Basis of Presentation (Policies)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2016
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Description of Business	Description of Business NTN Buzztime, Inc. (the “Company”) delivers interactive entertainment and innovative dining technology to bars and restaurants in North America. Customers license the Company’s customizable solution to differentiate themselves via competitive fun by offering guests trivia, card, sports and arcade games, nationwide competitions, and self-service dining features including dynamic menus, touchscreen ordering and secure payment. The Company’s platform can improve operating efficiencies, create connections among the players and venues and amplify guests’ positive experiences. Built on an extended network platform, the Company’s interactive entertainment system has historically allowed multiple players to interact at the venue, and now also enables competition between venues, referred to as massively multiplayer gaming. The Company’s current platform, which it refers to as Buzztime Entertainment On Demand, or BEOND, was first introduced as a pilot program in December 2012, was expanded commercially during 2013, and the expansion was scaled during 2014. The Company continues to enhance its network architecture and the BEOND tablet platform and player engagement paradigms. The Company also continues to support its legacy network product line, which it refers to as Classic. The Company currently generates revenue by charging subscription fees for its service to its network subscribers, by leasing equipment (including tablets used in its BEOND tablet platform and the cases and charging trays for the tablets) to certain network subscribers, by hosting live trivia events, and by selling advertising aired on in-venue screens and as part of customized games. In 2014, the Company began offering pay-to-play premium content to certain customers via its BEOND tablet platform, such as paid arcade. During the second quarter of 2015, the Company made a strategic change in its premium content model by making the arcade offering available on both a free-to-consumer and pay-to-play basis. This change required the Company to delay the general availability of the pay-to-play arcade offering as it retooled the offering’s content, workflow and positioning. As a result, during 2015, the Company generated additional subscription fee revenue from those venues offering free-to-consumer arcade. The Company anticipates rolling out the new pay-to-play arcade offering during the second quarter of 2016. Currently, approximately 2,900 venues in the U.S. and Canada subscribe to the Company’s interactive entertainment network, of which approximately 65% are using the BEOND tablet platform. The Company was incorporated in Delaware in 1984 as Alroy Industries and changed its corporate name to NTN Communications, Inc. in 1985. The Company changed its name to NTN Buzztime, Inc. in 2005 to better reflect the growing role of the Buzztime consumer brand.
Basis of Accounting Presentation	Basis of Accounting Presentation The accompanying unaudited interim condensed financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP) for interim financial statements and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 8 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include all adjustments that are necessary, which are of a normal and recurring nature, for a fair presentation for the periods presented of the financial position, results of operations and cash flows of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries: IWN, Inc., IWN, L.P., Buzztime Entertainment, Inc., NTN Wireless Communications, Inc., NTN Software Solutions, Inc., NTN Canada, Inc., and NTN Buzztime, Ltd., all of which, other than NTN Canada, Inc., are dormant subsidiaries. All significant intercompany transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. These condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto contained in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015. The accompanying condensed balance sheet as of December 31, 2015 has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date but does not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2016 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be anticipated for the entire year ending December 31, 2016, or any other period.
Reclassifications	Reclassifications The Company reclassified the condensed consolidated statement of cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2015 to conform to the 2016 presentation. Reclassifications had no impact on net loss or cash flows.

Basis of Presentation (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Description of Business

NTN Buzztime, Inc. (the “Company”) delivers interactive entertainment and innovative dining technology to bars and restaurants in North America. Customers license the Company’s customizable solution to differentiate themselves via competitive fun by offering guests trivia, card, sports and arcade games, nationwide competitions, and self-service dining features including dynamic menus, touchscreen ordering and secure payment. The Company’s platform can improve operating efficiencies, create connections among the players and venues and amplify guests’ positive experiences. Built on an extended network platform, the Company’s interactive entertainment system has historically allowed multiple players to interact at the venue, and now also enables competition between venues, referred to as massively multiplayer gaming. The Company’s current platform, which it refers to as Buzztime Entertainment On Demand, or BEOND, was first introduced as a pilot program in December 2012, was expanded commercially during 2013, and the expansion was scaled during 2014. The Company continues to enhance its network architecture and the BEOND tablet platform and player engagement paradigms. The Company also continues to support its legacy network product line, which it refers to as Classic.

The Company currently generates revenue by charging subscription fees for its service to its network subscribers, by leasing equipment (including tablets used in its BEOND tablet platform and the cases and charging trays for the tablets) to certain network subscribers, by hosting live trivia events, and by selling advertising aired on in-venue screens and as part of customized games. In 2014, the Company began offering pay-to-play premium content to certain customers via its BEOND tablet platform, such as paid arcade. During the second quarter of 2015, the Company made a strategic change in its premium content model by making the arcade offering available on both a free-to-consumer and pay-to-play basis. This change required the Company to delay the general availability of the pay-to-play arcade offering as it retooled the offering’s content, workflow and positioning. As a result, during 2015, the Company generated additional subscription fee revenue from those venues offering free-to-consumer arcade. The Company anticipates rolling out the new pay-to-play arcade offering during the second quarter of 2016. Currently, approximately 2,900 venues in the U.S. and Canada subscribe to the Company’s interactive entertainment network, of which approximately 65% are using the BEOND tablet platform.

The Company was incorporated in Delaware in 1984 as Alroy Industries and changed its corporate name to NTN Communications, Inc. in 1985. The Company changed its name to NTN Buzztime, Inc. in 2005 to better reflect the growing role of the Buzztime consumer brand.

Basis of Accounting Presentation

Basis of Accounting Presentation

The accompanying unaudited interim condensed financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP) for interim financial statements and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 8 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include all adjustments that are necessary, which are of a normal and recurring nature, for a fair presentation for the periods presented of the financial position, results of operations and cash flows of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries: IWN, Inc., IWN, L.P., Buzztime Entertainment, Inc., NTN Wireless Communications, Inc., NTN Software Solutions, Inc., NTN Canada, Inc., and NTN Buzztime, Ltd., all of which, other than NTN Canada, Inc., are dormant subsidiaries. All significant intercompany transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

These condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto contained in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015. The accompanying condensed balance sheet as of December 31, 2015 has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date but does not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2016 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be anticipated for the entire year ending December 31, 2016, or any other period.

Reclassifications

Reclassifications

The Company reclassified the condensed consolidated statement of cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2015 to conform to the 2016 presentation. Reclassifications had no impact on net loss or cash flows.