New Scaratings

Just got the email. Buzztime's newest promotion for very limited areas, with up to a $500 prize, and a $5.00 coupon for all players participating in it.

Only seven LA-area locations are participating, but 13 in the Milwaukee area. Once again, the West gets shafted. I live within 25 minutes of seven LA locations, but the nearest site participating is an hour and a half away, so I'll doubt I'll be playing this. And, I have to wonder why Clancy's-Anaheim, one of the most successful, SoCal sites around, gets more promotion, while places with limited players but a potential to grow (Maeve's, Park Bar, PC's in Simi, etc.) and my own beloved home site The Steel Pit got left out?

I seriously doubt Maeve's or the Steel Pit were even contacted about this, or I'm confident the owners would have mentioned it to me. I also don't understand why I even received the email about this: why are they trying to lure me away from nearby sites I will play more often? The mind (mine, anyway) boggles.

Here's a link that explains it:

http://www.buzztime.com/tropical

Here are the locations eligible:

Southern California (LA & Orange County):

Clancy's Clubhouse
2191 S Harbor Blvd
Anaheim

Deane's Bar & Thrill
8108 San Bernardino Rd
Rancho Cucamonga

Fat Face Fenner's Fishack
53 Pier Ave
Hermosa Beach

Lamppost Pizza
10084 Adams Ave
Huntington Beach

Lamppost Pizza
10130 Warner Ave
Fountain Valley

Out of the Park Pizza
5638 E La Palma Ave
Anaheim

The Bench Sports and Grill
3159 Yorba Linda Blvd
Fullerton

Milwaukee, Wisconsin:

Barley Pop Pub
N116 W16137 Main St
Germantown

Brewski's
304 N 76th St
Milwaukee

Club Brady
1339 E Brady
Milwaukee

Fire Ridge Golf Club
2241 HWY W
Grafton

Flannery's
425 E Wells St
Milwaukee

Hooters
17105 West Bluemound
Brookfield

Judges Irish Pub
1431 E North Ave
Milwaukee

Muskie's Gourmet House
800 Milwaukee Ave
South Milwaukee

Paradise Lanes
6501 Washington Ave
Racine

Revere's Wells Street Tavern
505 Wells St
Delafield

Ricky's Place
236 Main St
Racine

Sporties Sports Bar and Grill
333 W Sunset Dr
Waukesha

Steny's
800 South 2nd St
Milwaukee

TFM

BT produces games where the objective is to achieve the highest score, and this promotion awards all prizes on a random basis? I'm for any and all promotions that increase gameplay and exposure, but this is pretty funny.

I was amused to see Fat Face Fenner's Fishack on this list. That's a location not too far from where I live. I assumed the game didn't work there since no one has played there in over a month and it looks like that was one person playing. It's in a busy area of Hermosa Beach where I would have to pay at least $5 to park so I'm still in no hurry to check it out.
http://www.buzztime.com/site/38087

Clancy's Anaheim is a great location, however...I have played there a few times and I know a lot of the regular OC/LA players have been playing there more. It's really close to Disneyland and has free parking (!) so I'm not sure why they are part of the promotion either.

It is a stretch to call this an "LA" promotion as only one of the sites is in LA County and all the rest are in OC. I guess Rancho Cucamonga is in LA too but that's REALLY a stretch.

But I'm with BO on this, these "contests" based on random play and not scores are ridiculous. It certainly doesn't motivate me to go out and play.

Christina/HEELAX/COGNAC

Clancy's has very few regulars unless I'm there and caters to vacationers / business people. Recently some other local players made it their home for a few Mondays. I will say that the owner has been very receptive to Buzztime.

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

Just heard from the owner of a site in Los Angeles. He says Buzztime did NOT contact him about this promotion, or offer him a chance to participate.

This is bizarre marketing, to say the least. Why would Buzztime send $5.00 coupons to every Players Plus member in a city encouraging people to play at some sites in the area, but not others, and not even give the others a chance to participate? The site owner I talked to was rather, well, distressed.

If I were a site owner, and learned Buzztime had mailed every Players Plus member in my city a $5.00 coupon to go play at a site other than mine, I would be on the phone to Buzztime immediately demanding they remove my game server and boxes, and would offer several creative suggestions as to where the interim CEO could anatomically place them.

I asked Buzztime on their Facebook page about why the seven LA/OC sites were chosen. It's been more than 24 hours, and I've received no response. I will now post this additional information there, as a public service to potential site customers. They need to know that Buzztime will spend its marketing dollars to encourage people to abandon them and play at their competitors. Along with the fact that they're paying for repeat Premium content here in the West, there is now NO reason to encourage a site to get Buzztime. I simply would not do that to a place I liked.

TFM

_________________
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!!!!!

That's why I think creativity is required. The boxes can not be placed in his rectum, as his head appears to already occupy that space.

It seems he not only knows what the customers want better than they do, he also knows where I want to play better than I do.

TFM

The awesomeness of this comment literally knows no bounds.
God help me... I can't stop chuckling...

I am just asking and I have no idea as to the logic Buzztime used in picking sites. But, is it possible that they picked sites that had low player counts and needed help in increasing their trivia business. This is just me thinking they actually had some plan in the sites they picked for the promotion. I should know better than to think Buzztime had a plan.

Buzztime finally posted a response on Facebook, which I repost here for the benefit of those wise enough to not be on Facebook:

"Hey Tom, while I am not at liberty to talk about the details here, a list of locations in the Los Angeles area were selected based on specific criteria. From there the locations that met the criteria were contacted and asked if they wanted to participate. This promotion is a test and if it is successful we will likely expand it in the future to include everyone."

The criteria could not just be low participation; there must really be other factors. Clancy's-Anaheim, who is part of this, has had more participation in the past three weeks than Big Wang's North Hollywood has in the past year, and more participation in the past month than the Park Bar Burbank or Clancy's-Glendale has had in the past six months (though I must admit it's possible that poker players at the Park Bar might cause me to modify the above claim).

While a test seems the more reasonable explanation, Buzztime has a long history of playing favorites with its marketing (Traveling Trophy, anyone?), promoting some sites to the detriment of others. I still have serious doubts about this approach, but will withhold further criticism until I see how Buzztime applies the results of this test.

TFM

Clancy's had more participation last night too. It helps when one has an urge to play and it's a short drive away. In addition all 10 boxes were being used.

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