c4countdown

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 10:15 am**

Hello all

I need to inform you of a situation that has developed over the past week. I sent letters packs that were used for CoBrum to James for CoEdi on Friday 02nd September. I received a message from him on Wednesday 28th September stating that they had not arrived. Having made phone calls and queries, including checking with both the post office and the neighbouring sorting office I'd sent them from, the parcel appears to be lost in the system. To say I was hopping was a slight understatement

Complaint and compensation guff is being sorted out at the moment. My blood pressure this week has been at levels I don't think healthy

I have informed Ben (whose packs they were) and emailed Cal. I've also been liaising with Robbo on replacement packs. 7x packs from Amazon are en route to him now, with 8x homemade packs (bit of bodging, but they are more than good enough) hopefully being en route later this week (and they will be tracked to buggery). Any comp cash I get is paying for CoEdi's FOCAL levy. On behalf of the Post Office, I apologize. This has also been a lesson to me on why decluttering your receipts is a bad idea

It's all nearly sorted now. If anyone would like packs made for them, let me know and I'll do what I can. And if my mum ever comes along to a CoEvent, give her thanks-it's been a team job getting the homemade ones done! Thanks again all-and apologies for the faff

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 12:14 pm**

Don't worry too much about it mate, shit happens and we've been Royally screwed over by the Mail. Mark Mills is bringing his letters packs to Lincoln next year to donate to FOCAL/whoever needs them so we'll make sure Ben has everything he needs. Thanks to you and your mum for your super efforts in replacing the lost packs.

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 2:29 pm**

I have four complete packs that I can either bring or post if needed - lemme know if they're required.

Posted: **Thu Oct 06, 2022 9:41 pm**

If I didn't laugh, I'd cry

Robbo has messaged me informing me that Parcel Force has sent him a letter saying a parcel is waiting for him at the local depot, and he's not expecting anything else...After we'd got eight loads made and ready to send off.

So hopefully they've been found. So the phrase 'going postal' has taken on a pertinent meaning this week. I've just about been able to resist the urge to lob myself out of the nearest window. In short, never trust the postal service to do something in a competent manner

Posted: **Thu Oct 06, 2022 10:39 pm**

Matt Rutherford wrote: ↑Thu Oct 06, 2022 9:41 pm If I didn't laugh, I'd cry

Robbo has messaged me informing me that Parcel Force has sent him a letter saying a parcel is waiting for him at the local depot, and he's not expecting anything else...After we'd got eight loads made and ready to send off.

So hopefully they've been found. So the phrase 'going postal' has taken on a pertinent meaning this week. I've just about been able to resist the urge to lob myself out of the nearest window. In short, never trust the postal service to do something in a competent manner

Well it ultimately sounds like good news - I imagine Ben will be glad to get his own letters back, and you now have your own supply too

I guess there have been strikes and such...

FWIW, when I sent you the packs I used hermes - it was great - big box was less than £6 fully tracked from door to door with insurance (think I paid an extra 50p to make sure it was covered if they did disappear!) In the event that people are posting them in future, I'd suggest looking at other options!

Posted: **Sun Oct 09, 2022 2:53 pm**

A little update.

The box finally arrived yesterday. There was quite a bit of damage to some of the boxes, and I spent most of last night trying to sort them out, which I think I did relatively well.

MSR has thankfully bought some extra packs, so we should be OK.

Posted: **Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:37 pm**

Seems like as good a place as any to post this.

I recently bought a set from a charity shop. Is there any official letters distribution to check they are all there in the correct quantities? Same for numbers (I assume 2 of each plus 4L covers that).

Posted: **Tue Nov 29, 2022 1:07 am**

Adam Dexter wrote: ↑Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:37 pm Seems like as good a place as any to post this.

I recently bought a set from a charity shop. Is there any official letters distribution to check they are all there in the correct quantities? Same for numbers (I assume 2 of each plus 4L covers that).

Generally accepted thingy is

Code: Select all

Graeme did some maths and worked out that this was what they are using on TV in recent serieseseseses. Sometimes they bang in extra letters (they must have spares and I guess some for conundrums/answers with a lot of the same letter so they probably end up in the letters pile) but generally it's this.

Most of the newer boardgames (with the large white cards with big light blue letters) have this distribution with one extra B, F and U. I guess you can remove them if you want.

Numbers are what you said.

Posted: **Tue Nov 29, 2022 1:20 am**

Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Tue Nov 29, 2022 1:07 am Graeme did some maths and worked out that this was what they are using on TV in recent serieseseseses.

Not so recent any more - this analysis was based on Series 66, and the letters distribution used on Countdown may have changed a bit since then. Even at the time there were comments that I'd guessed one too many Us.

Nevertheless, this happens to be the exact distribution later used by the official Countdown app (thanks, Foone!), so it has at least been elevated to some sort of official status. Either my vague guesses in 2013 happened to bullseye the correct frequency of every letter perfectly, or the app's developers used my post, or something derived from it, to find the distribution.

Posted: **Tue Nov 29, 2022 9:48 am**

Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Tue Nov 29, 2022 1:20 am the letters distribution used on Countdown may have changed a bit since then.

I had two episodes in a row during my run with more C's than in your proposal: 4 in this episode and 5 in this one.

I haven't checked any other letters - the abundance of C's stuck out to me at the time which is why I've singled it out.

Posted: **Wed Nov 30, 2022 1:01 am**

Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Tue Nov 29, 2022 1:07 am
Adam Dexter wrote: ↑Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:37 pm Seems like as good a place as any to post this.

I recently bought a set from a charity shop. Is there any official letters distribution to check they are all there in the correct quantities? Same for numbers (I assume 2 of each plus 4L covers that).
Generally accepted thingy is
Code: Select all
  A      15  

  E      21  

  I      13  

  O      13  

  U       7  

  B       2  

  C       3  

  D       6  

  F       2  

  G       4  

  H       2  

  J       1  

  K       1  

  L       5  

  M       4  

  N       8  

  P       4  

  Q       1  

  R       9  

  S       9  

  T       9  

  V       2  

  W       2  

  X       1  

  Y       1  

  Z       1  

There are definitely two Ys and four Cs in the consonant deck (or at least there were briefly), though it's rare they've all come out in the same show. I believe the second of the two Ys may have been added at the beginning of Series 82, the first instance of which was here (rounds 2 and 11): https://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_7266

The distribution of my letter tiles used at co-events is similar and goes like this (not including spares):

Code: Select all

A: 14
E: 21
I: 12
O: 12
U: 6

B: 3
C: 4
D: 6
F: 3
G: 4
H: 2
L: 5
M: 4
N: 8
P: 3
R: 9
S: 9
T: 9
V: 2
W: 2
Y: 2
J, K, Q, X and Z: 1

Probably doesn't help, plus mine still dish out some utterly rubbish selections even after I've seemingly deduplicated the vowels to an acceptable level.

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