NTN Playmaker Information

The Old Playmaker: (Grey/Black w/Antenna)

AKA's - Gamebox, NTN Box, Trivia Box, Box, Game Board, Keyboard, Machine.

I normally just say "gamebox." Sometimes women will use just "box,"  and say things like "My box just died," or "My box is on its period," providing a little comic relief. Anyway, NTN officially calls them playmakers.

There are three types of old playmakers that I know of:

1. Oldest: All buttons on these boxes are black, except for the numbers 1 thru 5 which are split in half colored white and black. I never played on one of these boxes but have seen pictures of them. I have no other info available
2. Older: All buttons on these boxes are black. There are four rows of buttons. The top row contains all of the game controls. The remaining rows are letters in alphabetical. The numbers are shared with the top row of letters. The batteries on these tend to last longer than the new style. When you first receive a low battery message, the display will slowly get dimmer. Usually you can last a half-hour or more.
3. Old: These boxes are exactly the same configuration as the older-style box, except some of the buttons are different colors. The displays on these appear brighter. The batteries on these have a steeper drop-off when on low-charge. That means when you see a low-battery message, the display quickly loses it brightness, usually within five minutes.

Keyboard Commands: (old playmakers)

+  - will show you your players plus points if you are logged-in to a local account.

# - will show you your current ranking and score. This is a good way to refresh your screen when you get garbage.

Enter - is only necessary after entering information like pin numbers, and handles. You don't need to press enter after each answer.

All of the following tips and notes apply only to the old-style playmakers. NTN has released an enhanced 900 Megahertz system which supposedly remedies most of the old playmaker problems. I have yet to play on the new playmakers so much of this information may not apply.

System and Error Messages: (old playmakers)

The dreaded LOW BATTERY is a sure indicator that your game box is about to die. On newer boxes (the ones with the colors) this is especially true. You can extend the life of your box usually long enough to finish the game by turning the box off between every question and during breaks. As soon as the next question appears, turn on the playmaker. This will give it just enough time to initialize before the answers appear on the screen. There is about a 5 second delay before the box is ready to accept answers. If you are absolutely sure you have entered the correct answer you may immediately turn the playmaker back off (saving battery power). Then change to a new box when the game ends. I call this battery management. Some people do this as a matter of course whether or not the box is fully charged.

OUT OF RANGE is another problem. On the newer boxes, this is usually really bad.  It indicates that the battery is so low that it is unable to receive signals from the game computer. Occasionally, you may have a playmaker with a loose antenna. If that is the case sometimes you can fix it by moving the antenna. Sometimes you could be in a bad location in the bar. People standing between the playmaker and the game antennas have been known to cause out of range messages.

RF TIMEOUT: This error message sometimes appears along with out of range, and low battery messages. RF abbreviates Radio Frequency, so I imagine this just indicates some kind of acknowlegement signal from the computer failed. I've seen this happen on good boxes, so don't freakout unless you're getting one of the above messages.

PASSWORD: This is a system message that appears on all boxes when the local game computer is in administration mode, (happens when someone is changing the game selection to an optional game). You will not be able to login until the game machine recycles, and you see the intro screen to whatever game is next.

BURNING MODE: I've encountered this message a couple of times, and accidently figured out how to get it to come on. I don't know what it's function is. None of the buttons work except the off button. I suspect this is used to "burn" the battery down. I don't know. Turn the box off and then back on. That should do it.

Miscellaneous Notes: (old playmakers)

If the box doesn't display the correct answer even after pressing a number, it doesn't necessarily mean your answer was not accepted by the game computer. If you heard your playmaker beep when you pressed your answer (watch out, some boxes don't beep or are very quiet), then more than likely your answer was accepted.

Sometimes you will see Greek, Chinese, Football commands, etc. (basically garbage) show up on your playmaker. Sometimes the radio signal that is sent to your box to display your answer is garbled. The beep is confirmation that the game computer has received your signal. Garbage happens all of the time.

Sometimes you will notice that your box is changing your name by itself, or that your answers are changing after you press them. This probably means that someone else in the bar has a playmaker on the same frequency as yours. There is no way to fix this unless someone who knows how to change playmaker frequencies is available. Even then your game is probably screwed, unless you are able to immediately identify who has the duplicate playmaker and ask them to get another box or wait for you to finish the game, so that you can get another box.

Changing Frequencies: (old playmakers)

Each playmaker must be assigned a unique frequency. When you first turn on a playmaker the first message that appears is a serial number. The second message is a three digit number. That is the playmaker frequency. By using special command sequences you can enter a "select frequency" mode where you are able to change the playmaker's frequency. Although being able to change frequencies can be a game saver when your playmaker dies, I do not recommend changing frequencies. What happens is that the dead playmaker gets put back into the charger pool with a duplicate frequency. And then somebody inevitably jacks-up your game.

If you are blessed/cursed with the knowledge of knowing how to change frequencies, please be courteous to future players and absolutely ensure that you exchange the frequencies on both the playmakers you are using.

You can use the following protocol:

1. Your box is about to die.
2. Start to use battery-management techniques until you can procure a second playmaker.
3. While using battery-management note and remember the playmaker's frequency.
4. Procure a second playmaker (preferably charged). Do not turn it on until you have time.
5. When you have a break, turn on the new playmaker. Note its frequency.
6. Using the new box go into frequency selection mode.
7. Change the new box to the old box's frequency. As soon as you enter the three digit frequency, the box is ready to play with your Handle (and account) intact. No need to re-enter any other info.
8. Now before you turn in the old box, change the frequency to what your new box had when you got it.