...and that's ZoomDown

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

Page 6 eh?

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

Well, given I subscribe to the Ben Wilson school of shuffling.

Which begs the question, why would anyone subscribe to an incorrect system?

[Gavin Chipper]

Well, given I subscribe to the Ben Wilson school of shuffling.

Which begs the question, why would anyone subscribe to an incorrect system?

But what is the correct system? As far as I know, there's no explicit rules about how Countodwn does it - it's just been noticed that the letters get shuffled face up. But what does that even mean? The way up you shuffle letters shouldn't affect the randomness. It's what you do to change your shuffling while you can see the letters. And what exactly is it that they do? Is it even consistent? I'm pretty sure the TV show has gone through whole periods of "better" and "worse" selections. Should CO-events, Zoomdown, Apterous etc. all change their algorithms on a weekly basis depending on what's come out this week on Countdown?

[Graeme Cole]

Well, given I subscribe to the Ben Wilson school of shuffling.

Which begs the question, why would anyone subscribe to an incorrect system?

But what is the correct system? As far as I know, there's no explicit rules about how Countodwn does it - it's just been noticed that the letters get shuffled face up. But what does that even mean? The way up you shuffle letters shouldn't affect the randomness. It's what you do to change your shuffling while you can see the letters. And what exactly is it that they do? Is it even consistent? I'm pretty sure the TV show has gone through whole periods of "better" and "worse" selections. Should CO-events, Zoomdown, Apterous etc. all change their algorithms on a weekly basis depending on what's come out this week on Countdown?

I don't think the Countdown shuffling is anything systematic, just the expected effect of what happens if you shuffle a pack while looking at it. If you see a clump of Es together, you're likely to reshuffle that bit and not think anything of it, perhaps briefly reasoning that you didn't shuffle it very well or haven't shuffled that bit yet.

I'm reminded of the old story of a maths teacher who sets their pupils a homework task to toss a coin 100 times and write down the resulting sequence of heads and tails. When the pupils hand in their sheets of Hs and Ts, the teacher can tell who actually tossed the coin and who just made up a random-looking sequence. For example, the ones who made it up write few, if any, clumps of four or more Hs or Ts in a row.

[Gavin Chipper]

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

Quick word of advice / criticism:-

The chat after Rd6. Usually the point is to chat to a contestant and find out a little more about them... however one of Paul's standard questions is whether the person watches Countdown... this invariably leads to a lengthy discussion of the dubious merits of Anne Robinson. We have been treated to the "She divides opinion" and "She's not catering to what the public want to hear, in my opinion, just my opinion" etc. lines a couple of times now...

Probably best to swerve away from that particular topic in future chats. That ground is becoming too well worn.

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

As regards whether hardcore fans can force 'muggles' to watch ZoomDown with them...
...the key consideration is how smoothly the show goes.

The more it looks and plays like a real TV show (i.e. if it can be at the very least -watchable), the more likely casual fans and non-fans will be prepared to tolerate it on TV whilst their hardcore family member / friend watches it.
From that perspective, I'd encourage ye to take whatever measures are necessary to prioritise the stream being good.

(Now... I believe I put that in the kindest manner possible. Ye can start calling me "Diplomacy McGraw" if ye like.)

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

Have ye just had yet ANOTHER cheating controversy?!
It's becoming par for the course at this stage.

If ye're reinstating all of Eeshan's defeated contestants, surely it is now the perfect opportunity to let Ahmad/James continue his run? Should be Ahmad v Florence, winner plays Luke, winner of that plays Harry/Reg in the first game of the next season...

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

If people are still interested in this yoke... it's back on lately.
There's a show on now, and there was one last night too.

All very good so far.
One criticism... the players stats segment should only show the ZD series that made them qualify for the CoC. To show pretty much every fart they ever did on YouTube, does not make for useful comparisons.

[Callum Todd]

All very good so far.
One criticism... the players stats segment should only show the ZD series that made them qualify for the CoC. To show pretty much every fart they ever did on YouTube, does not make for useful comparisons.

Fair point, I remarked that my stats looked favourable compared to Jack's due to the disparity between them. The stats in isolation for each player are really cool but when the two players haven't played the same number of games as each other then yeah you can't make a fair comparison between them.

I do really like the stats graphics though, thought they were a great idea! And to be fair they were styled as a 'tale of the tape' and normally a tale of the tape in a boxing match, for example, just shows the two competitor's total records and not an average or a selected series of results, so the ZoomDown version works just as well as the boxing tale of the tape.

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

I do really like the stats graphics though, thought they were a great idea! And to be fair they were styled as a 'tale of the tape' and normally a tale of the tape in a boxing match, for example, just shows the two competitor's total records and not an average or a selected series of results, so the ZoomDown version works just as well as the boxing tale of the tape.

Agreed that the graphics look great, and that it is a good idea in general.
The boxing tale of the tape is fine for boxing, and is useful given the limitations they have to deal with.
This is different. There is a very rigid structure. These competitors have come through the exact same process to enter this championship, so their qualification records are the stat that is of interest... like the way they'd compare players in the final stages of Wimbledon or similar.

[Paul Anderson]

Hi folks

Please join us tonight for the CoC final between two legends of the game, Elliott Mellor and Conor Travers.
Who will prevail? Tune in to find out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvK_51Gfk5o

Cheers

P

[Gavin Chipper]

Great game - really enjoyed that!

[Callum Todd]

Apparently today is 2 years since the first episode of ZoomDown aired. Mad ting. Paul tells me a remastered version of the pilot episode will be uploaded tonight at 8.

[Paul Anderson]

Hopefully it brought back as many memories for ye as it did for me. Hard to believe it was 2 years ago, but at the same time it felt like a generation ago.