi ... as-a-gift/

Makes me misty.
Did a few jobs around Sudbury when I toiled for an environmental engineering firm.
The plume from the Superstack was one of the earthly artifacts viewable from space.
It could reach Norway when conditions were just right.

JUPIE told me that when he strikes a match, the scent makes him nostalgic for his childhood.

When I look at the moon, I think of Sudbury.

https://sservi.nasa.gov/articles/traini ... of-apollo/