New Scaratings

Up 26% today on volume less than half of average. Can't see how this would be insider buying ahead of Monday's Q2 earnings call because of the minute volume. Just a couple of morons entering a buy at market order?

Furthermore, any predictions on what will be discussed in the call?

"In the last few days alone, our decisions have led to a 26% increase in the value of our stock!"

10,000 shares and a $.04 gain is $400.00. That would almost buy me a nice pair of dress shoes. There are better places to fish.

Hopefully everybody here is smart enough not to buy NTN stock at present. The reason I brought it up is the strange move in a precarious company immediately before an earnings call. We're all worried that BT could declare bankruptcy at the drop of a hat, therefore we should all be paying close attention to odd moves in it's stock price.

Could this be related to the new director -- the one who replaced Bush on the BoD -- buying shares of the company?

Currently up almost 7% to over 20 cents. Only 8k shares exchanged so no real money being made or lost.

Any reports on what was discussed in the call? More of the usual b.s., or any indication that the "last ding-dong of doom" is upon us?

I listened to it, they did not have a Q&A however. Some highlights.

They are trying to focus on service, not the product.

20 positions were eliminated including 14 in the field.

They are currently not focused on increasing site growth because so many new sites are failing, around 50%. They want to retain them better. Site growth plans on going forward starting in Q4.

Testing is still continuing on a new tablet style PM that will be more functional outside of simply playing BT.

BT is now referring to the system we have now as "classic product", soon they will roll out a new platform that will allow sites to maximize it's potential. Same applies to the players. Have to assume this will include access to various social media sites and similar. These platforms will run concurrently. Berg said that in the past BT has not had the gumption to do something like running concurrent platforms which we all know is false since most of us were playing when they ran the 49 MHz platform concurrently with the current for a couple of years.

De-emphasizing the current classic PM.

Want customers to be able to access the BT platform inside and outside of the venues.

A quote from Berg stated, "We know more about what customers want than they do". It's a good thing the line was muted because it would have gotten sticky real fast when I heard that.

Currently too many price points for the locations. Plan is to reduce that number from 5 to 2.

Increased digital signage capabilities for the sites.

Discussion about acquiring Stump trivia. Hosted Trivia will now be referred to as Stump Digital.

Major improvements to the mobile PM. They stated it was imperative to have the best mobile PM possible.

Current site count is 3775 compared to 3905 a year ago. 6.5% churn rate.

The new platform, revision 1.0 is tentatively scheduled for release late this year. 1.5 in early 2013. 2.0 in mid 2013.

No mention whatsoever about the network split of declining player count.

If the people in the field included ones responsible for visiting locations and making sure everything worked, instead of selling the system to new locations who could then be neglected by BT reps until they give up the system, then BT doesn't seem to be grasping one of the main factors for its retention--of-the system problem.



Thanks for the biggest laugh of the day. Haven't we been telling them for years that they needed to focus on retention instead of adding new customers because of the "revolving door" nature of BT systems that doesn't allow for real growth, because they lose as many as the get, all the while frustrating their players. Now, there are lot of players who have ideas on how they might offer the type of support to their locations that would grow the player bases there and make the location want to retain the system, but I supposed they won't listen because, per the later quote from Berg, they "know more about what customers want than they do". If they don't see any relation between the declining player count caused by the split and locations giving up the system, or greater location support leading to systems that work better and thus attract players rather than driving them away, then they're just as blind as ever.

Brooke/AARDVK

Now, now, Brooke. They know more about everything than we do.

Shouldn't we just be quiet and play along like nothing's wrong?

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Why not downgrade Plutonium to a dwarf element?

The biggest item I took out of the call was the apparent phasing out of "Classic Buzztime" which is what we are playing now.

The "New Buzztime" will start running concurrent with "Classic Buzztime" starting in Q2 13 or so. New Buzztime will be all mobile devices. I believe there was mention of being able to play in or out of venue. That will just fuck it all up.

I take that to mean the end of the boxes will soon follow. We eventually will have to play on Mobile devices of some sort, supplied by the player. That will mean one device per person unless you have a bunch of smart phones or ipads. It will be harder to field a team of 5 to play. We often are playing with 3 or 4 people playing 10 boxes.

I'm not sure about the tablets that were mentioned. Maybe the bar would have a few? With player mobile phones being the bulk of the devices used?

Also the call mentioned a new service bundle: increased marketing from each bar to it's registered players via emails, more bar ads on screen. Buzztime is now a Marketing services company, the main focus will be to bombard us with crap night and day.

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LET'S GO ....Orioles and the 9 and 5!!

Over the years I've gone into numerous "new" sites that drop Buzztime. Most have unreasonable expectations, they have few TVs and trivia is bumped for local sports, the staff know nothing about the system and they have no interest in promoting the product or developing a customer base. It makes me wonder if BT has a set of criteria for evaluating new sites and their success potential? Does BT have a program for training new sites?


Sweet! A company struggling to make a dime that is losing sites and players knows what everybody wants better than they do. Then they know what everybody wants is a company that does what they do only better.

They do not. They were recently offered one for free and basically refused. I'll let Brooke comment more in detail once she stops laughing.

I've seen the same. I played at a place in Milwaukee that wasn't even aware they had Buzztime. No one knew about it until finally a manager came out. After all that, it took a crapload of work to get it on screen, at which point we were ready to leave. If I could remember the name of the place, I'd almost guarantee it's gone.

The other places I've seen take it out, at least locally, have typically done so within 6 months of their business going under. I'm not sure how much blame BT can take for losing those customers.

Buzztime has been sold to many struggling sites as a silver bullet that will immediately bring in lots of new customers and make everything good. Unfortunately Buzztime can't make up for bad management, bad food , bad drinks, bad service, dirty enviroments and poor locations; and players don't return if they don't like the place. A lot of places need Bar Rescue or Restaurant Impossible and make changes that really need to be made.

I hate to say this, but you make a good point (cough, gag, wheeze). Places that are doing well are going to say why do I need Buzztime when business is good. They will see it as an unneeded expense. While places having a tough time will see it as a chance to increase business. Usually there are other reasons their business is bad and Buzztime is not going to save them.

If the stock price is that low and hasn't really gone up I guess I should use my money on some other company to invest in. Besides, I wouldn't want to invest in a company that knows what I want better than myself.

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liljol, still residing in a humble lil abode in Buzztime's Backyard, San Diego County, in The Horribly Site-Poor Golden State, California...

<--805 NTN Buzztime sites visited as of 11/13/2018...

F CUBS!!!!! FBOSOX!!!!!

FPDRES!!!!! FCHGRS!!!!!

You know what they say: Even a blind clock finds squirrel nuts twice a decade.

I could never understand that. Why spend the money to get this game and then either not promote it, or put one person in charge of is without telling anyone else how to operate it...or both. I wonder if Buzztime is partially to blame for this? Do they have the salespeople explain to the bar/restaurant owner what they should do in order to maximize play? It happens enough that it makes me wonder.

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Malort. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

That would suck. As bad as batteries on a lot of mobile devices are, unless a venue offers you a power outlet, I can see people having to stop after about 2-3 hours of play, depending on how much their device is charged.

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Malort. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

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liljol, still residing in a humble lil abode in Buzztime's Backyard, San Diego County, in The Horribly Site-Poor Golden State, California...

<--805 NTN Buzztime sites visited as of 11/13/2018...

F CUBS!!!!! FBOSOX!!!!!

FPDRES!!!!! FCHGRS!!!!!

_________________
liljol, still residing in a humble lil abode in Buzztime's Backyard, San Diego County, in The Horribly Site-Poor Golden State, California...

<--805 NTN Buzztime sites visited as of 11/13/2018...

F CUBS!!!!! FBOSOX!!!!!

FPDRES!!!!! FCHGRS!!!!!

There are a lot better devices coming out on the mobile side that can easily handle this. The main thing they'd have to do is change their GPS check to be much more infrequent. That was almost the entire drain on the mobile app side. Admittedly, they may have already done this, but I haven't checked it recently.

My understanding is that BT expects a significant percentage of sites to have the new playmakers by February, so it would seem unlikely that playmakers will be phased out soon.