c4countdown

JackHurst

Thx Ben.

That gives me the 5 I desired (I had some private replies too), so for now I won't be taking any more testers. At some point in the furutre I'll bring more testers in if there are more of you out there who are keen.

JackHurst

Fiona T wrote: ↑
Mon Apr 12, 2021 10:26 am
Also happy to give it a go.

Also have no friends.

Thx Fiona.

I'll be in touch.

JackHurst

Ian Fitzpatrick wrote: ↑
Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:21 am
Is it only 9 letter words and numbers?

Good question. The initial release will be pretty basic - just stand alone Letters Numbers and Conundrum modes. I'll be continuously adding new features as time goes on, so there will be lots more than this to look forward to

JackHurst

Matt Morrison wrote: ↑
Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:39 am
Happy to take a look at this Jack but I probably don't have a companion non-nerdy friend to accompany me.

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑
Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:03 am

Same really.

Maybe I could think of someone actually. I'll see.

Sounds good to me. I'll be in touch.

Tom Carey also on board, so just looking for a couple more people.

JackHurst

Hey folks, I've been working tirelessly in my spare time on a Countdown App for Android phones. Once finished, this app should fill the huge gap in the market there has been for a Countdown app which is free, uses a good dictionary and actually works properly! As far as I am aware, this will be the ...

JackHurst

From 5000 Rounds simulated, equal probability 3v 4v 5v. https://i.postimg.cc/CMv3dm68/Screenshot-2021-04-09-at-13-10-58.png 24% maxes in top 1000 35% maxes in top 2000 42% maxes in top 3000 48% maxes in top 4000 53% maxes in top 5000 58% maxes in top 6000 61% maxes in top 7000 65% maxes in top 8000 ...

JackHurst

My mede clearly need upping again as I've had a few of these recently. In last night's one, I was organising a co event in a supermarket, with games sort of randomly taking place dotted between the aisles. Needless to say, Jack W still won, beating Callum in the final. I then had to track down all ...

JackHurst

Hey! It looks like the March update is not the only change in this version. I am noticing a few tiny differences in the order of usefulness. e.g. In V4, ANODISERS and INSULATED were the 85th and 80th most useful nines, now they are the 69th and 72nd. Was this new list generated with a slightly chan...

JackHurst

Rob, a stat I think would be really useful to help people decide how deep into this list they should go is a cumulative table/graph of that shows how often the most common max in a round is below a certain threshold. For example (numbers completely made up) I imagine something like Top 1000: 50% Top...

JackHurst

I can't speak for others, but every time one of these things happen, I feel like jacking the whole thing in. It's thoroughly depressing. Agree with this. The one time I got caught up with one of these things, I found the whole thing stressful, depressing and infuriating. No matter which side of the...

JackHurst

Yeah it's shit when the numbers target is trivially easy. The way I'd do it:
- Series Heats: Cecil never generates a target that you can get in 1 or 2 moves
- Series Finals: Make it a rule that you have to use all 6 numbers, just to make it a bit harder.

JackHurst

JackHurst

A fun way to settle the 9s debate would be to write some bots which have different lexicons and make them have a tournament against each other

JackHurst

Normally that would be enough, but given that he asked for no negativity in the ZD doc... and I politely gave none... only to be labelled as "agitator". I would say "Agitator" is on the polite side... Eoin, you do productive stuff for the community (e.g. host co-events and make youtube videos) and ...

JackHurst

Kirk Bevins wrote: ↑
Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:21 pm
There's a f***ing group on facebook against me being on the Weakest Link.

Type "kirk weakest link" into facebook search and click "groups". Join if you like and defend me

The first of Kirk's many social media skirmishes.

JackHurst

“Vanessa Feltz, looking the way you do, how do you think you land all these big black boyfriends?” If anything, what she allegedly said was fat-shaming, not racism. I disagree. If* these are the words that were used, why is race relevant here? if she just wanted to make a joke about Vanessa Batting...

JackHurst

I was in the audience for that recording (it was the 1000th show and they invited past contestants back) and I have no recollection of Anne making the remark, although even if she did I fail to see how referring to a black person as black is racist. If anything, what she allegedly said was fat-sham...

JackHurst

Patrick- McCurdie wrote: ↑
Sat Feb 20, 2021 8:12 pm
how do i download this on apple iphone ?

Sorry Patrick, it's Android only.

JackHurst

Do you think having Anne Robinson presenting have any impact on the roles currentky being held by Rachel and Susie. I dont have a problem with all female presenters, it might even encourage more women to take part. But it doesnt look good from a diversity stand point It's fine. Don't be an idiot.

JackHurst

Very interesting news! I was under the impression Colin Murray was pretty much all but decided. https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/breaking-anne-robinson-confirmed-new-23503605 According to the above she will be airing her first episodes in the summer, so I guess that will be the start of series 84...

JackHurst

Next thing you know they will be calling him "The Overweight Controller". This is Rhys's nightmare.

JackHurst

Matt Morrison wrote: ↑
Mon Feb 01, 2021 11:12 pm
Again though, it's such an old format that I assume the app isn't linked to the TV show at all?

Oh sorry I was comparing the Lingo app to the Word ladders app.

The Lingo app is the same as the lingo TV show.

JackHurst

Yeah Lingo isn't great. The format is as old as the sun though eh, no one is infringing on anyone here. I just downloaded and played a version of lingo I found on the play store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sixtbit.piatka it's actually quite good! I think the app has some UI is...

JackHurst

I believe this invisibly small niche group (and Apterous) lead to people being cast in Christmas specials a month ago. I'd say that's a little more influence than most online fora enjoy. I'm not sure if the "special influence" of the forum/apterous folk for the casting of Xmas specials is in any wa...

JackHurst

Also Rob, how many rounds do you simulate and how long does it take to run.

JackHurst

My sim generates every round in isolation - the consonant and vowel decks are reshuffled after every round, and duplicate aversion doesn't span rounds. So it's possible for a Q to come up in several consecutive rounds, unlike TV Countdown, but the 'stacking up' effect that you mention is avoided. W...

JackHurst

Everything I've written in the last few days on this thread is about splitting hairs. This is a near perfect resource, and fair play to Rob (and anyone else involved) for making it. Is it perfect? No. Will it ever be perfect? No. Why be an arsehole and point that out? Because I think there is poten...

JackHurst

1. Do we have anyone on the inside (i.e. Countdown Team) who has contributed any data (re: shuffling, actual letters distributions, how often the letters distribution is tweaked if ever, etc)? Graeme posted an interesting thread a while back (which I can't find) where he did a statistical anaylsis ...

JackHurst

I used the chess.com app a while back and thought it was great. Another good app is the official Ticket to ride app. You have to pay for it but for the enjoyment I have got out of it I thought it was worth it. I have my own Countdown app that I've been playing obsessively for the past year which I'v...

JackHurst

Contracted it mid-December, via Heather's school being more concerned with staying open and bums on seats than sensible measures. Am in the extremely vulnerable category due to a drug I take to control my psoriasis being an immunosuppressant (and having a comorbidite to go along with it). Isolation...

JackHurst

Getting much less exercise overall, but also eating a lot less food and generally eating healthier. I think being in the house all the time has made it easier to plan healthy meals with fresh ingredients. I found myself eating a lot less wfh than when in the office. 1) There's quite a lot of social...

JackHurst

Getting much less exercise overall, but also eating a lot less food and generally eating healthier. I think being in the house all the time has made it easier to plan healthy meals with fresh ingredients. I found myself eating a lot less wfh than when in the office. 1) There's quite a lot of social ...

JackHurst

What's the highest number you can get to such that all whole numbers from 1 up to that number have had their spelling appear in letters selections in a single episode. So for example, if an episode had: SWTEEOCRN TREEHOUSE (kudos to readers who spot the falsie) FORTUNESE as selections, but no select...

JackHurst

What's the most Darrens a player has spotted in a single game?

Which players who've played 50 or more letters rounds have the best darren spotting per centage?

JackHurst

"I am going to Don King the fuck out of this intro" was what I heard Colin saying to the others on the studio floor just before cameras went on.

JackHurst

Great performance from both players today, well done guys. I believe Conor maintains his ridiculously long streak of maxes on letters rounds.

I know most people probably wanted to see the Conundrum go solved, but I do think a crucial going all the way to 30s make for more exciting TV

JackHurst

Thx to everybody involved in making these specials happen, and especially whoever edited the episode for somehow doing the impossible and not making me look like a tit. It was great to be back in the studio. Hopefully in 2021 we'll have the chance to return as audience members. Well played to Callum...

JackHurst

Great stuff last night. Susie was excellent as were both the players. Big congrats to the winner! (Won't name here in case spoilers?)

JackHurst

Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑
Mon Dec 21, 2020 3:44 pm
Could, not Would.

Would have been if they just chose to go with the result of the first. But yeah I see your point.

JackHurst

There was a bit of an unfortunate technical error with the original Conundrum in the studio for this episode. First Conundrum: BAUBLEDIT Tom George Stare blankly at Empty space because it hasn't shown in their monitor for 10 seconds. Tom looks up at the overhead monitors to see the conundrum shuffle...

JackHurst

Enjoyed watching this from the dressing room. Colin has taken to presenting duties well.

245 = 203 + 42 I know Tom and George were frustrated to miss.

Callum had POLYMATH in dressing room which made me poop my ass (I had my door open while he watched from the corridor)

JackHurst

Published yesterday: an interesting new Computerphile video about the Countdown numbers game, and a method of generating every possible solution using Reverse Polish Notation. Analysis of this kind has been done on this forum before, but one thing that I hadn't realised was that even targets are st...

JackHurst

Yep, apterous also uses a "backward" solver (given a target and working numbers, find the method) rather than a forward calculation of every possible number that can be made. However the answers are computed in advance and stored, in order to solve the problem from olden-days apterous where, for mo...

JackHurst

By the way, bonus detail: I picked that last vowel in round 13 specifically hoping for the E for MAEGBOTE, so it wasn't a complete coincidence I knew the longest word in that round! Nice fishing. Must be a weird feeling to sit there for 30s just knowing you opponent has to spot a tough 8 for you no...

JackHurst

It was a shame (but the right decision) that there could be no trophy presentation. Wouldn't it be nice if Luke could be invited as a guest to present the trophy in the next series finals or something?

JackHurst

Congratulations Luke on a brilliant series victory. Amazing standard especially on the letters. Well done to Sam for getting to the final, and in most series he would have had no problems taking the trophy home.

(Well apart from the fact you don't get to keep the trophy)

JackHurst

Longest reigning:
- Series champion
- Series number 1 seed
- Champion
- Dictionary corner guest (1 consecutive stint)

I would guess James H takes longest reigning series champ and Luke takes longest reigning number 1 seed?

JackHurst

Not sure if this is the right topic but I'm genuinely proud of this effort having just received a set of A-Z, 0-9 foam tiles for the bathroom. https://i.postimg.cc/Z08mpCXL/IMG-20201214-192752.jpg (The leftover tiles spell "99 WORK X", which is obviously shorthand for "I got 99 problems but work ai...

JackHurst

Spoilerz

JackHurst

Fiona T wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 06, 2020 11:45 pm
Other feedback - the word lookup doesn't work for me - just sticks me on google homepage.

Fixed this issue and also added an option to disable vibrations in the latest update.

JackHurst

I just had a look online, and obviously asking for the difference between the width and height works well. Not quite. You need to ask for the square (or absolute value) of the difference to guarantee it's a none-negative. e.g if W was 17 and L was 15 and you asked for L - 5 you would get -2 rounded...

JackHurst

It's gonna be great when they cut the show down to 5 rounds because the host insists on listing every single letters max and going over boring alternative numbers solutions in painstaking detail.

JackHurst

Other feedback - the word lookup doesn't work for me - just sticks me on google homepage. Thanks. Have added it to the list of improvements. Thanks to those of you who have downloaded and played. I can see scores on the scoreboard from Josh H and Tom S (and maybe more of you but I don't recognise y...

JackHurst

Well done to him on a successful 10 years on the show, and I hope he enjoys his retirement

It's just a shame for him that nobody knew his last day was his last day, that's a crappy way to leave any job.

If Colin became full time host I think that would be great for the show. Let's see though

JackHurst

Fiona T wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 06, 2020 2:52 pm
Nice - having a play now, but my phone vibrating every key press annoying MrT who's watching the footie - is there a way to turn that off? Can't see any setting/options

This is a piece of feedback I've had a few times now. I will turn vibration off by default in the next update.

JackHurst

Hey I've published a word puzzle app on the Play Store. It should be good fun for for those of you who like Countdown, Crosswords, Scrabble etc. You can find it here https://i.ibb.co/TBd3TYN/Screenshot-2020-12-06-at-11-19-31.png Features include: 1000 levels of varying difficulties An overall scoreb...

JackHurst

Johnny Canuck wrote: ↑
Sat Dec 05, 2020 2:25 am
I wonder what Gary Male is doing now -- maybe you should message him?

Yeah that's where I got the idea from I think. Thanks for finding!

Getting this up and running physically would he easy, the challenge is making a website where players can log on and play it

JackHurst

Tl;Dr Do you have web development skills and want to help make a game which is a mash up of Countdown and Texas Holdem poker? If so please get in touch! I'm on a quest to make an online game which is a mash up of Texas Holdem poker and Countdown. The premise is simple: The rules of Texas Holdem poke...

JackHurst

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑
Thu Dec 03, 2020 3:30 pm
I would do away with the weird tradition of putting up the numbers right to left. I (and I'm sure others) like to have the numbers on my paper in the same order as the screen, but it's a bit awkward writing backwards.

Who the hell writes the selections down when playing along

JackHurst

How much would Richard Osman want to be presenter Then offer him the job. Have more people of colour as players and guests. This show is too white. I would consider people on their own merits. But while we're here, why not a black presenter? Good idea. I cant see why we can't have presenters on rot...

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