Countdown in Nottingham- exhibition game

[Ben Wilson]

It may be a COLIN tradition, but it's going ahead at CONOT too- the post-Goatdown pre-tournament exhibition game. For those of you unfamiliar with COLIN, 2006 saw Jono take on Stewart Holden in the first ever Countdown blindfold match, whilst 2008 featured a team Hypercountdown match with Stewart, Conor and Jeff Clayton beating Jono, Mark Tournoff and Dan Vanniasingham. The idea is it's the normal game, but with a little 'twist' to it.

For CONOT, I'm looking for both ideas and volunteers for the game. It can be as elaborate as you want, provided it can be done quickly (ideally within 25 minutes) and cheaply (I can fork out a few quid from the budget for some props if needed but that's about it).

Oh, and 'Strip Countdown' is out right from the start. :p

[Jon O'Neill]

Count me in.

Blindfolded ten-second-rounds hypergoatdown is my suggestion.

[Joseph Bolas]

You could get the spectators to pick the letters and numbers, that way the contestants wont know what to expect (possibly ).

[Dinos Sfyris]

Can you buy a decent bungee run for a couple of quid these days? I'm thinking of an Its A Knockout-style, Stick-your-word-up-on-the-opposite-wall, pie-in-the-face-for-the-loser sort of game.

[JasonCullen]

Oh, and 'Strip Countdown' is out right from the start. :p

I'm guessing the clue is in the title

[Ben Wilson]

Can you buy a decent bungee run for a couple of quid these days? I'm thinking of an Its A Knockout-style, Stick-your-word-up-on-the-opposite-wall, pie-in-the-face-for-the-loser sort of game.

Unfortunately, given how prohibitively expensive projector hire is, that's a no.

So far my only idea's been 'hyperhypercountdown' (15 letters, 5-digit numbers targets, 60 seconds on the clock) but it's possibly one hyper too far. I can see it going down well online, though.

[Joseph Bolas]

How about if instead of using the lettered cards for word rounds, you make a set of lettered dice to use instead. You could split up the letters into 5 dice as follows (oviously having more than 1 of each set for the games):

Dice 1: AEIOU?
Dice 2: JKQVXZ
Dice 3: DLNRST
Dice 4: BCFHPW
Dice 5: AEMGYS

? = Blank square, so it can be used for any letter (like in Scrabble). Even if you have a Boggle game, you could use the Boggle dice possibly?

[Dan Vanniasingham]

Just to throw in a suggestion - I'll propose a form of speed Countdown to get the adrenalin pumping.

Take 4 (or 8) individuals crazy enough, ask them to pre-select their letters and numbers, then play an entire game (9 rounds or whatever) non-stop with 10 or 15seconds per round. You'd have to deal out all the letters and numbers cards on a mat or similar and keep them hidden from view - revealing each round as you go. To prevent cheating, each contestant must shout out their word length or number target before the 10 or 15seconds is up. The adjudicator makes a note of the number, and the words/solutions are checked after the game to see who won. As each match would take 2mins or so, there should be enough time for a small tournament, or you could somehow do teams.

Feel free to twist this idea into a better format, or just shoot it down altogether.

[Ben Wilson]

Well, after much thought, I came up with nothing. Then in the space of 3 seconds, inspiration struck, and I have my idea.

I'm keeping it to myself for now until I've spoken with someone about it/refined it a little, but needless to say it's definitely more difficult than the standard game (though the numbers may be a little easier- I need to work on that) and will get everybody's grey matter buzzing.

I'm on the look-out for volunteers. Owing to the tough nature of the game this'll be a team game, much like the team hypercountdown at COLIN 08, only this time there will be 2 people to a team instead of 3.

So, who wants to step into the unknown?

EDIT: ...and I'll need volunteers for a test-run this weekend too, say Sunday at 8pm?

[Dinos Sfyris]

I'll try the test run out of sheer intrigue. I assume this will be on msn?

[Julian Fell]

Are you able to give details of this mysterious exhibition game now that it's been tested Ben? I'm sure we're all on tenterhooks...

[Dinos Sfyris]

After trying the test run (just me and Ben on msn and occasionally Jono!) I'd like to say Julian, that its an excellent format but I'll leave Neb to disclose the details. If there is a spare place in the CONOT exhibition game count me in, but If I were watching I'd rather watch a better quality player than myself to be honest!

[Ben Wilson]

How poor is my memory I'd forgotten all about this thread.

Ah well, here goes...

The game shall be known as 'Countdown Unlimited'. You only select seven letters instead of nine, but the catch is that you can use each letter as many times as you wish. Before you ask, if a duplicate letter gets drawn as part of the selection, it will be discarded and a new one drawn in its place. Numbers games are slightly different- you can use any regular Countdown number (1-10, 25, 50, 75, 100) as many times as you wish to make the target, with the person who uses the fewest numbers winning the round. The conundrum will have between 5 and 7 letters and a fixed-length unique target- e.g, GEINR; 13 letters will turn into REENGINEERING.

Jono and Dinos are signed up so far. Anyone else fancy a go?

[JasonCullen]

I'll give it a shot Ben . But I'll probably be crap though

[Julian Fell]

That sounds murderously difficult Ben! Good idea though. I'll be happy just to watch (that's if I can make it to CONot in the first place...)

[Matt Coates]

i will give it a go, should be quite fun

[Kirk Bevins]

I'll give it a go (is it still going to be in teams?). It might screw me over getting used to using a letter more than once - if I make that error in the actual event I'll be suing you.

[Julian Fell]

Just a thought Ben - how much thinking time are you allowing for each Countdown Unlimited round, is it still going to be 30 seconds? Also is the target for the numbers rounds still going to be 3 digits as usual?

[Ben Wilson]

Whoops, can't believe I didn't actually specify that in the post? :S D'oh. Numbers targets will be 4 figures, and there will be 45 seconds' thinking time, meaning Chris philpot's clock remix (which debuted at COLIN) gets another trot out.

...And there are 5 volunteers when I kinda wanted 4. Oh well. 6 will do. Next person to volunteer is in. Everyone else, go away.