Better late than never, in all respects

I blogged about the pending release of NTN Buzztime financial results, but never got around to blogging about the results themselves, released back on August 13. The company is still losing money (though their quarterly losses are no longer measured in the millions), but the team is exuding confidence that they're on the right path. Excerpts:

Revenues for the second quarter of 2009 were $6.3 million, compared to revenues of $7.0 million for the same period of 2008, primarily as a result of a decrease in average revenue generated per site related to a strategic reduction in pricing.

Pricing is a tricky issue for any company. If you price too high, you won't get customers, but if you price too low, you won't get revenue. NTN Buzztime took a chance with a price cut, which did adversely impact their quarterly revenues, but did have the desired result regarding the number of customers.

The Company ended the second quarter of 2009 with 3,871 subscribing venues, compared to 3,746 at June 30, 2008, and 3,777 at March 31, 2009. During the second quarter of 2009, installations were up approximately 48% while terminations were down 19% compared with the second quarter of 2008. Customer churn improved to 4.9% for the quarter from 6.1% in the prior year period.

But NTN Buzztime worked on the cost end also:

Selling, general and administrative expenses declined by $2.1 million, or 31%, to $4.9 million from $7.0 million a year ago. The improvement was attributable to several factors including a $0.5 million decline in salary expenses due to staffing reductions; a $0.5 million decline in severance expense due to the resignation of the CEO in the prior year; a $0.5 million decline in marketing expense related to a change in the Company's marketing strategy; and a $0.4 million decline in consulting services.

Will the momentum from these changes result in profitability in future quarters? Time will tell.

Second quarter financial results about to be released...and discussed

This announcement was released during my 2+ week vacation in the Midwest (no, I didn't see RoadDog), but it's timely since it announces something that will happen tomorrow, August 13.

CARLSBAD, Calif., August 6, 2009/ PRNewswire – NTN Buzztime, Inc. (NYSE Amex: NTN - News), today announced it will conduct a conference call to discuss its financial results for the second quarter of 2009 at 4:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, August 13, 2009.

Hosting the call will be CEO Terry Bateman, CFO Kendra Berger and COO Kenneth Keymer.

To access the conference call, please dial (866) 360-7027, if calling from the United States or Canada, or (706) 643-3291, if calling internationally, and use passcode 23874047.

A replay will be available until August 20, 2009, which may be accessed by dialing (800) 642-1687, if calling from the United States or Canada, or (706) 645-9291, if calling internationally. Please use passcode 23874047 to access the replay.

The call will also be accompanied live by webcast over the Internet and accessible at the Company's Web site at http://www.buzztime.com.

About NTN Buzztime, Inc.

NTN Buzztime, Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment for 25 years, is based in Carlsbad, CA. Buzztime is distributed in-home and out-of-home across broadband platforms including online, cable TV, satellite TV and in approximately 3,900 restaurants, sports bars and pubs throughout North America. Buzztime entertainment is also available on electronic games and in books. For more information, please visit http://www.buzztime.com.

Buzztime is a proud member of the OVAB | Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau.

Buzztime is a registered trademark of Buzztime Entertainment, Inc. and Playmaker is a registered trademark of NTN Buzztime, Inc.

# # #

No trivia tonight...

A rare Empoprise-IE/Empoprise-NTN cross-post. My plans for trivia at Tequila Hoppers in Upland, California hit an unfortunate snag.

NTN Buzztime creates a Chief Operating Officer position

Hey, I took a while to post this, but NTN Buzztime took years to create the position. (My previous post on Keymer can be found here.)

CARLSBAD, Calif., July 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NTN Buzztime, Inc. (NYSE Amex: NTN) today announced that Kenneth L. Keymer, a member of the Company's Board of Directors, has been named to the Company's newly created role of Chief Operating Officer, effective July 27. Concurrent with the appointment, he will resign his position with the Board.

As COO, Mr. Keymer will be responsible for all operations related to selling to and servicing bars and restaurants. He will manage site sales, account management and all installation and service operations. He will report directly to Terry Bateman, the Company's Chief Executive Officer.

"Ken has made an immediate impact on our Board, and I have gained a lot of respect for him and his operational skills during these last several months," Mr. Bateman said. "His deep background in restaurant operations and dedication to superior service will serve us well in this newly created role, as he will work to ensure NTN achieves industry-leading operational and customer service excellence in support of our business strategy."

"I look forward to this opportunity to lead an effort to enhance NTN's operational effectiveness," Mr. Keymer said. "I am excited about our strategic direction and positioning as a leader in interactive entertainment. As COO, I will be able to contribute directly to the execution of that strategy."

Mr. Keymer has served as a member of the Board since November 2008 and has nearly 30 years of experience as an executive in large restaurant chain operations. He previously served as CEO of VICORP Restaurants between April 2007 and May 2008, where he oversaw the operations of 390 restaurants under the Baker's Square and Village Inn brand names, two commissaries and a dessert manufacturing operation. He led a senior executive team in developing sales- and profit-enhancing menu initiatives and prototype designs, successfully reducing losses and improving profitability. He had served as a member of VICORP's Board of Directors since July 2005 before additionally becoming CEO at the request of the Board of Directors and investors.

Mr. Keymer served as CEO of 1,800-unit AFC Enterprises between September 2005 and May 2007, having been President of that publicly traded company's Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits business segment between June 2004 and September 2005. In those capacities, he was instrumental in enhancing relations with the investment community, achieving new unit growth of approximately 10% per year, broadening the menu and leading the company through the crisis of Hurricane Katrina, which severely impacted one of its most important geographic regions. In the 1984 through 1986 period, he had been a Vice President of Popeyes.

Prior to June 2004, he was President, Co-CEO and Board member of Noodles & Company; President, COO and Board member of Sonic Corporation and its subsidiaries; Executive Vice President of Perkins Family Restaurants; Senior Vice President of Boston Chicken; Vice President of Taco Bell Corporation; V.P. Operations and Human Resources with Sambos Restaurants; and Director of Human Resources for Hardee's Food Systems. Prior to beginning his foodservice career in 1979, he held positions with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and the Defense Intelligence Agency. He holds an M.S.A in Information Technology from George Washington University and a B.S. in Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy.

About NTN Buzztime, Inc.

NTN Buzztime, Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment for 25 years, is based in Carlsbad, CA. Buzztime is distributed in-home and out-of-home across broadband platforms including online, cable TV, satellite TV and in approximately 3,760 restaurants, sports bars and pubs throughout North America. Buzztime entertainment is also available on electronic games and in books. For more information, please visit http://www.buzztime.com.

Buzztime is a proud member of the OVAB |Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau.

Buzztime is a registered trademark of Buzztime Entertainment, Inc. and Playmaker is a registered trademark of NTN Buzztime, Inc.

Forward-looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements which reflect management's current views of future events and operations. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include corporate governance matters, the risk of changing economic conditions, failure of product demand or market acceptance of both existing and new products and services and the impact of competitive products and pricing. Please see NTN Buzztime, Inc.'s recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for information about these and other risks that may affect the Company. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on information available to us on the date hereof. These statements speak only as of the date hereof, and NTN Buzztime, Inc. does not undertake to publicly update or revise any of its forward-looking statements, even if experience or future changes show that the indicated results or events will not be realized.

COMPANY CONTACT:
Kendra Berger
Chief Financial Officer
NTN Buzztime, Inc.
(760) 438-7400

CCG CONTACT:
Mark Collinson
Partner
CCG Investor Relations
(310) 954-1343

Maybe there will be an 8,999 to shake things up

When you play one of the 30-minute "Countdown"-like NTN Buzztime games, your score can be anywhere between 0 and 15,000. If you are a Players Plus member, you can earn bonus points if your final score is above a total that is displayed at the beginning of the game. In the past when I've played, the score needed to earn Players Plus points would vary - sometimes 9,000, sometimes 7,000, sometimes even less.

But RoadDog has noticed something recently:

[W]hat I want to know is why NTN continues to go through posting how many points it takes to get the Players Plus Bonus. It used to vary, but now is a guaranteed 9000. Why waste the time?

I haven't confirmed this myself, so I don't know whether this is just a fluke of RoadDog's visits, or if NTN Buzztime has really changed its policy. I personally don't care, since my goal is to score over 10,000 on these games, but I'm sure some people miss the lower totals.

Why do we play NTN Buzztime and other trivia games?

Perhaps you grab a Playmaker and match wits in NTN Buzztime. Perhaps you audition for Jeopardy, hoping to be the next Ken Jennings.

Why do you do it?

The blog things notre dame students like examined this very question:

Notre Dame Students love matching wits with other Notre Dame students. They start pointless debates in dorms, classrooms, bars, parties, and dining halls that include just about any topic. Politics, sports, religion, movies, history, literature, music, and television can all provide ample topics for Notre Dame Students to discuss, and they can all provide ample questions for Notre Dame Students to answer.

Because of this, Notre Dame Students love trivia. They love all kinds of trivia. Trivia games they can play alone in their free time, such as watching Jeopardy on TV or playing Sporcle.com...are useful tools to practice, but Notre Dame Students really love the competition. Some will get this competition amongst their friends by playing trivia games at Buffalo Wild Wings....

But why?

The main reason that Notre Dame Students love trivia, however, is not just because they have an innate desire to compete, but because they want to prove that they are smarter than they next guy.

But how does one define "smarter"?

Through trivia outlets, students are able to prove who has more worthless knowledge in their mind, who reads the most random Wikipedia pages, who is the most in tune with popular culture, and who can form the brightest teams; all important aspects of smartness.

Sounds reasonable to me.

Well, the DC area didn't have a baseball team for several decades.

NTN Buzztime has announced that the city of Alexandria, Virginia, placed 186th out of 186h in the "training camp" round of its current "25 Years of Sports Trivia" promotion.

Here is the complete press release:

CARLSBAD, Calif., July 14, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ ----NTN Buzztime, Inc. (NYSE Amex: NTN: 0.36, -0.03, -7.69%) released its rankings of the best and worst sports-knowledgeable states and cities. The state of Texas and the greater Chicago area led the nation and took first place in the hour-long Training Camp leading up to Buzztime's 25 Years of Sports Trivia Championship. Virginia, specifically Alexandria, took a disappointing last place proving that its residents need to step up their game during the Qualifying Round.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080331/CLM183LOGO)

Data provided by interactive gaming company, NTN Buzztime, Inc., revealed a breakdown of how each state and each city scored on its sports-trivia knowledge. On Wednesday, July 8, for one-hour nation-wide, trivia-goers filled restaurants and sports bars offering Buzztime games in an attempt to claim the top spot of most knowledgeable sports fan. Sports covered during the pre-qualifying round game included: baseball, basketball, football, golf, horse racing, and NASCAR.

In true sports form, the competition continues with a three-week Qualifying Round that kicked off yesterday, and runs through July 31. During this round, registered Buzztime players will play the 25 Years of Sports game online, via mobile or within Buzztime's network of bars and restaurants across North America to earn the necessary qualifying points to advance. Contestants earn 10 times as many qualifying points for playing at Buzztime's network of bars and restaurants. Ultimately, 18 lucky players will be awarded the trip of a lifetime to attend the Sports Legends Challenge held September 14-17, 2009 at Atlantis Paradise Island, Bahamas.

More information about the competition, including how to register, can be found at www.buzztime.com/25yos.

Current State rankings (in order):

Top 10 Bottom 10
1) Texas 50) Virginia
2) Ohio 49) Alaska
3) California 48) Utah
4) Florida 47) Hawaii
5) Illinois 46) Wyoming
6) Indiana 45) Maine
7) Arizona 44) South Dakota
8) Wisconsin 43) Montana
9) Minnesota 42) Idaho
10) Colorado 41) New Hampshire

Current city rankings (in order):

Top 10 Bottom 10
1) Chicago 186) Alexandria
2) Los Angeles 185) Jackson
3) Dallas-Fort Worth 184) Eugene
4) Minneapolis-Saint Paul 183) Tyler-Longview-Lufkin-
5) Phoenix Nacogdoches
6) Denver 182) Marquette
7) Tampa-Saint Petersburg-Sarasota 181) Erie
8) Cincinnati 180) Chattanooga
9) Detroit 179) Monroe-El Dorado
10) Houston 178) Watertown
177) Columbus-Tupelo-West Point



About NTN Buzztime, Inc.

NTN Buzztime, Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment for 25 years, is based in Carlsbad, CA. Buzztime is distributed in-home and out-of-home across broadband platforms including online, mobile, satellite TV and in approximately 3,800 restaurants, sports bars and pubs throughout North America. For more information, please visit www.buzztime.com.

Buzztime is a proud member of the OVAB |Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau.

Buzztime is a registered trademark of Buzztime Entertainment, Inc. and Playmaker is a registered trademark of NTN Buzztime, Inc.

Forward-looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements which reflect management's current views of future events and operations including but not limited to trends in subscriber and player preference and engagement and results of marketing strategies. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include risks associated with our recent management transition, our significant losses, our ability to grow our out-of-home Buzztime iTV network and implement our other business strategies, the risk of changing economic conditions, failure of product demand or market acceptance of both existing and new products and services and the impact of competitive products and pricing. Please see NTN Buzztime, Inc.'s recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for information about these and other risks that may affect the Company. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on information available to us on the date hereof. These statements speak only as of the date hereof, and NTN Buzztime, Inc. does not undertake to publicly update or revise any of its forward-looking statements, even if experience or future changes show that the indicated results or events will not be realized.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Katy Harrison, Bailey Gardiner
619-295-8232
katy@baileygardiner.com



SOURCE NTN Buzztime, Inc.

http://www.buzztime.com

Are you a devoted NTN Buzztime trivia player?

The Little Cat Blog provided an example of trivia dedication:

And, of course, we played trivia at Buffalo Wild Wings in Wilmington, NC (minutes from Wrightsville Beach). Did you really think we'd travel somewhere and skip trivia? Hell, we even drove through a thunderstorm the size of South Carolina to get there. Literally, there was feet of water on the road in places.

Read more here, and admire the Playmaker pic.

I guess it takes a threatened corporate takeover to get me to post here

I just realized that I haven't posted to this blog in a while. Much has happened, and I recommend that you follow @buzztimegirl on Twitter to keep up. But this San Diego Reader article was interesting.

Carlsbad’s NTN Buzztime provides interactive electronic entertainment in restaurants and sports bars — trivia quiz shows, play-along sports programs, casino-style games, and the like. It has almost 4000 subscribers. But NTN has been a loser for years.

After describing the financials, the article then goes on to say the following:

There have been “significant changes in executive leadership,” says the company in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. One chief executive resigned in May of last year, and the interim chief resigned in November. “Changes in senior management are inherently disruptive.”

And what is happening now?

That’s one reason that a Cayman Islands–based hedge fund, Trinad Capital, which owns almost 15 percent of the stock, says it has evidence of mismanagement, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and waste of corporate assets. It has filed a lawsuit and announced it may attempt to wage a battle for control of the company.

I briefly mentioned Trinad Capital back in March. Yahoo reports that they've continued to buy NTN shares - 125,000 in April and 50,000 in May, for example. Because of NTN Buzztime's low stock price, it hasn't cost them a lot to do this. However, there haven't been any purchases since May 15, so I'm not sure what they're planning.

Perhaps they need NTN Buzztime at Chuck E Cheese

I've noticed something about the NTN Buzztime games clientele before, and it really hit home when I read this post:

We all gather at Kirk's birthstone, take some pics, makes some cheesy jokes and decide to hit the road in search of our next campground. On our way there, we decide to stop for our last "restaurant" meal together as a wandering group of vagabonds. We stop at a sports bar named Buffalo Wild Wings and order nachos, quesadillas, and salads. They have very cool games that you remove from power ports, so the kids play games and trivia while we talk and laugh and enjoy settling down for the night.

Notice that the adults didn't even play NTN Buzztime - just the kids. Now I don't know whether "the kids" in this case were 7 year olds or 17 year olds, but the NTN Buzztime trivia questions didn't seem to be all that kid-friendly, especially when they ask about stuff from the 1970s.

Does NTN Buzztime need to start putting its games in more kid-friendly places? Maybe my April Fool's joke wasn't that much of a joke after all...

P.S. Forget about McDonalds, by the way. They prefer that their clientele eat and leave.

The power of camraderie

The one advantage of having NTN Buzztime games in bars rather than fitness centers is that bars lend themselves better to a social environment. Certainly some fitness centers are social, but people tend to be focused on themselves and their bodies. As a result, even people who don't like trivia can be sucked into the fun. Take Teresa:

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings....We ordered two cold ones and eventually I asked the guys next to us what the blue Electric Bingo Dauber type machines were that they had. They said it was a trivia game and that we should play. I quickly explained that I was terrible at trivia, I actually fundamentally hate Trivial Pursuit and would chose only to play the kiddie version if forced.

Well, Teresa was eventually persuaded to play, and guess what happened?

I sucked as expected....

So you may think that Teresa hated the experience. She didn't:

Although it was fun. We will [definitely] go back and I think it would be fun to go with a group, so we will see if we can rally a few people to go with us, otherwise we will just make new friends if only temporarily....

So if Teresa enjoyed herself, perhaps anyone would.

Happy anniversary to YOU! NTN Buzztime and 25 Years of Sports

I first saw this press release early this morning. Of course, we all knew something was up, based on the tweets from NTN Buzztime's Mary Campbell a/k/a @BuzztimeGirl. But I was neglectful in following up on her tweets (bad me), even though she's been tweeting the http://www.buzztime.com/25yos URL for about a week now.

One interesting part of the 25 Years of Sports promotion is that during the first round, you don't have to go to a bar/restaurant to compete. You can compete at the buzztime.com website, via the mobile website, or in a bar/restaurant. But if you play at a bar/restaurant, you get ten times as many points. However, the online availability helps to evangelize the existence of the games.

And in the final rounds, the Sports Legends and Poker Pros get into the act. Now I don't know poker (the one time I played Texas Hold'Em on the Buzztime network, I quickly went into the red), but I know my sports legends. Some of the names they've announced include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Troy Aikman, Jim Brown, Mike Ditka, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Bobby Hull, Reggie Jackson, and many more.

The press release:

NTN Buzztime, Inc. to Celebrate 25 Years of Sports With a North American Trivia Competition

Avid sports fans compete for opportunity to play against sport legends

CARLSBAD, Calif., June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In a first-of-its-kind multi-platform tournament, NTN Buzztime, Inc. (NYSE Amex: NTN) is giving sports fans the chance to live out a true sports fantasy with Buzztime's 25 Years of Sports trivia game. Sports enthusiasts across the country will compete in a sports trivia-themed competition featuring an unprecedented $250,000 in prizes.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080331/CLM183LOGO)

During the competition's three-week qualifying tournament, July 13-31, players will compete in Buzztime's 25 Years of Sports Trivia game online (www.buzztime.com), via mobile or within its network of bars and restaurants across North America to earn the necessary qualifying points to advance. Contestants earn 10 times as many qualifying points for playing at Buzztime's network of bars and restaurants.

In the first round, players earn qualifying points to be a part of a three-night network-wide grand prize event, being held on August 12-14, exclusively at Buzztime hospitality locations across North America. The final event will see the continent split into four regions. The highest scorer in each region, each night, plus two wild-card winners nationally each night, will earn the opportunity to compete in a variety of events with 25 of the hottest names in sports at the one-of-a-kind Sports Legends Challenge.

Those 18 lucky players will be awarded the trip of a lifetime to attend the Sports Legends Challenge held September 14-17, 2009 at Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas. The Sports Legends Challenge gives sports fans the chance to compete with and against 25 of the greatest Sports Legends of our time, including Troy Aikman, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Richard Petty, Sugar Ray Leonard, and many more. The event will also feature 25 of the world's top Poker Pros, including Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Johnny Chan and others. The Sports Legends, Poker Pros and participants will compete in Texas Hold 'Em, Blackjack, Slots, Golf and more for up to $10,000,000 in prize money.

"This is a huge milestone for Buzztime as it's the first time we've held this type of cross-platform promotion. Our players, current and new, will get to compete online, via mobile and in our restaurant and bar locations," said Buzztime's CEO Terry Bateman. "After the final event in our bars and restaurants, the lucky winners are sure to have an unforgettable experience in the Bahamas when they get to play alongside the Sports Legends they've long admired."

About NTN Buzztime, Inc

NTN Buzztime, Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment for 25 years, is based in Carlsbad, CA. Buzztime is distributed in-home and out-of-home across broadband platforms including online, mobile, satellite TV and in approximately 3,800 restaurants, sports bars and pubs throughout North America. For more information, please visit www.buzztime.com.

Buzztime is a proud member of the OVAB |Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau.

Buzztime is a registered trademark of Buzztime Entertainment, Inc. and Playmaker is a registered trademark of NTN Buzztime, Inc.

Forward-looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements which reflect management's current views of future events and operations including but not limited to trends in subscriber and player preference and engagement and results of marketing strategies. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include risks associated with our recent management transition, our significant losses, our ability to grow our out-of-home Buzztime iTV network and implement our other business strategies, the risk of changing economic conditions, failure of product demand or market acceptance of both existing and new products and services and the impact of competitive products and pricing. Please see NTN Buzztime, Inc.'s recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for information about these and other risks that may affect the Company. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on information available to us on the date hereof. These statements speak only as of the date hereof, and NTN Buzztime, Inc. does not undertake to publicly update or revise any of its forward-looking statements, even if experience or future changes show that the indicated results or events will not be realized.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Carrie Shields, Bailey Gardiner
619-347-2040
carrie@baileygardiner.com

SOURCE NTN Buzztime, Inc.

Perhaps we need NTN Buzztime in fitness centers

Yep, I found yet another story of someone playing NTN Buzztime trivia.

We had a meal at Buffalo Wild Wings, a chain, where we played Buzztime trivia against THE WHOLE COUNTRY and placed 149th out of 5551 teams. Nice.

But check the next bit:

I had some kind of salad, and you know how it is at places like that: even the salads have calories in the quadruple digits.

And I also found this mention:

My favorite is the 99 cent kids meals on Monday nights at Buffalo Wild Wings. Our family of four can get in and out of there for less that $20 including tip. We love to play the trivia games and the food is always fantastic!

So you have multi-generations loading up on the calories here.

There's one drawback about online trivia games, or in fact most types of online activity - the activities are sedentary in nature. Couple that with the fact that NTN Buzztime is available in restaurants and bars, and you have a...um, recipe for potential trouble.

Truffle runs on the treadmill by John (star5112) used under a Creative Commons License

So if we aren't going to put NTN Buzztime in Denny's, why not put it in gyms? The gym where I used to have a membership had TVs on various elliptical and treadmill and bicicyle devices - why not replace those with a touchscreen showing NTN Buzztime trivia?

And there are benefits. While placing NTN Buzztime in a bar helps to increase a restaurant's alcohol and food revenues, placing NTN Buzztime in a gym helps to increase the time that people are exercising.

Am I crazy?

NTN Buzztime competing against...Microsoft? (Xbox Live Primetime and 1 vs. 100)

It's possible that someone might run across this post and not understand how NTN Buzztime games work. What happens is that you go to a location (in this case, a restaurant or bar), obtain a hardware device, look at a screen, and compete against people on an entire network of locations.

Well, I just ran across another system that allows you to go to a location, obtain a hardware device, look at a screen, and compete against people on an entire network of locations. In this case, the hardware device is an Xbox, and the game, 1 vs. 100, is of course from Microsoft.

DJI at Robot Panic compares the two networks:

This 1 vs. 100 thing is the flagship of Microsoft’s new Prime Time service, a dedicated section in the Live submenus. In order to play these primetime games, you need to login during whatever two-hour period is scheduled for that game. Thankfully these sessions are advertised well in advance in the little NXE event ads you all know well and you are even given the option to set reminders for yourself....

It looks like the service can only hold 50,000 players at this time. That’s impressive for a first run, but the word is that number is going to expand....

t’s like a giant NTN Buzztime trivia event at Buffalo Wild Wings or somethin’, but without the wings.

And about the game itself:

You are given a trivia question with three multiple choice answers revealed in sequence. Answering the question is worth 200 points, but the number counts down as soon as the answers are revealed, like the countdown buzztime bar trivia. The faster you answer, the more points you get, even if wrong. You are given extra points for maintaining a streak of correct answers. Correct answers are also given a bonus based on how many of The Mob got the question wrong. The question types I experienced were basically 80% about frikkin’ Television shows, with the rest being about anything from sports, to SCIENCE, to videogames.

As for which is better, that's a decision that you have to make for yourself. Some people want to stay at home, while others want to go out.

You gotta play to win

I ran across this account of an NTN Buzztime trivia session at a Buffalo Wild Wings.

Took in a few games of trivia as well, finishing nationally in the top 20 once and the top 100 the rest of the times.

While impressive, the writer (Jeff) is used to a higher standard of performance.

We're really out of practice. Used to be we'd always finish in the top 10 or 20.

But there's a reason for this supposedly poor performance on the network.

I blame the Asian Zing sauce.

Well, at least the sauce is nonfat, although it has a bit of sodium in it...

Maybe they'll have twins trivia some evening

On Sunday night, this author was one of ten FriendFeed users who was featured in a Louis Gray post entitled 10 People To Follow On FriendFeed For May 2009. This is (part of) what Louis Gray said:

John runs a blog network called Empoprises, a series of vertical sites with distinct focus.

The reason that I'm mentioning this post in THIS blog is because Louis chose to link to this blog, Empoprise-NTN, as an example of one of the vertical sites with distinct focus. If you're curious, the "distinct focus" of this particular blog is the series of trivia games that are provided by NTN Buzztime, a Carlsbad, California based company that provides televised, networked trivia games in thousands of restaurants and bars throughout the United States and Canada. Clearly a vertical interest, especially for those of you who don't live in North America.

But let's say you're an early adopted who lives in the Silicon Valley and wants to see what all the NTN Buzztime fuss is about. Perhaps you have young kids who are a little bit antsy, and you want to get out of the house for a little bit. Perhaps you're not really into the bar scene, but such places certainly serve alternative drinks if you're not a drinker. And there are two places in Silicon Valley where you can play NTN Buzztime trivia:

• British Bankers Club, Menlo Park, CA http://www.buzztime.com/players/bt_site.php?sid=33868


• Bogarts Lounge and Tech Pub, Sunnyvale, CA http://www.buzztime.com/players/bt_site.php?sid=24138

Now I have not been to either of these places, but I have played NTN Buzztime in San Francisco (at Beale St. Bar & Grill) during Oracle OpenWorld.

P.S. I might as well plug my other vertical sites with distinct focus. The other blogs in the Empoprises network are Empoprise-BI (business), Empoprise-IE (California's Inland Empire), and Empoprise-MU (music).

NTN Buzztime and communities

While this post is being added to my Empoprise-NTN blog, its applicability actually goes well beyond those who are interested in NTN Buzztime trivia. Many people, including myself, have noted how the prevalence of social media has degraded the meaning of terms such as "friend." However, in some cases, the use of the term truly applies. While NTN Buzztime is not a classic online-only social media experience, it certainly does involve the use of technology, and therefore it's appropriate to note that long-standing players can often form true friendships. If you don't believe me, read this post from Stacy. It begins as follows:

For the first time in a very long time my husband and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings in West St. Paul this past weekend. I was told by one of the bar patrons that two people who used to frequent BW3s when I did had passed away. I was in shock. I thought I would share brief thoughts about both men who were always chipper and had such positive attitudes: Lango and Jams.

Read the rest of her post to see her thoughts on Lango and Jams.

The NTN Buzztime page for the Buffalo Wild Wings in West St. Paul is at http://www.buzztime.com/players/bt_site.php?sid=6036. I could not find a player page for either LANGO or JAMS, but I did find a profile for SMOKE.

That's not a producer, that's a producer

Spielberg @ Director's Chair by Fantax (Farhan) used under a Creative Commons License

In my never-ending automated searches for all things NTN Buzztime, I run across their job listings every once in a while. I saw a listing for a producer and was intrigued. Do they really have producers for each of their games? Well, sort of. In NTN Buzztime lingo, "producer" actually means something else:

We are seeking an energetic person to join our Product Management Team as a Producer. Our Carlsbad headquarters is seeking a self-directed Producer (Product/Program Manager), who thrives in a growing, collaborative professional environment. As a Producer you are a key member of the product development team who will contribute to all aspects of the product life cycle. The Producer creates cohesive and compelling vision from various inputs, demands and viewpoints; communicates the vision to the team and orchestrates the cross-functional product development process. Specifically the Producer is responsible to:
• Design game concepts and features based on goals and needs of the company, sales and marketability plus mass-market appeal.
• Clearly document designs
• Define use cases, requirements and write feature specifications.
• Manage implementation of all features and designs • Lead creative direction of the product
• Develop visual style in conjunction with the artist who is on the team.
• Guide Marketing as how to best market product through style, advertising and promotional opportunities
• Provide leadership, direction to a cross-functional team and optimize efficiency with an eye towards talent development that strengthens the next iteration of project teams.
• Lead kick off meetings, brainstorming, and participate in product reviews as the key stakeholder of the project.
• Ensure the technical, operations, and business requirements are in line with business goals and objectives.
• Achieve milestones and deadlines for the product development cycle; track and manage product though requirements, design, usability testing, and release activities.
• Communicate status, issues, and risk to the project team and key business stakeholder.
• Create schedules and timelines for product development, production, and conclusion • Act as liaison and single point of contact between software, art, marketing and design.
• Monitors market and business needs to develop requirements for future development, products, and enhancements to existing product lines.

So I guess that I could say that I'm a producer in my day job (I'm a software product manager) and in my night job (as Empoprises chief blogger).

However, my software product management day job doesn't encourage me to hang around in bars...

Another view of NTN Buzztime's quarterly financial results

Last Friday, I used my unparalleled stock investing experience to share my thoughts on NTN Buzztime's quarterly financial results. Wednesday, it was RoadDog's turn. Excerpt:

All in all, not very good, but at least there are more sites. However, I have noticed that the number of players during the afternoon is down....

Read the whole post.

PROFPR beats SKIPPY. Dancing ensues.

I'm not a regular member of any NTN Buzztime group of players, but those groups certainly are out there, and rivalries can occur. In fact, we can go to Memphis, Tennessee, which we haven't visited since January 22/January 23, to find one.

Check this Paul Ryburn post:

Sleep Out Louie’s, one of the last places to carry NTN/Buzztime Trivia Downtown, closed in February 2007. Since then there has not been a Paul vs. Skippy trivia match.

Until [May 17], at Calhoun’s.

Paul then showed a screenshot with the final scores: PROFPR (Paul) at 12,092, and SKIPPY at 8,691.

I did the trivia victory dance.

I don't know if Skippy blogs, but I predict a rematch.

NTN Buzztime quarterly financial results - is the change in direction paying off?

I was unable to discuss this on Thursday, but today I can talk about NTN Buzztime's release of its quarterly results.

In one respect financial results are often a Boolean operation - did you make money, or lose it? But the market is a little more sophisticated than that, and often gets into calculus-like examinations of slopes and trends and junk like that.

So in one respect, you can say that NTN Buzztime lost money. But on the other hand, as RTT News notes, they lost a lot less this quarter than they did in a comparable quarter a year ago.

Thursday, NTN Buzztime Inc. (NTN: News ) reported a first-quarter net loss of $255 thousand or breakeven per share, compared to a loss of $2.6 million or $0.05 per share in the same quarter last year.

RTT also noted that, while revenues declined, this is according to plan as NTN Buzztime refocuses on specific markets (which presumably will be more profitable).

RTT didn't address NTN Buzztime's various i-acquisitions, which aren't affecting the quarterly results, but CEO Terry Bateman did mention them, and some other strategic initiatives, in the opening to the press release:

"Our first-quarter results and recent strategic initiatives show that we are fulfilling our commitments to stabilize and grow our site count, reduce expenses, expand our reach in out-of-home advertising - including promotions and advertiser-sponsored events - and introduce our popular games into the online and mobile arena," commented NTN Buzztime CEO Terry Bateman. "Our net site count grew by 18 sites during the first quarter of 2009. We have reduced payroll by approximately $700,000 compared to the same quarter last year and cut overall SG&A expenses from approximately $7.3 million in last year's first quarter to $4.8 million in the 2009 first quarter. We have definitely made progress on our planned turnaround and are working to keep the momentum growing."

Mr. Bateman continued, "On the business-building side of the equation, we have jump-started our planned expansion into mobile and online games through our April acquisition of iSports, supporting our plans to launch this exciting new platform by the third quarter of this year. This month, we have purchased the assets of the i-am TV out-of-home advertising network from Instant Access Media. We believe this acquisition will contribute to the growth and value of our network allowing us to offer powerful media and sponsorship opportunities to major national advertisers. We are especially pleased to have made both of these strategic acquisitions with equity instead of cash or debt."

So maybe you can't play trivia in England any more, but there are new opportunities to enjoy NTN Buzztime products at home.

Does NTN Buzztime think it's Oracle or something?

In my day job, I have a lot of contacts with people from Oracle Corporation. If you've followed Oracle over the last few years, you know that they've bought up a lot of other companies. They do it with so much frequency, I can almost guarantee that when I run into an Oracle person after a few months, I can ask the Oracle person about Oracle's latest acquisition. (For those keeping track, Oracle is working on getting government approvals to acquire Sun Microsystems.)

Well, perhaps NTN Buzztime CEO Terry Bateman (who has only been on the job since February) woke up one morning and decided that he was Larry Ellison. Not too long after NTN Buzztime's April 24 announcement that it had acquired iSports, it has issued a press release to announce that it's acquiring i-am TV. (They must like the letter I.)

However, NTN Buzztime isn't just acquiring a company; it's also acquiring some investment money. A private stock placement with the former investors in i-am TV will yield $750,000 for NTN Buzztime.

Presumably NTN Buzztime won't completely junk I AM TV's current programming, which consists of 2 minute extreme bursts targeted for young adult bargoers. But perhaps the programming mix may change over time.

Here's the press release:

NTN Buzztime, Inc. Acquires Assets From i-am TV, Strengthens Its Out-of-Home Promotional Reach

CARLSBAD, CA UNITED STATES

- Acquisition adds high-profile out-of-home entertainment television screens in the top 15 DMAs

- Private Placement to provide $750,000 in additional working capital

CARLSBAD, Calif., May 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NTN Buzztime, Inc. (NYSE Amex: NTN) today announced that it has signed an agreement to purchase the assets of i-am TV from Instant Access Media, LLC which include approximately 1,400 flat panel television screens located in over 360 high-traffic hospitality venues in the top 15 designated market areas (DMAs). Out-of-home entertainment provider i-am TV has been in the business of delivering programming and advertising to these venues.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080331/CLM183LOGO)

The Company also announced that investors in Instant Access Media are purchasing shares of NTN common stock in a private placement raising $750,000 in additional working capital.

"Our acquisition of assets from i-am TV has the potential to take our advertising sales initiative to an exciting new level. By expanding our digital broadcast network into numerous prime locations in the top 15 DMAs, we are gaining critical mass to provide major national advertisers with uniquely powerful event, promotion, and sponsorship opportunities," commented NTN Buzztime's CEO, Terry Bateman.

Mr. Bateman continued, "The acquired i-am TV assets are an excellent strategic fit with initiatives we have underway to provide advertisers with sponsored media events and promotional opportunities. We will be offering our proprietary Buzztime content to operators of the acquired screens, potentially contributing to the growth of our overall network viewership. In addition, the assets acquired from i-am TV network include high-quality television screens located in prime locations in major U.S. cities which we believe will ultimately extend our network and enhance our value proposition."

Mr. Bateman concluded, "Considered in the context of our recent asset purchase of sports entertainment portal iSports to accelerate the planned launch of our online and mobile game platform, this agreement marks another significant and positive strategic milestone for NTN Buzztime."

About NTN Buzztime, Inc.

NTN Buzztime, Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment for 25 years, is based in Carlsbad, CA. Buzztime is distributed in-home and out-of-home across broadband platforms including online, cable TV, satellite TV and in approximately 3,750 restaurants, sports bars and pubs throughout North America. Buzztime entertainment is also available on electronic games and in books. For more information, please visit http://www.buzztime.com.

Buzztime is a proud member of the OVAB |Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau.

Buzztime is a registered trademark of Buzztime Entertainment, Inc. and Playmaker is a registered trademark of NTN Buzztime, Inc.

Forward-looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements which reflect management's current views of future events and operations. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include those related to successfully integrating the i-am TV assets being acquired into Company operations, uncertainty regarding our future capital needs, risks associated with the current economic downturn, our significant losses, our ability to grow our out-of-home Buzztime iTV network and implement our other business strategies, our recent management transition, potential failure of product demand or market acceptance of both existing and new products and services and the impact of competitive products and pricing. Please see NTN Buzztime, Inc.'s recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for information about these and other risks that may affect the Company. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on information available to us on the date hereof. These statements speak only as of the date hereof, and NTN Buzztime, Inc. does not undertake to publicly update or revise any of its forward-looking statements, even if experience or future changes show that the indicated results or events will not be realized.

COMPANY CONTACT:
Kendra Berger
Chief Financial Officer
NTN Buzztime, Inc.
(760) 438-7400

CCG CONTACT:
Mark Collinson
Partner
CCG Investor Relations
(310) 477-9800, ext. 117


SOURCE NTN Buzztime, Inc.

Happy anniversary to Empoprise-NTN (on the right date this time)

(Presumably Louis Gray caught it when I posted this in advance. Whoops.)

On May 9, 2008, I posted my first item for Empoprise-NTN.

I figured that I'd be talking about the trivia games a lot, but as the first post indicated, I ended up spending some time talking about the business issues at NTN Buzztime.

Ironically, I haven't played as much as I'd have liked, but perhaps the blog will take off financially and my trivia needs will be funded.

Or perhaps I can write off trivia trips as a business expense.

P.S. Speaking of business, NTN Buzztime will announce its quarterly results on Thursday:

NTN Buzztime, Inc. ... plans to release financial results for the 2009 first quarter after the close of regular market trading on Thursday, May 14, 2009. The Company's senior management will then host a conference call to discuss these results at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

o access the conference call, please dial 1-866-360-7027 if calling from the United States or Canada, or 1-706-643-3291 if calling internationally.

A replay will be available until May 21, 2009, which can be accessed by dialing 1-800-642-1687 if calling from the United States or Canada or 1-706-645-9291 if calling internationally. Please use passcode 98631328 to access the replay.

Empoprise-NTN High Noon - O'Malley's Pub and Grill (Sylva, NC)

Ran across the blog for this establishment, which lists the following information:

Just the Facts

Telephone:
(828) 631-0554‎

Hours:
Mon.–Sat.: 11am-until
Sun.: Noon-until

Food Hours:
Food is served all hours!
Late Night Menu:
Mon.-Wed. 10-last call
Thurs.-Sat. 11-until last call
Sunday 9–last call

Television:
16 TV’s with 9 Satellites,
ESPN Game Plan and NFL Ticket

Amusement:
NTN Buzztime Trivia
3 Pool Tables
Golden Tee Video Golf
Silver Strike Video Bowling

Seating:
Smoking and non-smoking available

Location:
83 Asheville Hwy./Business 23, Sylva, NC

Be sure to see Empty Slate on Friday, May 8.

For NTN Buzztime trivia scores at this location, go to http://www.buzztime.com/players/bt_site.php?sid=29623.

NTN Buzztime goes to Twitter and West Virginia

It all started when I did a "mentions" search on Twitter and found this tweet:

RT @empoprises: Buzztime trivia benefits an oft-neglected market - the deaf http://ff.im/2EedR. LOVE seeing a fresh analysis Buzztime ! :)

BuzztimeGirl
Mary Campbell

Campbell is presumably the same Mary Campbell who recently went out to West Virginia to meet some players:

One local pub is doing its part to bring tourism to the Buckhannon area.
Allburghers Appalachian Pub Co. recently hosted the 2009 W.Va. Buzztime Trivia Open....

Allburghers hosted the event Thursday, March 26 through Sunday, March 29. According to the trivia organizer, who only gave his name as Bob, there were about 50 people from various parts of the country who traveled to Buckhannon to take part in the fun....

A representative from Buzztime Trivia, Mary Campbell, traveled to Buckhannon to distribute prizes and additional electronic trivia pads for the group.

Back to Twitter. BuzztimeGirl also issued this tweet:

Love all the new Buzztime avatars created for the network. Register and build one to display while you're playing:) http://bit.ly/pNxqx :o)

I got all ready to upload my picture that I'm using these days...but it turns out that you BUILD a graphical avatar. (It pays to read the text...you get more points that way.)

If you want to see my handiwork, check my profile.

It looks like there are a number of other new features at the Buzztime web site...need to check them out.

Buzztime trivia benefits an oft-neglected market - the deaf

This blog has been around for about a year now. (In fact, I need to make sure that I haven't already passed the one-year anniversary.) In fact, back on May 17, 2008, I wrote about an NTN Buzztime promotional video, and concluded my post with the following:

At first I was disturbed at the fact that there was no sound in this video, but then I realized that this was a true and accurate demonstration of the product. Think of your average sports bar, in which one of the TVs (usually the one showing the local team's game) will have sound, and all of the other TVs will be muted, allowing you to watch the game but not hear it. Well, Buzztime is an entirely sound-free activity, so as not to interfere with other things being watched on other TVs. Clever, once you realize what's going on.

I had forgotten about this until I saw yet another post in the series of posts I'm finding that talk about the trivia games available at Buffalo Wild Wings.

This DPHH

Buffalo Wild Wings

Friday, May 29, 2009

6700 Knightdale Blvd
Knightdale, NC 27545
Website

C’mon out and kick off the Memorial Day weekend celebrations at Buffalo Wild Wings in Knightdale! This is a no-holds-barred bar with affordable, top-quality food, including award-winning chicken wings and twelve signature sauces- YUM! There’s big-screen TVs, onscreen Buzztime® Trivia and a menu full of great food. Lookin’ forward to seein’ ya’all there!

OK, other than the fact that the writer speaks Southern, and other than the fact that the writer inadvertently references a Buffalo Wild Wings competitor, this is your average "play trivia with us" message. But then I got to wondering - what is this "DPHH" that's referenced? The explanation appears in the bottom of the post:

The Deaf Professional Happy Hour (DPHH)™ hosts logistical information and provides certain administrative support for the functions of DPHH™ as a pro bono service to the deaf and hard of hearing community.

Again, you wouldn't think of it - or at least I wouldn't think of it - but NTN Buzztime Trivia is a perfect activity in which the deaf can participate. Since no sound is involved (for the reasons I mentioned in last years's post), there's no barrier for deaf participation in the games.

And if you think that all of the deaf players are meekly sitting quietly while playing their games, think again:

DPHH™, its subsidiaries, officers, and sponsors and the DPHH™ committees assume no liability for the behavior of individuals or the group at DPHH™ events. No DPHH™ committee member or other representative of DPHH™ is responsible for monitoring DPHH™ event participants.

It might get nasty at Buffalo Wild Wings in Knightdale on Friday May 29. Especially if Jane Fernandes appears in any of the trivia questions.


View Larger Map

P.S. The blog anniversary is on May 9. I'm safe.

Organized trivia runs!

Normally when I play NTN Buzztime trivia, I just kinda sorta show up. But Amy in Virginia Beach seems to be evangelizing trivia and wings (of the Buffalo Wild variety). You can't see details unless you're a member at meetin.org, but even those of us on the outside can see what Amy is promoting:

Join me for wings, beer, and trivia. Enjoy a night out with friends and we will also be playing Buzztime Trivia which is alot of fun to play.

Buffalo Wild Wings has two types of wings, along with 14 sauces ranging from Sweet to Blazin'! They also have ribs, burgers, sandwiches, wraps, salads, as well as all sorts of starters, snacks, and sides. The bar carries 11 domestic and 19 import and specialty beers and has a total of 33 TVs.

This made me curious - does the more well-known meetup.com have a similar group? Yes they do, in Windsor, Connecticut:

***Starting Wednesday September 3rd*** [2008]

Meet other local trivia lovers, play great games in a fun atmosphere! Buzztime Trivia at Buffalo Wild Wings features a wide variety of games: from play-along sports to trivia to seasonal competitions, each of our games is packed with fun and excitement! Trivia lovers use an electronic playmaker to compete aagainst other guests!

Buffalo Wild Wings has over 45 high def plasma and big screen tv's tuned to the hottest sports action, trivia and Texas Hold 'Em poker. BWW features a full made-to-order menu that's friendly on the wallet with award-winning wings spun in 14 Signature Sauces, 20 ice-cold beers on draft, and a full bar!

Conveniently located at 703 Poquonock Ave in Windsor. Exit 38 off I-91. Easy access from CT and Western Mass.

It looks like they've been having issues getting participants - the list of recent meetups shows only 1 attendee on March 11 and April 1, and none on other times - so if you're in Windsor, Connecticut and like trivia, you have an assignment on May 6.

HAL got 15,000 points! Again!

The wonderful thing about trivia contests such as NTN Buzztime is that they are played by humans, and sometimes humans perform better, sometimes worse. If you're stressed out about something, you're probably not going to do that well in a trivia game. If you have been taking advantage of the libations offered at many NTN Buzztime locations, your trivia skills may disintegrate as the night wears on. ("Where did my Playmaker go? Oh, it's underneath my shot glass.")

But what if the person playing alongside you is not subject to stress or the effects of alcohol? What if the person is not a person?

IBM doesn't necessarly have visibility into NTN Buzztime yet, but they certainly know about Jeopardy, according to this Technology Review article:

IBM has announced that it is developing a computer to compete on the game show Jeopardy! If the system can outwit human contestants--by comprehending and responding to a variety of questions more rapidly--artificial intelligence will have made a significant advance, the computer's developers say.

As the article notes, IBM's previous gamesmanship involved the chess-playing Deep Blue computer. Chess is a game that can be represented in mathematical and probabilistic form. A trivia show like Jeopardy is a bit tougher:

Playing Jeopardy...requires a computer to deal with a variety of subject matters, from politics to pop culture, and to answer questions based on clues that involve analyzing subtle meanings, riddles, and puns. Jeopardy! might seem a lot simpler than chess, but for a machine it's a far harder challenge.

So the next time someone denigrates you for sitting around in a bar all night answering trivia questions, it is perfectly acceptable for you to respond, "Hey, it's not like we're doing something easy like chess!"

Oh, and according to the New York Times article that Technology Review referenced, the computer will NOT be named HAL, but Watson.

I just hope that Watson remembers to provide responses in the form of a question.

iSports? No, iBuzztime now.

This press release was issued this morning:

NTN Buzztime, Inc. to Accelerate Mobile and Web Platform by Acquiring iSports Assets

CARLSBAD, Calif., April 24 CA-NTN-Buzztime-Acq

- iSports asset purchase gives NTN Buzztime immediate mobile presence

- iSports co-founders Nick Glassman and Kartik Ramachandran to join NTN Buzztime management

CARLSBAD, Calif., April 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NTN Buzztime, Inc. (NYSE Amex: NTN) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved the asset purchase of iSports. iSports delivers cutting-edge mobile sports and entertainment content including near real-time sports scores and news, and unique interactive gameplay within its acclaimed and graphically rich user experience.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080331/CLM183LOGO)

NTN Buzztime is a market leader in interactive venue-based sports, trivia, and casual games. The iSports asset acquisition immediately extends NTN Buzztime's venue-based gaming experience and advertiser network to the rapidly growing base of gaming enthusiasts on mobile phones and significantly bolsters NTN Buzztime's mobile and web development capabilities. NTN Buzztime will also be strengthened by the addition of iSports founders, Nick Glassman and Kartik Ramachandran to its management team.

"The acquisition of iSports will greatly enhance the value of NTN Buzztime for venues, consumers, and advertisers. NTN Buzztime is already a market leader of interactive sports, trivia, and casual games in the out of home marketplace. With the acquisition of iSports, we now extend that leadership position to the mobile arena," commented CEO Terry Bateman. "Not only have our strategic development plans taken a quantum leap through this agreement, we also gain the valuable expertise of two mobile and internet entertainment pioneers, iSports co-founders Nick Glassman and Kartik Ramachandran. This agreement marks a great strategic milestone for NTN Buzztime, and we enthusiastically welcome Nick and Kartik aboard to help us create the new NTN Buzztime."

Under terms of the purchase agreement, iSports Founder and CEO Nick Glassman will join NTN Buzztime as Executive Vice President, Product & Technology, and Kartik Ramachandran, iSports Co-Founder, President, and COO, will become the Company's Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President, Business Development.

"We have watched the progress of NTN Buzztime with great interest, and we see the opportunity to participate in its expansion into the mobile and internet arenas as a great validation of the success we have achieved in launching iSports," commented Mr. Glassman. "The combination of NTN Buzztime's loyal fan base and out-of-home advertising initiative with the iSports groundswell has tremendous potential."

Mr. Ramachandran added, "Coupling iSports with NTN Buzztime provides both companies the opportunity to significantly accelerate our initiatives in the out-of-home and digital entertainment space. We are very proud of what we have accomplished on our own to date, and even more excited to exploit the enormous synergies inherent in the combined company."

About NTN Buzztime, Inc.

NTN Buzztime, Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment for 25 years, is based in Carlsbad, CA. Buzztime is distributed in-home and out-of-home across broadband platforms including online, cable TV, satellite TV and in approximately 3,750 restaurants, sports bars and pubs throughout North America. Buzztime entertainment is also available on electronic games and in books. For more information, please visit http://www.buzztime.com.

Buzztime is a proud member of the OVAB |Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau.

Buzztime is a registered trademark of Buzztime Entertainment, Inc. and Playmaker is a registered trademark of NTN Buzztime, Inc.

About iSports, Inc.

iSports is a pioneer and market leader in the category of Mobile Social Gaming, offering sports scores, gamecasting, and news alongside addictive interactive Challenge games, all of which are designed to expand sports fans' digital entertainment experiences beyond the boxscore and into the realm of real-time community and casual competition.

About Nick Glassman

Nick Glassman's 15-year career has focused on creating advanced user experiences out of emerging technology, with a focus on wireless. Prior to founding iSports, Mr. Glassman was Co-Founder, VP of Product Development of Transpera, the first comprehensive platform to deliver and monetize web videos on mobile phones. Previous to co-founding Transpera, he served as the Executive Producer of Qualcomm's MediaFLO USA, Inc., responsible for managing the design, integration, and launch of mobile video broadcasting services for FOX, CBS, NBC, ESPN, MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon on Verizon and AT&T. He also managed consumer applications at PacketVideo, the first company to stream audio and video over wireless networks, and previously held senior positions at Excite, Inc., Moxi Digital, and Silicon Graphics. He began his career at Pixar Animation Studios, working on the groundbreaking 'Toy Story' feature release.

About Kartik Ramachandran

Prior to co-founding iSports, Kartik Ramachandran served as Head of Corporate Development at MediaFLO Technologies, the technology vendor and International platform development arm of Qualcomm's MediaFLO mobile content broadcasting initiative. He co-founded iSports with over six years of strategic planning and transactional background in telecommunications, media and technology gained in prior positions with the management consulting and investment banking firms Bain & Company, Accenture, and Deutsche Bank Securities. He holds a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Forward-looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements which reflect management's current views of future events and operations. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include uncertainty regarding our future capital needs, risks associated with the current economic downturn, our significant losses, our ability to grow our out-of-home Buzztime iTV network and implement our other business strategies, our management transition, failure of product demand or market acceptance of both existing and new products and services and the impact of competitive products and pricing. Please see NTN Buzztime, Inc.'s recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for information about these and other risks that may affect the Company. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on information available to us on the date hereof. These statements speak only as of the date hereof, and NTN Buzztime, Inc. does not undertake to publicly update or revise any of its forward-looking statements, even if experience or future changes show that the indicated results or events will not be realized.

COMPANY CONTACT:
Kendra Berger
Chief Financial Officer
NTN Buzztime, Inc.
(760) 438-7400

CCG CONTACT:
Sean Collins
Senior Partner
CCG Investor Relations
(310) 477-9800, ext. 202

SOURCE NTN Buzztime, Inc.

Until today, NTN Buzztime's mobile presence was limited to an application that can be used to find NTN Buzztime locations and game schedules. While the current NTN Buzztime application works on my phone, the current iSports application does not. So I'm personally uncertain whether this change will directly affect me.

Then again, NTN Buzztime probably isn't going after the 8-bit rotary phone crowd. The Apple fanboys are probably a more lucrative market.

A, Anthony!

Having played NTN Buzztime trivia for several years now, I can claim some level of success at the games. While I don't play much, I'll occasionally place in the top rankings, only missing a question or two.

But I am not A. Anthony, who was playing at a Buffalo Wild Wings when this happened:

I played the trivia games like usual, but tonight something amazing happened. And by something amazing I mean that I scored in the top 20 nationally in Immortal Words. Who didn't miss a single question? This guy.

I have never played Immortal Words, and I'm not sure that I'd be all that good at it:

Admit it... you love to quote your favorite movie, TV show... even your favorite song. We're going to see if you really know where your favorite quotations came from.

Immortal Words will challenge your ability to identify who said what... was it a movie, TV, book, philosopher, author, poet, comedian? Nothing is off limits.

Unfortunately, it may be off-limits for me because of its scheduled time - Thursdays at 5:15 pm Pacific.

A place for all (except for two commenters)

So anyways, the Kitsap Sun talked about the owner of MoonDogs Too in Port Orchard, Darryl Baldwin.

Baldwin grew up on a farm in North Dakota until city lights called to him. He relocated to Los Angeles, where he was drawn into a manufacturing position for 25 years.

Baldwin did well, but decided there was much more than the Los Angeles scene and became disheartened with “putting money in other people’s pockets.”

He decided to start his own business, but he didn't want to do it in California - but that's probably a topic for my business blog. He found a historic location which had last hosted a tavern named the Moon Dog Bar and Grill, opened his own establishment (MoonDogs Too), and proceeded to implement his vision:

Baldwin chose to serve the entire community. He feels that some bars and taverns tend to have attitudes that “isolate much of the neighborhood” and he didn’t want to fall into that persona. Baldwin designed MoonDogs Too to be a place where everyone of every age could come for food and entertainment and all the while feel comfortable.

Although not mentioned in the main article, the sidebar states that NTN Buzztime trivia is one of the services that MoonDogs Too provides - and it's free! (Well, you presumably have to buy food and drink.)

In the comments area, however, sherm360 spoils this scene of wonderment:

its funny how this goes in the paper on sat april 11th but friday april 10th they had 8 cops and a ladder truck out front and got closed for the night after a girl got hit in the face with a crutch and another with a beer bottle......and were over capacity....wow

So I figured I'd check the NTN Buzztime reviews of the establishment. At the time I checked, there were three positive reviews and one negative one. One of the positive reviews was practically in heaven:

moondogs is the best bar in washington, i've been to many in seattle and gig harbor that don't even compare in the slightest.

But the negative one was practically in hell. Here's a small sample:

Doesn't draw a real pretty or dental plan user kinda crowd. I've seen oral on the staircase & tittie winks sitting @ the bar. Take condoms if your looking for some Friday nite action or your OWN silverware for the full dining experince.

YMMV. And remember that you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself.

Empoprise-NTN High Noon - Damon's Grill (Wisconsin Dells, WI)

This Friday feature temporarily took some time off, but then I read about Matt's experience here and had to feature the site.

http://www.buzztime.com/players/bt_site.php?sid=32943

I have never been to the Wisconsin Dells myself. I took a trip across the country in 2005 with my family, but when my family visited the Wisconsin Dells, I had temporarily left them to go on a business trip to Texas. When I followed them a week later, I slept in Madison instead.

Back to the site. The Kalahari Resorts website has a page devoted to Damon's.

Can Matt get his mom to play NTN Buzztime?

I'm glad that I've improved my searches, because I'm now turning up more and more stories of people who are playing NTN Buzztime - even if they don't mention the words "NTN Buzztime."

Take Matt, for example. On Friday, April 3, Matt wrote about his experiences at NTN Buzztime - something that he had wanted to do for a while. The post even has a picture of a Playmaker. His experience:

My friend Nick and I played for a couple hours and we each won at least one game. I was awesome at Sports and Entertainment but noticeably lacking in History, Science and Art - should have payed better attention in high school :)

And Matt made this statement, with which even Ken Jennings would probably agree:

Believe me - nothing's lamer than talking trash about Roman history but man, did I make it sound good!

But that's not the end of the story, because Matt's blog post received a comment - from his mom, bragging about Mom & Dad's capabilities at Trivial Pursuit.

It looks like Matt is trying to accomplish some goals. Perhaps he should add a goal to beat his Mom at an NTN Buzztime game.

Why Steve Jobs would ignore Buzztime screens in a restaurant

It's obvious that NTN Buzztime isn't the only trivia game around, and that it actually benefits from a general interest in trivia. So, in my view, increased popularity of trivia could only help NTN Buzztime in the long term.

But still, other trivia venues can be seen as competition. As Louis Gray notes, that competition might be on your own phone. Unless you have the 8 bit rotary variety of phone. But Gray obviously doesn't:

The new Jeopardy game for the iPhone, just released to the iTunes Store, lets you select two modes of gameplay - solo, where you answer every single question, and the more familiar multi-player mode, where you face off against two opponents who have wandered into the studio.

More here, including screen shots. And while NTN Buzztime is technically free (vs. $4.99 for the iPhone Jeopardy game), in the long run you probably save money since you're not paying the restaurant and bar bills that you would while playing NTN Buzztime.

NTN Buzztime - the choice of a new generation

You gotta wonder how NTN Buzztime gets new customers. Rochelle Weber has the answer:

I don’t get to see all of my grandkids as much as I’d like to, but I see them enough to share my interests with them....I love trivia so last summer I took them to Buffalo Wild Wings to play trivia and discovered that Alex (who is 12) is a card sharp. While I was playing trivia, he was winning Texas Hold ‘Em.

How many NTN Buzztime sites have YOU visited?

OK, I've been playing NTN Buzztime trivia on and off for several years, and have visited sites (mostly on business trips) from Orange County, California to Ottawa, Canada. I've never added up all of the sites that I've visited, but I'd say I've probably played at somewhere between 2 dozen and 3 dozen sites.

That is small change, based upon what I read from RoadDog:

We have now been to 797 different NTN sites, very likely the most of any 'hooked" folks.

To achieve such a total, you not only have to have the time to go out and play trivia, but you also have to be mobile so that you can cover a lot of territory.

Impressive.

NTN Buzztime has no lack of visibility

OK, so I wrote the previous post about NTN Buzztime's lack of visibility, and then I ran across this post, written before the formal launch of the Buffalo Wild Wings in Dublin, California on April 6, 2009.

The post includes "just some of the features that you can expect when visiting Dublin's B-Dubs." In addition to piping sports game audio in the restrooms, this tidbit is mentioned:

Buzztime interactive trivia and poker games that provide customers with a chance to compete against others in the Dublin B-Dubs and also nationwide.

And there's even a link to the games page on the Buzztime website.

NTN Buzztime's lack of visibility

Now there are certain things that are only known by a small subset of people. One of those is NTN Buzztime, a company that is fighting to get restaurants and bars to sign up for its product, and a company that is fighting for customers to play it.

As part of my preparation for this blog, I subscribe to various Google searches that help me find every mention of NTN Buzztime in a blog or news item. And let me tell you, there aren't all that many mentions of NTN Buzztime.

But recently I tried adding a few new searches, and they seem to be hitting the jackpot. For example, I found this post at Ryan Hochrad's blog:

Also while we were at Buffalo Wild Wings we played this really cool trivia game which connects to people all around the nation playing. It had a lot of different build in games but we played the trivia game which was being shown on the TV screen. Let me tell you that my team stunk and did not do to well on any of the sections, but hey, it was fun anyway.

Now Ryan is clearly enthused about NTN Buzztime. The only problem is, he doesn't know it. He knows it as "this really cool trivia game" that he plays at Buffalo Wild Wings. Now while that's great for Buffalo Wild Wings, it's not necessarily so great for NTN Buzztime, who is trying to get brand recognition.

More on plane trivia

Tyler is going to Japan for six months, and he had to fly from Cincinnati to Los Angeles to do it. The flight:

The flight from CVG to LAX was in a 3x3 plane, equipped with touch-screen LCDs in the back of every seat. With the appropriate hardware (headphones) one could either watch TV, purchase movies, listen to music, or play a number of video games. (Television channels included Discovery, MSNBC, CNN, ESPN and a few other channels, and there was a wide selection of music, including modern, jazz, popular, Most of us killed time by playing an interactive trivia game, which was similar to that in Damon’s and Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants.

And you know what game they play in those restaurants.

Tyler didn't identify the airline on which he was flying, but I encountered a similar game on a Delta flight, and Delta appears to be the only airline with a non-stop flight from Cincinnati to Los Angeles (and you can continue to Japan on Delta).

Delta still doesn't include a lot of detail on its trivia game:

Up for some friendly competition with your fellow passengers? Check out Delta’s interactive Trivia game for free.

But after searching, I did find some Delta trivia information:

Designing Women's creators did not want to fire Delta in the first place, but was forced to by the network.

Whoops...wrong Delta. Getting back to the airline, I am wondering if MindFun.com is the source of Delta's trivia. Here's what MindFun says:

As MindFun began adding more original games (using a variety of advanced formats, including Java, Javascript, PHP, and DHTML), other companies like Miller Brewing Company, Delta Airlines, Gamegate.com, and others began to notice the great content and approached MindFun.com to syndicate the trivia and games. Now, if you fly Delta Airlines across the Atlantic or around the world, you can play MindFun.com produced questions translated into 5 different languages.

So MindFun appears to be a content producer, but I'm still not sure who designed the application.

Dan was right about uWink

On February 2, I wrote a post that stated,

At least in the opinion of Dan, uWink is a fail.

Guess what? Dan was right:

Suffering from "serious liquidity issues," according to analysts, uWink has officially removed itself from the stock market after its share price hovered around zero for months.

But hope remains:

[uWink] is beginning to sell its technology to other restaurants. Its table-top touch screens, which feature video games, interactive media and automated menus for ordering food, can lower a restaurant's labor costs by eliminating wait staff....

You'll recall that the uWink games are mostly single player, but there are some multi-player games available.

Follow-up on the Empoprise-NTN April Fool's post

Yes, it was a joke. NTN Buzztime has NOT signed an agreement with Denny's to put its trivia game in all Denny's restaurants.

Which begs the question - why DOES NTN Buzztime market to bars, rather than more family-oriented establishments?

One reason is that bars provide a cool demographic:

NTN Buzztime, Inc. (Amex: NTN), an out-of-home entertainment company, announced 65.9 percent of the Buzztime audience is the highly desirable 21-49 year old demographic according to a recent study conducted by The Nielsen Company....

Nielsen also documented that Buzztime players are 66 percent male and 34 percent female with an average annual income of $69,855. The audience had a dwell time of nearly one hour per visit (59.3 minutes) and 59 percent of the respondents visited the same location three or more times during the previous four weeks.

The dwell time is probably the key factor here. Owners of a place such as a Denny's don't necessarily market to people who want to stay and stay and stay, but a bar will happily serve more drinks to patrons.

Another reason for NTN Buzztime's presence in bars is because pub games have a long history. A very long history.

From Roman taverns which offered games such as Draughts (a common pub sign) to the modern pubs of the 21st century with electronic quiz machines, games have long been associated with drinking establishments. Richard Boston in Beer and Skittles reveals that the first regulation for national control of pubs was about pub games. Henry VII's statute of 1495 restricted "the indoor games which were distracting Tudor pubmen from archery". Gaming activities associated with pubs ranged from card games such as cribbage and throwing games such as darts, through physical sports such as cricket to blood sports such as cock fighting. Balls Pond Road in Islington was named after an establishment run by Mr Ball that had a pond out the back filled with ducks, where drinkers could, for a certain fee, go out and take their chance at shooting the creatures.

Just think of the outcry from PETA if NTN Buzztime were to re-create the duck pond game. Of course, if they had that game at Denny's, you could choose your own meal - and you'd HAVE to "dwell" for a bit while your meal was being prepared...

NTN Buzztime signs agreement with Denny's

I knew this blogging would pay off some day. Not only have I received recognition, but I also (sort of) received a scoop.

And I was surprised when this recognition/scoop occurred because of this blog - in some ways my least popular blog, but also a blog that specifically targets its vertical market, and is significant in ways that I have never imagined.

It all started with an email that I received from NTN Buzztime. And not just from a marketer, but from Terry Bateman himself.

Dear John,

First, I want to thank you for the work that you've put into your Empoprises-NTN (sic) blog. Not only have we determined that you are one of the top 250 bloggers that blogs on NTN Buzztime issues, but we couldn't help but note that your evangelism of NTN Buzztime has turned up in the Oracle OpenWorld blog
http://blogs.oracle.com/oracleopenworld/2008/08/around_the_world_2.html which will help extend our brand to database managers and other business experts throughout the United States and Canada.

In recognition of your efforts, you have been credited with 1,000 Players Plus points to your OEMPER account at Tequila Hoppers in Upland, California.

In addition, we are providing you this press release in advance, but are requesting that you embargo its publication until April 1, 2009. We believe that this press release indicates a significant expansion of NTN Buzztime's reach.

Thank you again for your support, John.

Sincerely,
Terry Bateman
Chief Executive Officer
NTN Buzztime, Inc.

Before I share the press release with you, let me point out that in the past, NTN Buzztime's game network (as opposed to its other businesses) has specifically targeted bars. Perhaps this is because bars are trivia hangouts, or perhaps it's for other reasons, but you haven't seen NTN Buzztime trivia in, say, a McDonalds.

I should also note that one of the selling points that NTN Buzztime uses is to tell bar owners that presence of NTN Buzztime will not only attract people to their establishments, but will also encourage them to stay longer and to spend more money.

It never occurred to me that this basic selling point could be extended beyond the bar, but perhaps that's why I don't work for NTN Buzztime. Someone thought of this, and in my view it's brilliant.

But let me share the press release:

NTN Buzztime, Inc. Reaches Agreement with Denny's, Creates New Games for New Market

CARLSBAD, Calif., April 1 — NTN Buzztime, Inc. (NYSE Alternext US: NTN) today announced that it has completed an agreement with Denny's to place NTN Buzztime trivia games in all Denny's restaurants.

"This deal greatly expands the reach of NTN Buzztime games," stated Terry Bateman, NTN Buzztime Board member and CEO. "Not only will be expanding our network to 1,500 new locations, for a total of over 5,200 locations, but we will also be expanding the hours in which NTN Buzztime trivia games are available. NTN Buzztime trivia games will now be available during the morning, to address the Denny's breakfast market."

"We are excited to provide NTN Buzztime trivia games to our customers," stated Nelson J. Marchioli, CEO of Denny's. "The new Grand Slam game that will be offered during breakfast hours is estimated to increase our coffee sales substantially, and also gives us an opportunity to introduce new products, including our new Buzztime Breakfast Pastry."

The Grand Slam game, available during breakfast hours, will consist of 15 multiple choice trivia questions administered during a half-hour game. Trivia questions will focus upon a variety of topics, including over-the-air network television, popular music from the 1950s, and literature. The game will be available during morning hours and also during Sunday afternoons in the spring and summer months.

About NTN Buzztime, Inc.

NTN Buzztime, Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment for 25 years, is based in Carlsbad, CA. Buzztime is distributed in-home and out-of-home across broadband platforms including online, cable TV, satellite TV and in approximately 3,746 restaurants, sports bars and pubs throughout North America. Buzztime entertainment is also available on electronic games and in books. For more information, please visit http://www.buzztime.com.

Buzztime is a proud member of the OVAB |Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau.

Buzztime is a registered trademark of Buzztime Entertainment, Inc. and Playmaker is a registered trademark of NTN Buzztime, Inc.

So, Terry, thanks for the scoop. What a way to start the month of April, getting a scoop like this on the first day of the month.