c4countdown

Ben Wilson

Thomas Cappleman wrote: ↑
Fri May 18, 2018 9:56 am
Richard Brittain (according to a conversation on Apterous some time) lives on my walk to work. Not actually spotted him, but he said he saw me one time.

He's getting more skilled at his old hobby then?

Ben Wilson

Familiar face currently on podium 2 on pointless.

Ben Wilson

[This may actually have been 4 or 5 separate dreams, it's hard to tell given how curdled my subconscious is] Last night I was running a co-event in the Midlands somewhere (may even have been Nottingham) with Jeff Clayton and Lauren Hamer, however the start was delayed as the three of us had to compl...

Ben Wilson

Right then, last night I was apparently in Las Vegas, at a casino that was for some reason being held in my old school's main hall and the only game being played was Blackjack. An apterite I don't recognise wins a decent amount of money, and then we all get thrown out of the casino for something Dyl...

Ben Wilson

Semi-related, but through that first video, I found this, which I couldn't be more chuffed about.

Ben Wilson

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑
Fri Mar 30, 2018 8:30 pm
The latest series of The X-Files - disappointing.

Especially as Channel 5 have been broadcasting it at 11pm on a Monday evening.

Ben Wilson

I had a weird one last night that I can kinda remember... Sort of. I was running toward home, when I took a wrong turn through a rough neighbourhood and ended up at a ghetto sweet shop, where I end up confronted by an old woman forcing me to taste test various bits of chocolate to see whether or not...

Ben Wilson

13st 8lb, quite a bit overweight for my height (5' 10").

Or, if you're enlightened and like the metric system, 86kg, quite a bit overweight for my height (177cm).

Ben Wilson

Okay, so last night was an odd one. I started out by playing a game of No Man's Sky, the interminably dull sandbox space game, eventually landing on a deserted planet populated by alien monsters. I fashion together a makeshift cosh out of spare wire and quickly run into a guy named Chris, who I work...

Ben Wilson

A couple of recent ones. The first one saw me participate in some kind of illegal night street race around the streets of Lincoln (streets similar to this appropriately-named one ). I crash out of the race and roll the car, but am able to quickly fix it by sticking Renault logos to the front and bac...

Ben Wilson

Here's the updated stat file in case anyone's wondering.

Ben Wilson

...And then, the following day, 33 people showed up to play yet more Countdown at the COLIN XIV hangover- the fifth Sunday tournament I've run and the reason I'm so knackered today. :-) More prizes were on offer- this year I did a Tuff Luck prize at the hangover, which was taken home by MICHELLE NEV...

Ben Wilson

I'm just about back to normal after what was an incredibly tiring weekend, but definitely a fun one as well. 45 people in total over 2 days played lots of games of Countdown, drank a hell of a lot and (hopefully) had a great time launching another year of co-events and a third season of FOCAL. Thank...

Ben Wilson

Less than 48 hours to go and up to 40 entrants with the entry of the most recent series champ!

Ben Wilson

Two days to go and I've just realised I've been negligent in one regard- I haven't posted the seedings yet! Rather than do my usual thing of ridiculous numbers of calculations based on on-screen performance, etc. I've decided instead to do it a very simple way. And rather than explain this simple wa...

Ben Wilson

Weird one a couple of nights ago. I was apparently living in London, and woke up one morning to find a woman and her two children on my doorstep, having got it into their head that I'd agreed to give them all a lift to school/work. Not being one for confrontation, I agree to take them in my car, and...

Ben Wilson

The answers to the 2017 quiz.

Ben Wilson

26 paid up entries and just 26 days to go! It's time for me to make my usual appeals (and, apparently, pentapost at the same time) -If you can bring copies of the board game, please let me know. Physical copies of the dictionary aren't needed and haven't been for some time, we'll be using aptodic/OD...

Ben Wilson

Last night then, I find myself hosting a special bonus COLIN in December, apparently against my will for reasons that will become apparent in a bit. People are showing up, including Mark Tournoff and Jon Corby, and suddenly I discover that I'm completely unprepared for the event- no laptop, no conun...

Ben Wilson

Well, entries stayed at 23, so no special freebie for everyone- but I might put my hand in my pocket and see if I can't rustle something up anyway. :) Meantime, hope everyone has a good Christmas, and come Boxing Day, you have plenty of spare cash to send my way to secure your place at next month's ...

Ben Wilson

Turns out it took me just about 11 months to finish it. And I only got it done with 26 hours to spare. But here it is! Enjoy, everyone. Someone. One person? Maybe? Please?

Ben Wilson

Another day, another entry and another COLIN debutant in the form of David Hilton! Up to 23 now for Saturday, just 7 to go in 6 days to make me stick my hand in my pockets, this time for reasons that aren't likely to get me arrested. On a related note, neither COLIN XII nor COLIN XIII saw any player...

Ben Wilson

Up to 22 entries now and a COLIN debutant (the first one so far for 2018) in the form of Bradley Horrocks! Just 8 entries until I'm forced to think of a special freebie to buy/make everyone, and 8 days in which to get them...

Ben Wilson

Entry figures currently stand at 17 for Saturday and 16 for Sunday, which may seem a little low, but last year, the main event only got its 24th entry on December 22nd. So now's as good a time as any for an appeal/challenge. If the main event hits 30 entries by the 22nd of December this year, everyo...

Ben Wilson

And it turns out that sleeping in a hotel where a co-event was held is basically inviting ridiculous amounts of aptodreaming. The most frustrating thing about dreams is that you can never remember the start of them (false sodding awakenings aside), either that or they always begin in medias res. So ...

Ben Wilson

Results from today- final to be played shortly! STANDINGS Players are ranked by wins, then points. FOCAL Finals P W Pts 1 Rob Foster 7 7 481 2 Jen Steadman 7 4 448 3 Zarte Siempre 7 4 443 4 Tom Cappleman 7 4 427 5 Jonathan Wynn 7 4 401 6 Stephen Read 7 2 394 6 Thomas Carey 7 2 394 8 Graeme Cole 7 1 ...

Ben Wilson

Just finished the Blacklist redemption, which was good, but not quite up to the standards of the parent show. Currently watching Babylon 5 (for about the fifth time) all the way through on Pick every weekday evening at 8pm. If you've never seen the show I really can't recommend it enough, it was so ...

Ben Wilson

Rooms at the Ibis are currently available at £42 each through this link. Though to quote Matt Morrison, 'you'll probably have a fucking terrible time there', so book at your own peril.

Ben Wilson

Not a recent one, but an old one I had involved someone grafting the Countdown clock onto the front of the old Post Office in Lincoln. And in all fairness, it is crying out for it.

Ben Wilson

So a couple of nights ago, in my dream, I was working with Jeff Clayton, Jen Steadman and Matt Morrison on a science project. We're in some kind of classroom but I get the impression we were sort of working on it under pain of violence. However, we get to choose what we want to, and I end up choosin...

Ben Wilson

Turns out I'm not done with October yet, though no Zubair sadly (lucky for him?). I can't remember anything about the first part of the dream other than it was apparently amazing, but ended up with me getting told off by my manager for not making enough of an effort to integrate with my colleagues a...

Ben Wilson

It could have even been the same show (the cheerleaders one I think, hope I'm not stereotyping) where Richard straight up gave them an answer in another game. Possibly the game where they have to connect objects to make a series of compound words. He literally said "It's <complete answer, not even ...

Ben Wilson

And also Susie tends to give multiple max-length words in her bit, which I see as the equivalent to when Rachel says 'multiple methods, here's one'.

Ben Wilson

Just finished season 4 of the Blacklist and got the spin-off (Blacklist: Redemeption, or 'TomList' as it's become known in my house) on my shelf ready for when we finish our Elementary season 5 box set. Also watching the new series of Red Dwarf, and actually enjoying Star Trek Discovery on Netflix.

Ben Wilson

Me again. In the dream, I was playing a game of Minecraft, only for the next building I went into to suddenly turn into a pub, and the landlord is Tony Atkins. He asks me to fix the till, only to fix it himself by pulling down on what looks like the handle from a one-armed bandit that has a $100 bil...

Ben Wilson

Last night's dream saw me going to record the Crystal Maze with a team comprised of Jono, Zubair, Usman Mirza and a ginger, freckled Michelle Nevitt. However, before I arrive at the studio, I get hopelessly lost in Birmingham New Street Station, causing me to miss the recording and my place to be ta...

Ben Wilson

Two recent ones. In one I'm playing Scrabble against Adam Dexter for one of Brian Cox's 'wonders of...' documentaries (no idea what this one was supposed to be about though). In the other one I'm trying to rent an apartment on the Lincoln waterfront from Dan McColm. There was a third but I've comple...

Ben Wilson

Mean confidence: 87.80% Actual percent correct: 74.00% You want your mean confidence and actual score to be as close as possible. Mean confidence on correct answers: 93.51% Mean confidence on incorrect answers: 71.54% You want your mean confidence to be low for incorrect answers and high for correc...

Ben Wilson

Can't remember the contesnts of my Steam/Origin library off the top of my head (it's obscenely large) but I'm definitely interested in the Burnout pack please. :-) I've got quite a few gift codes of my own to give away that I'll put up for grabs when I get home. Whoops, I've actually got Burnout al...

Ben Wilson

Can't remember the contesnts of my Steam/Origin library off the top of my head (it's obscenely large) but I'm definitely interested in the Burnout pack please.

I've got quite a few gift codes of my own to give away that I'll put up for grabs when I get home.

Ben Wilson

-Sleep on my back. I'm strictly a stomach or side guy. -Enjoy any form of soap opera or reality TV apart from the apprentice (and that last one is pure schadenfreude) -Possess any form of fashion sense whatsoever. If I could get away with wearing the same jeans and t-shirt (jumper in winter) every d...

Ben Wilson

Last night I found myself at a tournament in Peterborough, which I initially assumed was Scrabble but was being run by Zarte in a Bristol-style so god knows. I'm helping out as I did at .co.MK, and then the lunch break is announced, so I head through to the lunch area, which is the crappiest superma...

Ben Wilson

Right, so last night I find myself zipping back and forth across the Lincolnshire countryside in trains (it's always trains with me for some reason). I'm alternately giving Dan McColm and Dylan Taylor lessons on how to drive a train, which eventually leads to us driving the train to a large room und...

Ben Wilson

COLIN XIV Good evening everyone :-) It’s that time of year again! Well, actually, no, it isn’t. That time of year is still five months away at the time of writing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t start getting hype for it. COLIN is back! For the fourteenth year in a row, the co-event calendar (and for...

Ben Wilson

Right, last night. I was in a house I didn't recognise, basically fleeing from a group of people as part of a game show. The concept was that one person (me) was on the run, a small group of people were tasked with rescuing me, a larger group were tasked with capturing me. A guy called Mike (not Mik...

Ben Wilson

I'm sure 'Champion of Champions' headers were placed over the clock during CoCs up to and including CoCX.

Ben Wilson

Voila. First shown May last year, this one was apparently a repeat.

Ben Wilson

Kirkie Bevins was on the code today.

Ben Wilson

Last night's dream saw me walking through Lincoln when I suddenly run into Matt Bayfield, Lauren Hamer and Jono. We decide to head toward the hospital for a catchup (why there I have no idea) and spend the next several minutes wandering through several back streets of the city following Matt's navig...

Ben Wilson

So last night I dreamed it was the end of the very first ever 'Co:Sleepover' event at the Ark in Hykeham, which featured me and about 10 others, well, sleeping over in the Ark's smaller hall, which proves a challenge for me as I manage to prop my sleeping bag between two tables of different heights,...

Ben Wilson

L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: ↑
Wed Jul 19, 2017 7:27 pm

Ben Wilson wrote: ↑
Tue Jul 18, 2017 9:50 pm
So will anyone who's never put in any effort to improve their word knowledge/anagramming skills ever win a series again? I highly doubt it.
Again?
I doubt anyone who fits that description has ever won a series of Countdown.

Ben Wilson

Then we have good old Carl Williams, who narrowly lost to Graeme Cole in the final. I don't know if this is just me misremembering things, but I have this recollection of Carl Williams actually being on apterous shortly after those finals were broadcast. He didn't play any games as far as I know bu...

Ben Wilson

Ben Wilson

Okay, I've had a fairly sizeable fever the last few nights so last night's was a bit of a whopper. I start here , walking up Lincoln High Street with my aunt and uncle, challenging them to count the number of churches we pass en route to the railway station. Feel free to play along, by the way- the ...

Ben Wilson

Iiiiiiiiit’s baaaaa-aaaack. Yes, Innis and I are back for Mk3 – and this time, it’s personal (other misplaced film quotes are available) It’s been one of the biggest events the last two years, but this year we’re simply striving to make it the best yet. Expect mischief, mirth, and mishaps, but most...

Ben Wilson

Knew it was one of the two. Dunno why I have it saved as 'MWM COLIN 2012' on my hard drive then. Unless you did one for that year too.

Ben Wilson

Matt Morrison wrote: ↑
Tue Jun 27, 2017 12:34 pm
Feel free to use whatever you like from the Colin report I did once. Pretty sure it's on here. Unless that was Colon.

the epic one from 2012 with the pictures? Got that saved to my hard drive as a pdf so will do, thanks!

Ben Wilson

meanwhile, if anyone wants to combine the best bits of videogaming and boardgaming, Tabletop Simulator is on sale on Steam until next week.

Ben Wilson

Surely there's a Scrabble thread in this forum already somewhere?

Ben Wilson

In B4 Kirk Bevins

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