Discussion and announcements relating to unofficial Countdown competitions, held online or in real life. Observation, discussion, reflection, and other stuff ending in -ion.
Play Window: Games for each round are live for 48 hours. Play at any time in that window.
Game Structure: Rounds auto-picked for technical reasons.
System: Swiss pairs, virtual tables, 5 rounds → 10 games over 10 days.
Low commitment due to async format
Tournament Schedule:
Round 1: Midnight, 9th Dec
Round 2: Midday, 11th Dec
Each subsequent round starts 60 hours after the previous. The additional 12 hours is the Admin window for setting up the next round of fixtures.
Registration Details:
Capacity: 18 players maximum.
Subscribers: Sign up anytime via email (do "Menu">"Request a feature" in the app to find the email). Include a screenshot of your username and a recent game for user ID verification.
Non-Subscribers: Currently, sign-up is not open. If capacity isn't reached, registration may open later. For a better chance to participate, consider subscribing!
Note: In async gameplay, both players play from the same set of rounds but don't see each other's solutions until the entire game is completed and a high score is submitted. Standard round-by-round scoring applies, so the single player leaderboard scores seen in the app are not what counts. If both players solve the conundrum, only the fastest solution scores points. There are no tie-breakers for drawn games.
Participants List (18/18) FULL:
Ben Wilson
Callum Todd
Rob Foster
Phil Stanton
Josh Hurst
Fiona
Tom S
Adam L
Jonny D
Maus
Andres S
TCap
Ahmed
Chris Marshall
Zubair
Tim Hebbes
Dan Byrom
Rose Boyle
FAQ:
Can I play without an Android device? Sadly not!
Ready for a Countdown challenge? Join "The December Decathlon" now!
Last edited by JackHurst on Fri Dec 08, 2023 11:52 am, edited 5 times in total.
We're up to 11 participants now, and with under a week to go, I'll open entry to non subscribers. Just get in touch with me at wordgamegeeks@gmail dot com
Include a screenshot of a recent game with your username visible so I can find your user and add you to the games.
JackHurst wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 10:31 pm Note: In async gameplay, both players play from the same set of rounds but don't see each other's solutions until the entire game is completed and a high score is submitted. Standard round-by-round scoring applies, so the single player leaderboard scores seen in the app are not what counts. If both players solve the conundrum, only the fastest solution scores points. There are no tie-breakers for drawn games.
Just wanted to highlight this one again. This means the classic post game leaderboard you see is not to be trusted for head to head games. I am working on an update to remove this screen when it's a head to head game.
JackHurst wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 10:31 pm Note: In async gameplay, both players play from the same set of rounds but don't see each other's solutions until the entire game is completed and a high score is submitted. Standard round-by-round scoring applies, so the single player leaderboard scores seen in the app are not what counts. If both players solve the conundrum, only the fastest solution scores points. There are no tie-breakers for drawn games.
Just wanted to highlight this one again. This means the classic post game leaderboard you see is not to be trusted for head to head games. I am working on an update to remove this screen when it's a head to head game.
Please only do this if there's at least some way to see our opponent's game. And who complained that they thought they won when they actually lost?
JackHurst wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2023 10:31 pm Note: In async gameplay, both players play from the same set of rounds but don't see each other's solutions until the entire game is completed and a high score is submitted. Standard round-by-round scoring applies, so the single player leaderboard scores seen in the app are not what counts. If both players solve the conundrum, only the fastest solution scores points. There are no tie-breakers for drawn games.
Just wanted to highlight this one again. This means the classic post game leaderboard you see is not to be trusted for head to head games. I am working on an update to remove this screen when it's a head to head game.
Please only do this if there's at least some way to see our opponent's game. And who complained that they thought they won when they actually lost?
Hard agree with tcap. Can work out the scores better + curious to see what opponent misses/hits/how quickly ahmed gets the con against me
Thomas Cappleman wrote: ↑Mon Dec 11, 2023 2:02 pm
Please only do this if there's at least some way to see our opponent's game.
Agree 100% First iteration you will get a link to both players games. Second iteration you will get shown the merged rounds just like a multiplayer game on apterous or on the wiki.
Still a lot of work to do before it would make 100% sense to a new player which is what the end goal is. Getting you lot to test small chunks of incomplete work if giving me useful early feedback though
Still a couple of R5 games to finish, but a few things look certain already. It will be Rob and Ahmed in the final, with TCap having put together a strong display to claim 3rd place.
The final will be a best of 3 games, most likely played over this coming weekend:
the As will be 6 rounds picked by Ahmed (30 seconds each, choice of L, N, C all normal variant). Likewise the Rs will be Rob's pick. This notation would have sucked if Callum got to the final...
I have a load of retrospective game links to post, which will probably get
Thanks to everybody who participated in this event, it's been a really good way of working out how to make a multiplayer feature work in the app. Head to Heads will go on a small holiday while I work on some improvements.
The December Decathlon: A Countdown Tournament In the unofficial Android app
Ready for a Countdown challenge? Join "The December Decathlon" now! 
