by Ewan Turney
The two men at the centre of the infamous pub quiz suing saga slogged it out one-on-one in a gruelling pub quiz match last week but there was no hint of actual physical violence breaking out thanks to the pair being some 50 miles apart.
Last January, veteran quizmaster Tony Barclay successfully sued contestant David Crane for libel to the tune of £5,000. Crane accused Barclay of cheating after he missed out on a £210 prize at the King's Arms in Bedford.
The pair vowed to never again be in the same room but a new interactive quiz launched by Buzztime allowed Crane to finally get his own back as he triumphed in the grudge match.
Crane competed at the Royal Oak in Golders Green, north London, at the same time as Barclay at Barratts, Northampton.
"The match had real needle," said Buzztime spokesman Jeremy Stern. "They clearly hate each others' guts. If Mike Tyson had been there he would have had his ear bitten off."
The stunt launched a new interactive pub quiz, which allows multiple players across the country to pit their wits against each other simultaneously.
The quiz, developed by US firm NTN Communications, uses TV screens to display the questions and wireless handheld game controllers for players to input their answers.
Themed games start every half hour from 11am to 11pm covering subjects such as travel, sports, history and general trivia. Between 7pm and 8pm each night more challenging "Buzz-time Premier Games" offer lucrative prizes. The games are free for customers to use.
"This marks a new era for pub quizzes in this country," said NTN vice-president for business development Jon Williams. "Now players will be able to go head-to-head against teams all over the country either in individual games or in leagues."
Twelve pubs, six in London and one each in Leicester, Croydon, Aylesbury, Nottingham, North-ampton and Westcliff, are trialling the quiz system.