c4countdown

Ladies and gentlemen - CoLei2 is open for business.

The second Countdown tournament in Leicester will take place at The Stoneycroft Hotel on Saturday 10 October, hosted by Jeff Clayton.

* Join us for an action packed day of words and numbers.
* Pit your wits against the clock - can you solve the Countdown conundrum?
* Look out for some exhibition games and see if you can win a spot prize!

Book your place now! You can secure your place for only £9. My email and PayPal address is jeffrey_clayton@hotmail.com . Do get in touch either by PM or email, and if you don't want to transfer funds online, I can supply you with an address to post a cheque to.

More details about the venue:
* A short walk from Leicester railway station
* Frequent bus connections to and from the venue
* Located off the A6 London Road, accessible from all major routes
* On-site car parking
* Refreshments available during the day from the hotel
* http://www.stoneycrofthotel.co.uk

I have set up a page for this event on Facebook - search for CoLei2 !

Look forward to seeing you on 10 October.

Thanks
Jeff

How do we send money to you via paypal? Can you send us a link (like Charlie has a button to click on for the apterous payments).

What time does it start?

I'll be at an all-day gigamathon in Kentish Town, so no can do I'm afraid.

Kirk Bevins wrote:How do we send money to you via paypal? Can you send us a link (like Charlie has a button to click on for the apterous payments).

Just go into your PayPal account and click on send money, then enter Jeff's email address. Click on the option that says Gift and neither of you will have to pay any fees.

This should be noted as a first! I don't think I have ever had to give any sort of computer-related advice/help to anyone under the age of 70 before!

Get people to repay you with wine, Karen!

jeffrey_clayton@hotmail.com is the address.

If you're not happy to transfer online, send me a private message and I'll provide you with my postal address.


TIA
Jeff

Kai - 10:30 til 17:00.

Happy to announce that some entries have been confirmed online and through the post in recent days. Don't delay, people!!

Jeff

I will happily confirm as soon as I can make sure booking the day off work is ok.

Looking forward to it!

When's the closing date for payments?

Yeah is there a closing date as such? Will need to book it off work so don't want to pay yet.

Do you think we could have a list of participants?

Kai Laddiman wrote:Do you think we could have a list of participants?

I don't think Jeff is about ATM, Kai.
I sent him a PM a couple of days ago about my attending CoLei2, but no reply yet.

Julie

Are you going too then Julie? Brilliant! I think that makes 3 women so far. Maybe Kai could persuade his mum (Naomi) to come and play this time. That would make a serious female contingent for a change!

Hi all

Sorry for the absence - to answer your questions:

* The close for payments will be the Friday evening before. That'll be the last time I'll check everything online before we go live on the Saturday.

* The entrants thus far confirmed are:

Matt Bayfield
Kirk Bevins
Mike Brown
Karen Pearson
Richard Priest


* All are very welcome. As Karen points out, it would be nice to have the female of the species better represented this year!


Cheers
Jeff

I'm probably not the only one who is waiting to see who else signs up before committing. We need a way to break this cycle of dependency...

Karen Pearson wrote:Are you going too then Julie? Brilliant! I think that makes 3 women so far. Maybe Kai could persuade his mum (Naomi) to come and play this time. That would make a serious female contingent for a change!

Yes, it'll be great to meet you too, Karen, as you weren't at CoLin 2009, which is the only other one I've been to.

My daughter, Claire, will be coming too, to keep me company on the journey, although she doesn't play.
She's a demon at sudoku, but isn't interested in Countdown, unfortunately, or word games generally.

Julie T wrote:
My daughter, Claire, will be coming too, to keep me company on the journey, although she doesn't play.
She's a demon at sudoku, but isn't interested in Countdown, unfortunately, or word games generally.

How old's your daughter? Err....Kai asked me to ask....

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Julie T wrote:
My daughter, Claire, will be coming too, to keep me company on the journey, although she doesn't play.
She's a demon at sudoku, but isn't interested in Countdown, unfortunately, or word games generally.

How old's your daughter? Err....Kai asked me to ask....

21, Kirk! I don't think she'd really be interested in Countdown geeks though.
Mind you, a mum might be the last to know!

A fortune teller we met in Cambridge on Sunday (we were there for the Dave Gorman show) told her she should seek relationships with those who are spiritually beautiful, rather than beautiful on the outside.
I'm not sure that any of you count as either.

Julie T wrote:
21, Kirk! I don't think she'd really be interested in Countdown geeks though.
Mind you, a mum might be the last to know!

Too old for Kai then. Shame. I'm not a Countdown geek - in fact, what is Countdown?

Jono and I are going. (Cash on its way to you shortly, Jeff.)

Charlie Reams wrote:I'm probably not the only one who is waiting to see who else signs up before committing. We need a way to break this cycle of dependency...

I'm going. There. Now everyone else can jump on board

Any ideas of the starting and finishing times? I've just realised if I win my darts semi final tomorrow I'm in the final...on Saturday 10th October. Unbelievable.

Dinos Sfyris wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:I'm probably not the only one who is waiting to see who else signs up before committing. We need a way to break this cycle of dependency...

I'm going. There. Now everyone else can jump on board

Me and Josh will be attending. I'm probably a deterrent, so i wouldn't expect people to jump on board now, Dinos.

Kirk Bevins wrote:Any ideas of the starting and finishing times? I've just realised if I win my darts semi final tomorrow I'm in the final...on Saturday 10th October. Unbelievable.

That made me think it would be cool if someone spent some time coming up with a good hybrid of darts and countdown that we could all play.

Kirk Bevins wrote:Any ideas of the starting and finishing times?

Try this.

JackHurst wrote:That made me think it would be cool if someone spent some time coming up with a good hybrid of darts and countdown that we could all play.

Funnily enough, I've thought about Dartdown before, but the most obvious method (i.e. chuck nine darts at a board of letters for a selection) takes too long and gives too much thinking time. Maybe Dartygoatdown, where the first eight letters are chosen normally, then you throw at a board of letters from A to Z to choose your final letter. Or something.

10:30-17:00, Kirk - same as last year, give or take.

Dartygoatdown neither compulsory, nor compulsive.


Jeff

Kirk Bevins wrote:Any ideas of the starting and finishing times? I've just realised if I win my darts semi final tomorrow I'm in the final...on Saturday 10th October. Unbelievable.

Hmm I averaged around 76 and won my semi final 6-2. My mate won the other semi final 6-1 averaging around 79 so we're both in the final on 10th October. Bloody typical. That means I can't stay around at all after COLEI sadly and will have to catch the first train back to York ready for the tournament which starts at 730pm. I'm going to be late as it is already

Ok Kirk, we'll keep an eye on the clock on the day. Thanks for letting me know and good luck in that final.

I have been promised three more entries and cheques in the post via PM today; I will contact those individuals upon receipt of funds. To those of you still waiting for others to move first - any progress??

Jeff

I'll do it (hopefully), just need to get my mom to pay.

Jeff Clayton wrote:I have set up a page for this event on Facebook - search for CoLei2 !

For some strange reason it's stopped appearing in events searches. (I presume there's some reason you haven't posted the URL?)

Jeff Clayton wrote:Kai - 10:30 til 17:00.

I may be able to make it as long as it doesn't run over....

Julie T wrote:My daughter, Claire, will be coming too, to keep me company on the journey, although she doesn't play.
She's a demon at sudoku, but isn't interested in Countdown, unfortunately, or word games generally.

Maybe you just need to encourage her a bit more.

I can come

Sorry Jeff, I can't make it any more mate.

Just three weeks to go now and a reminder that you can still confirm your place in the tournament for £9 - either via PayPal ( jeffrey_clayton@hotmail.com ) or with a cheque (postal address on request).

The updated list of players stands at seven, with:

Matt Bayfield
Kirk Bevins
Mike Brown
Jack Hurst
Josh Hurst
Karen Pearson
Richard Priest

Your support is greatly appreciated. Any queries, do get in touch.

Cheers
Jeff

For some reason you're not allowed to buy advance rail tickets for London to Leicester on the 10th of October. That's really annoying.

Anyone driving from anywhere in London?

In the process of getting this off work, will pay when it's confirmed.

Ok, thanks Darren.

Jeff

Some further entries have been confirmed this evening, and the number of entrants now stands at ten:

Gerry Atkinson
Paul Atkinson
Matt Bayfield
Kirk Bevins
Mike Brown
Tony Graham
Jack Hurst
Josh Hurst
Karen Pearson
Richard Priest

So we're now in double digits and the good news is we have more entrants confirmed than last year.

But we're not done yet, I trust??


Jeff

Paypal have screwed up my account so I'll post you a cheque for Jono and me if that's okay.

No problem Charlie - have PM'd you with my address.

Jeff

Another two in the last hour or so:

Gerry Atkinson
Paul Atkinson
Matt Bayfield
Kirk Bevins
Mike Brown
Tony Graham
Jack Hurst
Josh Hurst
Karen Pearson
Richard Priest
Julie Taylor
Ben Wilson


Jeff

Kai Laddiman booked his place today (with thanks to mum Naomi).

Cheers
Jeff

Okay, they put the advance tickets on sale. I'm in!

I messaged Jeff last week but he must be a busy bee - he has not replied yet - i am still interested, but due to my lack of Paypal i have to send the dollar over to him!

sarah white wrote:I messaged Jeff last week but he must be a busy bee - he has not replied yet - i am still interested, but due to my lack of Paypal i have to send the dollar over to him!

I have messaged him as well, likewise due to my lack of Paypal.

Sad to say that I probably can't make it after all, haven't yet got this rail card thing I was supposed to get with my bank account, so it's going to cost way than I can afford. Sorry guys, hope it goes well.

Innis Carson wrote:Sad to say that I probably can't make it after all, haven't yet got this rail card thing I was supposed to get with my bank account, so it's going to cost way than I can afford. Sorry guys, hope it goes well.

If you order advance tickets now you'll probably save more than the 33% you'd get off a standard fare with a railcard.

Annoyingly very few journeys seem to have that option, and they're not much use.

Hi everyone - sorry for not having responded sooner.

To those of you who have left me messages, I have now responded, and those who have confirmed their places on the day are highlighted below in the updated list of entrants:

Gerry Atkinson
Paul Atkinson
Matt Bayfield
Kirk Bevins
Mike Brown
Innis Carson
Tony Graham
Jack Hurst
Josh Hurst
Karen Pearson
Richard Priest
Dinos Sfyris
Julie Taylor
Ben Wilson
Steve Wood

This brings the number of confirmed entrants to fifteen - very exciting - plus those of you who have privately expressed interest to me.

Innis - If you do wish to retract your entry, can you please confirm this to me privately. If your decision is based solely on the railcard not having turned up yet, hang in there because there is another week and a half, but let me know and I will return the dosh to you.

Any questions at this stage, anyone?


Jeff

Jeff Clayton wrote:Any questions at this stage, anyone?

Why aren't I on the list?

Jeff Clayton wrote:
Any questions at this stage, anyone?

What happens at these events? Do we all play with the same set of letters/numbers? Or do we have individual games?

Does the hotel sell food?

Darren Carter wrote:

Jeff Clayton wrote:
Any questions at this stage, anyone?

What happens at these events? Do we all play with the same set of letters/numbers? Or do we have individual games?

Does the hotel sell food?

It varies.At some (e.g. CoNot) we all play from the same selection, at others we have individual games in tables of 3 with a round robin format.Not sure what Jeff's planning for this year but last year we decided seeding order first of all by all playing from the same set, then played in groups of 3 according to the seeding positions, although we continued all playing from the same selections.

Lunch was available at the hotel last year, you just had to pre-order what you wanted.

A cheque from me and Jono is in the post to you, hopefully it will arrive before next Saturday even with the current state of the postal system...

Hi everyone

Not long to go now - and just the last three places remaining!

_______


To answer everyone's questions in order:

Kai - Sincere apologies. You should have been on the list and are now included on the revised list of entrants below. Do not worry - you are in.

Darren - Yes, we all play with the same letters, numbers and conundrums. Everyone plays the person against whom they are paired and whilst beating that person is obviously your main objective, everyone stands to score the same available maximum and it's always interesting to go round the room at the end and see how we all did.

And yes, the hotel sells food and refreshments - tea/coffee, snacks and a full menu for lunchtime. I will get photocopies of the menu for everyone and before play begins, we submit our full order (which was ready last year for 1pm).

Charlie - Your cheque arrived yesterday. Love the stationery - terribly professional!

_______


We have 21 confirmed entrants - and last year's champion is coming back to defend his crown:


Gerry Atkinson
Paul Atkinson
Matt Bayfield
Kirk Bevins
Mike Brown
Innis Carson
Darren Carter
Tony Graham
Jack Hurst
Josh Hurst
Kai Laddiman
Jon O'Neill
Karen Pearson
Richard Priest
Charlie Reams
Alec Rivers
Dinos Sfyris
Julie Taylor
Mark Tournoff
Ben Wilson
Steve Wood

_______


So, what now? Well, I've been putting the final preparations together for the qualifier, the spot-prize rounds and the emergency conundrums - and slightly refining last year's graphics aswell.

The order of play and the tournament format will be decided by the exact number of entrants. It would be great if a further three people sign up, in which case the floodgates can be closed early. I will send an email out in the middle of the week with fuller details for everything.

As you'll've seen in recent weeks, I'm not exactly on here everyday but if any of you need to contact me urgently at any time between now and the 10:30 kick-off next Saturday, my number is 07595 690249.

Looking forward to next Saturday!!

Cheers
Jeff

[quote="Jeff Clayton"

And yes, the hotel sells food and refreshments - tea/coffee, snacks and a full menu for lunchtime. I will get photocopies of the menu for everyone and before play begins, we submit our full order (which was ready last year for 1pm).

[/quote]

Having lots of kids (although I'm only bringing one adult one with me!), means that because of the scale involved, I'm used to being frugal and take drinks and snacks out with me. I'll probably buy a meal in the hotel before heading back, but is it OK to bring stuff from home (thermos, sandwiches, etc) for during the day into the function room?

Not Mark Tournoff!! Grrr....my human nemesis. Haven't beat him in any tournament yet. 9 points ahead at the last COLEI to win the title and he nails the conundrum in less than a second to win COLEI instead by a single point. Time for revenge.

Will anyone else be on the 0855 St Pancras?

Alec Rivers wrote:Will anyone else be on the 0855 St Pancras?

No I'll still be in bed then.....

I know it kicks off at 10.30, but what time do people normally get there for?

Darren Carter wrote:
I know it kicks off at 10.30, but what time do people normally get there for?

I'll be there at 3am practising away.

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Darren Carter wrote:
I know it kicks off at 10.30, but what time do people normally get there for?

I'll be there at 3am practising away.

The worrying thing is that I don't know whether you're joking or not.....