c4countdown

Roll up, roll up, Coblivion is here!!

The idea is that everyone meets at the punch tavern in london and plays countdown all through the night. It is being advertised on facebook and here is the link
http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/20844 ... l_activity

So if you want to attend make sure you confirm you are going and be sure to answer the questions Amie has asked as your views will be very much appreciated.

*CobliviLon (although Coblivion rolls off the tongue so much nicer).

Editted just now

I've never been to a COuntdown event before but this is the sort of thing i'd like to go to, with the all-nighter idea etc

Jordan Leckonby wrote:I've never been to a COuntdown event before but this is the sort of thing i'd like to go to, with the all-nighter idea etc

You should come! The list of (potential) attendees so far is most impressive (listed by their Facebook names):

• David Barnard
  Tom Barnes
  Amie Bateen
  Kirk Bevins
  Innis Carson
  Graeme Cole
  Mark Deeks
  Rachel Hannah Dixon
  Adam Gillard
  Lauren Hamer
  Josh Hurst
  Sj Jc
  Edward McCullagh
  Andy McGurn
  Oli Moore
  Michelle Nevitt
  Ned Pendleton
  Keli M Richards
  James Robinson
  Tom Rowell
  Jennifer Steadman
  Jono Tarantino
  Ryan Taylor
  Ben Wilson

Exciting!

We need to have a chat about your attachment issues to Edward.

Ed's a likable person, I think he is a sound guy. Cant wait to finally meet all of you lot in August

Jordan Leckonby wrote:I've never been to a COuntdown event before but this is the sort of thing i'd like to go to, with the all-nighter idea etc

It will be my first of hopefully many, the idea of playing all night suits me as my body clock is late and playing through the night saves on accommodation costs

is this event still happening?

Jordan Leckonby wrote:is this event still happening?

Yes.

Ryan Taylor wrote:

Jordan Leckonby wrote:is this event still happening?

Yes.

Yes, definitely happening, although most of the announcements about it have been on Facebook rather than here.

For the Facebook-challenged:

Amie Bateen wrote: This great little olde city pub on Fleet Street, London, will open through the night to host the ultimate endurance Countdown event! (http://www.punchtavern.com)

To be a part of the genuine real-life 8+ club (complete with groupies), roll-up from 10pm-11pm for drinks - and supper if you're feeling peckish (the usual English comfort food: pies, burgers, sausage and mash etc) - and just keep it going through the night.

For those around earlier, will meet at a different bar first to get the thing started.

Games will start around midnight in the main bar, using Lincoln/Edinburgh format, with the final around 5 am alongside energy boosting butties and bloody marys, before maybe wandering off to Trafalgar Square to snooze under big screen olympics.

Great bar and dart board/table tennis on site if countdown just isn't enough.

Should be a fun evening with the chance to catch up with lots of fellow apterites, and despite the promise of some competitive games at the top, the event is open to all, no matter what level.

Format will be three Lincoln-style three-to-a-table rounds, presumably 9-rounders, starting at about midnight, so everyone plays at least six games and hosts three. This is followed by either a final between the top two players, or a top-4 knockout stage, or a top-8 knockout stage (see the debate on the Facebook page, not sure it's been decided yet). You get a meal which is either fish and chips or veggie burger and chips, and at breakfast time you get a butty with egg, bacon or sausage in it. What's not to like?

So far 36 are "going" of which 28 are "confirmed". Upper limit is 48. Price is £20. Event is in 16 days. To enter, contact Amie.

By the way, it's probably worth mentioning that the deadline for entries is next Tuesday, 31st July.

Well, this was officially a bloody awesome event. Many thanks to amie, Graeme and all involved. The atmosphere was quite unlike anything I'd ever experienced a a co-event before- and I've been to more than a couple in my time. Definite highlights of the night were meeting all the new faces- especially Adam and Ed who are just as cool in real life as they are on apterous. Giles, David BB and heather & phyl were pleasures to speak to as well. Phyl's rap is definitely something I don't think I'll ever forget.

As far as the games go, it was almost certainly the tensest co-event I can remember. Personal highlights for me include beating Adam on a crucial when he was unbeaten and then immediately adjudicating the record-breaking Adam/James game. The use of a full finals stage (quarters, semis and a grand final) was a stroke of genius- it's just a shame time constraints would prevent it at other events such as COLIN. The grand final itself was as amazing as you'd expect it to be- click here to watch the deciding round as it took place.

Special mention must also go to the goodie bags which were amazing in the quality and quantity of the stuff inside. Future tournament organisers- myself definitely included- have a lot to live up to with future events.

Also, a quick apology if I came across as a little withdrawn and/or rude at the start of the, um, day? Crowds are a huge phobia of mine and it does take me a while to settle down in large, noisy crowds, even when I know I'm amongst friends.

Amie says she doesn't want to run another coblivilon, which is a damn shame as the whole thing was as smooth as silk, especially for a first-time organiser and an untested tournament type. The two raccoon-powered Co:Lons were my two favourite co events of all time and coblivilon has made it a joint top three, so hopefully we'll be back in the nation's capital soon.

In the meantime, I alluded to it plenty enough during this posting but didn't get the chance to formally announce it at the event. Don't worry, a formal announcement will be made this week concerning January 2013.

Ben Wilson wrote:Amie says she doesn't want to run another coblivilon

No way, that's pretty gutting. We fancied going but it was at pretty much the worst possible time (we've just moved house and CF has just started at a new hospital, so we had no idea what we were going to be doing that weekend (and as it turns out he was scheduled to work so couldn't have made it anyway)). I was banking on a 'there's always next year' :p Good to see it turned out to be as awesome as one would expect, though.

Michael Wallace wrote:

Ben Wilson wrote:Amie says she doesn't want to run another coblivilon

No way, that's pretty gutting. We fancied going but it was at pretty much the worst possible time (we've just moved house and CF has just started at a new hospital, so we had no idea what we were going to be doing that weekend (and as it turns out he was scheduled to work so couldn't have made it anyway)). I was banking on a 'there's always next year' :p Good to see it turned out to be as awesome as one would expect, though.

Indeed, it's a shame Cobliv is only a one-off thing, as it was hugely popular. Once again, huge thanks to Amie for all the effort she put in arranging the whole thing and doing all those personalised goodie bags. Even all the scoresheets had a different quotation on them, but I think that went largely unnoticed. Are there plans for a third Co:Lon this year after the successes of the previous two?

That is indeed a shame, hope someone else can run something similar next year, it was fun!

Michael Cullen wrote:That is indeed a shame, hope someone else can run something similar next year, it was fun!

One of the possible venues for COHUD does do 24 hour stuff, so maybe an overnight COHUD could be a possibility. I'll put it forward to Jeff.

Thanks again to Amie for all of the time and effort put in to planning and running this incredible event so smoothly and impressively, and to Howard, Graeme and others for their efforts as well. It was great to meet so many wonderful people, many for the first time, and to soak up the atmosphere at my first Co-Event. I've posted the puzzles from the event in a new thread so that those who couldn't make it can have a go.

Until our next meeting!

Thanks to Amie for her wonderful organising of this event, to Graeme for his technical wizardry, and to everyone who helped make it a night to remember! Well done to the winners, and of course, to the Aptolympic medallists. I look forward to future Co events

Just to reiterate what everyone else has been saying, an absolutely amazing experience, nice to meet all the new people who I hadn't encountered before, especially Mr McCullagh, who now seems to be my new bosom buddy, especially if Michael's photo is anything to go by : http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... =1&theater

But, well done especially to Innis for being a worthy victor, especially after just managing to scrape past me in an earlier round.

And defo a special mention to Adam for his brilliant victory against me, which is going into the annals of CO-event history.

Definitely a different event, but worth it, especially worth staying up for 37 (more or less) hours straight.

A great event, well organised, and I really enjoyed it.

Graeme Cole wrote:Are there plans for a third Co:Lon this year after the successes of the previous two?

No plans for this year, no. This was always going to be a difficult year for me to organise something, and now there's been a London event this year I'm not sure there's much need for another one within a few months (particularly with the generally quite cluttered Co-schedule these days).

I was toying with the idea of doing an overnight meet sometime and was wondering who will be up for it, I have a location which I could rent out for the night which would be ideal for that sort of thing and was wondering who would be interested, I'm just asking to get ideas for numbers if it does go ahead.

It will be in Ross-On-Wye which is on the national express route, if you are coming in from london the 444 service goes through cheltenham, gloucester then ross on wye, just a thought because of the success of the CoBliviLon meet and I would love to have another social event like it.

Just adding my appreciation for all the work that went into setting the event up and keeping it flowing efficiently, especially to Amie, Howard and Graeme. It was great to meet so many brilliant exponents of the game, and to have made new friends, and congrats to Innis on yet another win. Rather hoping there will be more London events, and happy to offer help where needed.

By the way: in each goody-bag there was a stopwatch. Over the past few days there have been reports of them beeping every hour with no obvious way to shut them up. Some of you have applied such creative solutions as wrapping it in a towel and shoving it in a drawer. While this is effective, there is a way of telling it to be quiet, thus freeing up the towel and drawer for their usual household duties.

To switch off the hourly beep: in time mode, hold down RESET and press MODE. While you're holding down RESET, if there's a row of weekdays along the top then the hourly beep is on, otherwise it's off.

To switch off the alarm: in time mode, hold down RESET and press START/STOP until that picture of a bell disappears.

Graeme Cole wrote:that picture of a bell

Bell face?

David, I really enjoyed CobliviLon, and I think the organisers did a wonderful job. That said, I'm not sure that I would go to another overnight Countdown event, because of the sleeplessness thing. How old and boring am I?!

Nighttime or daytime I'm definitely going to organise a meet up sometime as I have plenty of locations in mind

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... rnalSearch

Sweet, we're famously lame

Great article. Makes me wish I'd gone now.

However, I noticed the article refers to "8+" as a club for Octochamps when I thought it was for contestants who had scored "8 or over" in every round of a game.

Furthermore, if "8+" is for contestants who had scored "8 or over" in every round of a game, Moss could not be such a contestant in his "TNETENNBA" game because at the time of declaring TNETENNBA he had 64 points and you can't score 64 points by using a combination of 8s and 18s for letters and 10 for numbers.

I guess the "8+" rule could apply to letters only, in which case Moss could have scored 8 in the first 8 letter rounds and flunked the numbers?

Probably need to watch the episode again to see if that theory stands up.

The 8+ club is for people who win eight games, but you're right that in addition Rachel says that Moss hasn't yet found a word less than eight letters long. I wondered at the time how the score could have been 64-0, and I think you're right, it could only be with eight eight-letter words and two unsolved (or unsolvable) numbers games.

I was reading the paper (something I don't do regularly), read something about Alzheimer's and then stumbled across the Coblivion article in the Independent. So unexpected it made me burst out laughing for ages.

Finally conceded that I'm not likely to ever use these, so threw them away this morning.

I've still got an unopened* tin of mints on my desk!

*Unopened because I never tried to open them, not because I'm too dim to figure out push-open-pop-click-thing lids.