c4countdown

Ben Wilson

And as just an addendum, the latest stat to drop out of COLIN is that the only score- only one- that is more or less equally likely to be a winning or losing score is 52. This is a significant number for this year's COLIN. Why is it significant? All will be revealed soon...

Ben Wilson

Hey all, entries are a bit slower than I expected at the moment so if you are planning on entering this year and haven't sent me your fee yet, please do so or at least give me a heads up that you're planning on attending so I know how much budget I have to play with. :-) I Hope to have photos of thi...

Ben Wilson

Added another page to the COLIN stat file! :-) Here's a trivia quiz with no prize: 1. What is the most common winning score at COLIN? 2. What are the most common losing scores? (There are two, tied) 3. What is the only score equally likely to be a winning or losing score, and also the most common sc...

Ben Wilson

Updates! Up to nine entries at the moment so it's slow going for now, but I trust interest will pick up after MK. :) (Milton Keynes, not Mortal Kombat) An update on the prizes- the above calendar has been scrapped in favour of mugs again. COLIN XXI will have a 'theme' that will be revealed in due ti...

Ben Wilson

Top 100, not bad at all

Ben Wilson

What happened in round 3 with loads of players playing whatever the scrabble equivalent is of prune?

Ben Wilson

Interesting one I've come across recently. I wanted to post this as a reply to Graeme's kerning / keming puzzle from a number of years ago but couldn't find it so I've posted it here instead: rn icrosoft and g rn ail It was from the COLIN puzzle mag in 2017. Text recreated below... "That's wha...

Ben Wilson

James has messaged me to confirm he did not post this thread. If you have sent money to the PayPal link that was posted in this thread, please try to cancel the payment via PayPal.

Ben Wilson

Testing negative now but they're still coming. Fourth dream started out as a weird first-person parkour videogame set in a sort-of abandoned stone tower that was a bit like that episode of Doctor Who with Peter Capaldi where it was just him and he had to punch through a crystal wall (that synopsis a...

Ben Wilson

Second dream, I'm running down a road in Lincoln as it's (apparently) the one time of year I actually can run, and it's some form of festival or open air market. At some point, my run takes me through a WWE event, where Mark Deeks is wrestling the Undertaker in a steel cage suspended over a concrete...

Ben Wilson

Caution: long post. Being laid up with covid has certainly had an effect on my psychological state with the hattrick of bizarre dreams as detailed below. First dream, I was tasked with watching a shop that was in the same place as the B&M in Lincoln (next to the river in the city centre), but wa...

Ben Wilson

Paul Worsley wrote: ↑Thu Oct 02, 2025 7:55 pm Patrick Murray, actor (Mickey Pearce, OFAH) 68. RIP.

Arguably, we need a new contender for the greatest living actor in a minor role in a sitcom.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Brenman ?

Ben Wilson

It starts off with me walking through the streets of Lincoln, many of which have passageways that are elaborately decorated but aren't used for anything, leading me to quip to Rachel Riley that the city has a lot of fancy dining rooms that aren't being used for anything. Well, one's being used for a...

Ben Wilson

Jamie Weisenberg wrote: ↑Sun Sep 14, 2025 3:50 pm
Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Sat Sep 13, 2025 5:29 pm
Which is why she's in the job. So I ask again, why do you think she's being fed answers?
The human brain cannot process complex solutions in just 30 seconds unless you're a young autistic math wiz.

[citation needed]

Ben Wilson

A very brief one a few nights ago where Fiona T banned the rest of the world from using the letter 'T.'

Ben Wilson

It's COLIN's 21st birthday in January, but did you also know that it's the tenth anniversary of FOCAL as well? :-) As such, an event like this deserves commemorating somehow, so the prize for the hangover event will be a calendar celebrating the 10 years of FOCAL. ...and that's where I need your hel...

Ben Wilson

Just curious.

Ben Wilson

Had an odd one last night where I was doing a Destination X style challenge that involved me parkouring down the side of a building (well, more 'falling semi-safely) into a bar in Barcelona, only to discover that I was the 7th arrival out of 9 people. Following that, I jump into a mini-steamroller a...

Ben Wilson

As sure as the sun rises in the east, the end of January will see the FOCAL season kick off in Lincoln! Yep, the event hosted by the man with the same initials as ‘Blackjack’ (and the same physique as Jack Black) is turning 21 this year, and even though the weekend won’t be as big as last (this) yea...

Ben Wilson

The bat signal is usually meant to summon Batman, not piss him off, but it's worth a try.

Ben Wilson

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/entertai ... at-84/amp/

Chuck Mangione, musician who was in a few episodes of King of the Hill.

Ben Wilson

To take things to the extreme, the best thing to do really is to not have a set opponent. Everyone does the same rounds and has an adjudicator seeing how long they take to get the conundrums. Everything is fed into the computer, which uses some scoring system to determine the day's winner. This is ...

Ben Wilson

In last night's dream I was putting the finishing touches on a 'man cave' in my house, which consisted of 3 octagonal rooms in a row. The left hand room was a study with various work stations in it including for some reason a haberdashery section. The middle room was a game room, in which Jen Steadm...

Ben Wilson

Humans first arrived in New Zealand in the 13th century AD.

Ben Wilson

A brief one last night where I was on a street in Lincoln playing a game I'd called 'Dread Poker' against Charlie and a couple of other people. 'Dread Poker' is basically Poker mixed with Balatro, you play with 3 other people and draw 10-11 cards (my subconscious was unclear about this) and redraw/d...

Ben Wilson

Can't wait.

Have (ab)used my mod powers to put this as a global announcement on a par with in-person events as it's community-related.

Ben Wilson

It took a bit longer than usual but the stat file has been updated to include all 3 of 2025's events and added a couple more silly pages.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qi1d267b ... 1615x&dl=0

Ben Wilson

Also, I'm still planning on testing a handicap event on apterous one weekend when there isn't a co-event (for obvious reasons). The working event name is 'I Can't Believe It's the COLIN Handicap Event Sample,' which I acknowledge needs work from an acronym standpoint.

Ben Wilson

Welp, it's been a month and the results are more or less tied, but there's a fair chunk asking for no in person Friday event... which is what I was leaning toward anyway. There will be some form of warm-up event before XXI, but it'll be a mostly online thing with maybe an in-person element like a fi...

Ben Wilson

It's no big deal to give meat eaters vegetarian/vegan alternatives, provided there are no allergies or food intolerance issues.

Ben Wilson

I'll refrain from voting and prepare my pride for its inevitable kicking.

Ben Wilson

Late night + forgetting meds + hypo = oddness from my subconscious. It starts with me sitting at a table watching a rehearsal of a Taylor Swift concert with a bunch of people I don't know, all of whom for some reason have snowflake tattoos under their nostrils (one person has two under each nostril,...

Ben Wilson

I finally got back in today! Been locked out for about 4 months even though I was using the correct username and password. Does anyone read the Board Administrator messages? There was absolutely no notification of any issue with your account- it hadn't been deactivated so I couldn't begin to tell y...

Ben Wilson

Well, it's been a week, and it's safe to say the first COLIN/co-event triple header went pretty well. And with just 51 weeks to go until next year's event, I need to start planning lol. Next year, the main event and hangover will be taking place as normal, no major changes other than the hangover ma...

Ben Wilson

Good to hear

I had gone up to the Memorial Hall but the clubhouse wasn't open. Glad to hear it's been resolved.

Ben Wilson

I'll try to head up there tomorrow to see if anything was handed in.

Ben Wilson

Lots of good feedback above- the need for speakers for the laptop was made abundantly clear this weekend and will be addressed. Anything that boosts my compromised voice on the off-chance that Robbo isn't available is always good. Promoting upcoming events: I'll never be convinced that this is a bad...

Ben Wilson

And last but not least, today's results: COLIN XX: The Hangover The Memorial Hall 26 January 2025 STANDINGS Players are ranked by number of wins then total points scored. P W Pts 1 Dylan Taylor 4 4 287 2 Jack Hurst 4 4 273 3 Thomas Cappleman 4 4 263 4 Jack Worsley 4 3 293 5 Callum Todd 4 3 271 6 Dan...

Ben Wilson

Today's results: COLIN XX The Ark 25 January 2025 STANDINGS Players are ranked by number of wins then total points scored. P W Pts 1 Thomas Cappleman 6 6 419 2 Jack Hurst 6 6 382 3 Dylan Taylor 6 5 411 4 Callum Todd 6 5 390 5 Zohaib Rehan 6 5 385 6 Tom Carey 6 5 365 7 Jack Worsley 6 4 394 8 George A...

Ben Wilson

COLIN XX: The Pre-Drinks The Memorial Hall 24 January 2025 STANDINGS Players are ranked by number of wins then total points scored. P W Pts 1 Thomas Cappleman 4 4 280 2 Callum Todd 4 4 262 3 Eddy Byrne 4 4 261 4 Jack Hurst 4 4 244 5 Zohaib Rehan 4 3 278 6 Tom Carey 4 3 261 7 Dylan Taylor 4 3 237 8 D...

Ben Wilson

Hey everyone- presumably we've all seen the weather reports for Friday and how they look less than ideal (the joys of organising an event in January, eh?). If you're delayed or unable to attend on Friday evening, please let me know ahead of time by email (same as my PayPal address), Facebook message...

Ben Wilson

They're there, the graphics back in 1980 just weren't sophisticated enough to render them.

Ben Wilson

Pac-Man's eyes are little Pac-Men.

Ben Wilson

Just 4 spots left on the Friday... If you're entered on the Saturday (and Sunday) and want to upgrade to the three dayer, you can send me the remainder of the entry fee with a note and I'll add you to the Friday as well.

Ben Wilson

Welp, the unthinkable has happened- the hangover is now full. If you wish to play on the Sunday anyway, let me know and I'll put you on a standby list in case of any last minute dropouts, but I can't guarantee anything.

Still spaces left on Friday and Saturday

Ben Wilson

A little bit on the timings for the weekend Anyone who's been before will know the schedule for the Saturday and the Sunday, but it's printed below just for good measure as well. For Friday, the plan is that the doors open at (as I won't even be there before) 5pm, we get going at 6pm and play 2 rou...

Ben Wilson

BTW I've spent £360 on this event on prizes alone.

Edit: so far.

Ben Wilson

I've (finally) run a test event today and everything seems to be fine for my purposes.

Ben Wilson

I definitely recall watching the Masters when it was on in the early 90s, possibly before then but I couldn't say for certain. The first final I remember is the late Huw Morgan vs Harshan Lamabadusuriya (both of whom I would later have the pleasure of meeting), while the first contestant I distinctl...

Ben Wilson

Update! Sorry if I've been a bit quiet with updates both here and on Facebook- real life and the festive season have been a bit greedy with my free time lately. Planning is coming along well, though, and after Christmas I will start posting those photos of prizes that I promised, umm, months ago. In...

Ben Wilson

Funnily, I recall the resolution being 'midnight after the episode' but can't recall the discussion. Might've been on Facebook.

Ben Wilson

Have edited both of the above posts. No spoilers before midnight outside of the spoilers forum, please.

Ben Wilson

Cross-posted from Facebook: Good news! I've spoken to the manager of the Memorial Hall and he's agreed that if we bunch the tables together a bir and cut down on the mingling space near the prize tables, we can get 42 players in, so that's the new capacity for Friday and Sunday. :-) I enquired about...

Ben Wilson

What Maus said. I sometimes think I track a few too many stats.

Ben Wilson

JackHurst wrote: ↑Tue Nov 26, 2024 7:15 am Do you have a link to the Colin Stat file? Always makes an interesting read.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qi1d267b ... 1615x&dl=0

Be my guest

Ben Wilson

It's the 25th of November today, which means only one thing- just two months to go until COLIN! :D I'm hard at work on the puzzle mag and I have plenty of puzzles, games, facts and stats to go into it but there's always room for more. If you'd like to contribute, my inbox is always open, and if you ...

Ben Wilson

The chippy in question is probably Frydays, which isn't bad, there are other options a few doors down like the Jade Garden and a kebab shop, and thw Spar shop a few yards further. The hall will be open from 4:30pm, which is about when I'll be arriving. The original plan was to play both rounds and t...

Ben Wilson

Steve Hyde wrote: ↑Wed Nov 13, 2024 6:57 pm The MOTD-Countdown pipeline only flows one way. Lineker as next Countdown host?

Damian must've negotiated a hell of a budget increase if that's the case.

Ben Wilson

Earthworm Jim and Lara Croft were created only two years apart.

Ben Wilson

Callum Todd wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2024 3:52 pm Piecing things together, I reckon this means that there were 130 coconut funko twirl forms left. Thanks Ian for (preemptively) answering Maus's questions. Kind of rude of you to leave him hanging like that Ben tbh

Technically this is only true if Ian also wanted some coconut funko twirl forms.

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