COUNTDOWN 30TH CHAMPIONSHIP

JackHurst · Post by **JackHurst** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 4:10 pm

Is there a prize for the winner of this?

James Robinson · Post by **James Robinson** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 4:35 pm

JackHurst wrote:Is there a prize for the winner of this?

Well, the winner of the Supreme Championship in 1996 got a trip to Paris to see a recording of Des chiffres et des lettres and a nice glass trophy.

So, it might be something on a similar line............

JackHurst · Post by **JackHurst** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 1:04 am

James Robinson wrote:
JackHurst wrote:Is there a prize for the winner of this?
Well, the winner of the Supreme Championship in 1996 got a trip to Paris to see a recording of Des chiffres et des lettres and a nice glass trophy.

So, it might be something on a similar line............

If that's the case, I might just lose my first game.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:23 pm

Hello all, could do with some help from the apterous regulars for some stats I'm trying to put together for the 30th anniversary tournament. In particular, I'm trying to get hold of as many apto-ranks for the players as I can: so far I've got 26 of the 41, but there are 15 who I either can't find at all, or who have only played a handful of games. I know, however, that quite a lot of people play under pseudonyms, or I may have just missed them for some other reason, so if anyone can help out with the following list that would be great.

Obviously, if you know one of these people plays under a pseudonym, check with them before you post their details here :p (if people are super keen to protect their anonymity, you can always PM me - I have no interest in names, just what their ranks are).

So, the names I'm missing ranks for are:

Chris Hawkins
Jill Bright
Chris Wills
David Williams
Christine Hunt
Sandie Simonis
Paul Keane
Dave Hoskisson
John Ashmore
Nicki Sellars
Wayne Kelly
Nick Wainwright
David Webb
Jackie Mcleod
Barry Grossman

I appreciate many of these will have never set foot on apterous, but any help whittling down this list would be great. Thanks in advance and all that.

Innis Carson · Post by **Innis Carson** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:36 pm

Nick W is currently ranked 76th (I'm presuming he doesn't care that much about his anonymity since he hasn't changed his picture). I'm not aware of any of the others having apterous accounts, apart from Sandie Simonis who as you probably saw has only played one Pro Ranks-eligible game.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:40 pm

Cheers, every little helps

Nick Deller · Post by **Nick Deller** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:02 pm

Wayne K has played a small number of games, but again probably not enough to trouble the ranking system.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 6:24 pm

Righto, I ran some numbers and have put together a thing that estimates the probability of each player winning the tournament (based on apto-ranks for apterous players, and some jiggery-pokery for non-apterous players). For those interested in the methodology, I've whipped up a short blog post about it here. If you just want to know the results there's a summary here, along with a page on apterous Charlie put together that lets you play around with everyone's ratings to see how things change.

(With thanks to Graeme for his stats pages, and Charlie for his bad ass-computer skillz).

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 8:34 pm

teamwork dreamwork guyz

Graeme Cole · Post by **Graeme Cole** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 12:31 pm

Like. Many thanks for taking the time to put that together, Michael.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 1:39 pm

Graeme Cole wrote:Like. Many thanks for taking the time to put that together, Michael.

No problem, thanks for your work on the player stats, made things a lot easier

JackHurst · Post by **JackHurst** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 9:57 pm

I just realised the is no Jeffrey Hansford in this list. Devastated.

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:28 pm

WARNING: THIS LINK CONTAINS SPOILERS.

I am updating a blog post after every game in this: http://rhysbenjamin.blogspot.co.uk/2013 ... -boom.html. If I'm cruel to anyone, then don't feel offended, as I didn't mean to be! It is written primarily for people that know nothing about Countdown, though.

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 5:56 pm

WARNING: THIS LINK CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Updated with today's game. Great game but this is a tad harsh, and I'm not that much of a cad!

http://rhysbenjamin.blogspot.co.uk/2013 ... -boom.html

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:22 pm

Rhys Benjamin wrote:WARNING: THIS LINK CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Updated with today's game. Great game but this is a tad harsh, and I'm not that much of a cad!

http://rhysbenjamin.blogspot.co.uk/2013 ... -boom.html

"Cue an idiotic scene when trying to pick the numbers"?

Bit uncalled for, particularly after highlighting attention to your blog. Probably keep those thoughts to yourself. FWIW it raised a smile with me.

So which month are we predicting for Thatcher to finally cop it? I'm thinking around mid-September.

James Robinson · Post by **James Robinson** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:13 pm

WOW, Amazing pic thanks to Mark Foster's Twitter feed.

Look behind Rachel and Mark, CECIL (or should it now be CECIS) has been given a MEGA-MAKEOVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://twitter.com/MarkFosterSwim/stat ... 0919772162

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:21 pm

James Robinson wrote:

This should read: "

".

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:35 pm

James Robinson wrote:WOW, Amazing pic thanks to Mark Foster's Twitter feed.

Look behind Rachel and Mark, CECIL (or should it now be CECIS) has been given a MEGA-MAKEOVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://twitter.com/MarkFosterSwim/stat ... 0919772162

Oh yeah - and the players' scores are also in this new format.

James Robinson · Post by **James Robinson** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:57 pm

Jon O'Neill wrote:
James Robinson wrote:WOW, Amazing pic thanks to Mark Foster's Twitter feed.

Look behind Rachel and Mark, CECIL (or should it now be CECIS) has been given a MEGA-MAKEOVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://twitter.com/MarkFosterSwim/stat ... 0919772162
Oh yeah - and the players' scores are also in this new format.

Crikey, so the old "calculator style" heritage is being to bed then after next week.

Bit of a shame to see it go, personally.

Innis Carson · Post by **Innis Carson** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:02 am

This wasn't done out of choice - during rehearsals they found that the old 7-segment displays that used to display the scores and numbers targets didn't work properly in the new Mediacity studios, so they had to improvise with monitors. They're not too bad-looking really, I'm sure everyone will get used to them quickly.

Chris Davies · Post by **Chris Davies** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:48 am

Innis Carson wrote:This wasn't done out of choice - during rehearsals they found that the old 7-segment displays that used to display the scores and numbers targets didn't work properly in the new Mediacity studios, so they had to improvise with monitors. They're not too bad-looking really, I'm sure everyone will get used to them quickly.

Didn't know that - pretty interesting! I actually think they're an improvement.

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:34 am

James Robinson wrote:WOW, Amazing pic thanks to Mark Foster's Twitter feed.

Look behind Rachel and Mark, CECIL (or should it now be CECIS) has been given a MEGA-MAKEOVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://twitter.com/MarkFosterSwim/stat ... 0919772162

There's stuff in the background?

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:39 am

Jon Corby wrote:
James Robinson wrote:WOW, Amazing pic thanks to Mark Foster's Twitter feed.

Look behind Rachel and Mark, CECIL (or should it now be CECIS) has been given a MEGA-MAKEOVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://twitter.com/MarkFosterSwim/stat ... 0919772162
There's stuff in the background?

Don't forget to look at Rachel too, she's hot in that photo.

Andy Platt · Post by **Andy Platt** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:12 pm

I hated them for about 2 minutes, then I quite liked them.
Typical British traditionalism kicking in a couple of minutes before logic and reason then.

I fear that older contestants might complain though. Then again there were a fair few in the audience and I didn't hear any of them say anything negative about it

Graeme Cole · Post by **Graeme Cole** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:02 pm

Andy Platt wrote:I hated them for about 2 minutes, then I quite liked them.
Typical British traditionalism kicking in a couple of minutes before logic and reason then.

This. The previous day Innis described them to me as "cartoony", and so I feared the worst and thought they might have used pink Comic Sans on a lime green background. But it's just the same font, style and colour as the letter and number cards. It's been done well, and I got used to it very quickly.

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:33 pm

WARNING: SPOILERS IN THE LINK.

Updated with today's game. POTENTIAL SPOILERS: It just seems tense reading it back. http://rhysbenjamin.blogspot.co.uk/2013 ... -boom.html

Eoin Monaghan · Post by **Eoin Monaghan** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 6:17 pm

Rhys Benjamin wrote:WARNING: SPOILERS IN THE LINK.

Updated with today's game. POTENTIAL SPOILERS: It just seems tense reading it back. http://rhysbenjamin.blogspot.co.uk/2013 ... -boom.html

Do you not realise some of the stuff you say is offensive?

Mark Deeks · Post by **Mark Deeks** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 7:03 pm

And a lot of it is really dumb. "Mark tried to psychologically beat Jack with POOING", "when you then have BOXGATE disallowed, it's not good news," "Nick makes the mistake of trying to out-psych Mark," "He asks for several "continents". Why do we even bother?"........these are dumb things you're saying, Rhys.

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 8:36 pm

Dumb? Probably more on the satirical side.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:01 pm

Innis Carson wrote:This wasn't done out of choice - during rehearsals they found that the old 7-segment displays that used to display the scores and numbers targets didn't work properly in the new Mediacity studios, so they had to improvise with monitors. They're not too bad-looking really, I'm sure everyone will get used to them quickly.

This makes no sense to me whatsoever. Because they're in a particular studio, a certain display won't work? Three doors down and it's fine - this isn't mobile phone reception we're talking about!

Jennifer Steadman · Post by **Jennifer Steadman** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:09 pm

Rhys - if you don't know what 'satirical' means, don't use it.

Graeme Cole · Post by **Graeme Cole** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:17 pm

Gavin Chipper wrote:
Innis Carson wrote:This wasn't done out of choice - during rehearsals they found that the old 7-segment displays that used to display the scores and numbers targets didn't work properly in the new Mediacity studios, so they had to improvise with monitors. They're not too bad-looking really, I'm sure everyone will get used to them quickly.
This makes no sense to me whatsoever. Because they're in a particular studio, a certain display won't work? Three doors down and it's fine - this isn't mobile phone reception we're talking about!

It probably comes down to something tiny but essential. If I had to guess, I'd plump for this: those old displays that they must have used for about 10 years probably have RS-232 serial port connectors, and the trendy, shiny new MeDiaCiTYuK doesn't have a single computer in it that's old enough to have a serial port.

(I don't know the actual reason. This is probably completely wrong.)

Mark Deeks · Post by **Mark Deeks** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:31 pm

^ This right here. This is the guy.

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 10:25 pm

Jennifer Steadman wrote:Rhys - if you don't know what 'satirical' means, don't use it.

Yes, I know what satirical means. Yes, I do use it.

Jennifer Steadman · Post by **Jennifer Steadman** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:01 pm

If you think you're being satirical in your blog, then you clearly don't. So don't.

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:46 am

OK, satirical was a bit of an exaggeration... but one shouldn't try to be offensive.

Mark Deeks · Post by **Mark Deeks** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:54 am

Look, you're a know-it-all kid who thinks he can write better than everyone else, and I was that once too. So I know what's going on here. But just know that in the case of something like this, where you're trying to make others look bad when they did nothing to deserve it, all you're doing is making yourself look bad. Consider whether you really want that.

Martin Bishop · Post by **Martin Bishop** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:21 pm

Graeme Cole wrote:
Gavin Chipper wrote:
Innis Carson wrote:This wasn't done out of choice - during rehearsals they found that the old 7-segment displays that used to display the scores and numbers targets didn't work properly in the new Mediacity studios, so they had to improvise with monitors. They're not too bad-looking really, I'm sure everyone will get used to them quickly.
This makes no sense to me whatsoever. Because they're in a particular studio, a certain display won't work? Three doors down and it's fine - this isn't mobile phone reception we're talking about!
It probably comes down to something tiny but essential. If I had to guess, I'd plump for this: those old displays that they must have used for about 10 years probably have RS-232 serial port connectors, and the trendy, shiny new MeDiaCiTYuK doesn't have a single computer in it that's old enough to have a serial port.

(I don't know the actual reason. This is probably completely wrong.)

Yeah, Damian said it was something to do with connectors. Basically, they can't plug them in.

Countdown Team · Post by **Countdown Team** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:20 pm

Graeme Cole wrote: It probably comes down to something tiny but essential. If I had to guess, I'd plump for this: those old displays that they must have used for about 10 years probably have RS-232 serial port connectors, and the trendy, shiny new MeDiaCiTYuK doesn't have a single computer in it that's old enough to have a serial port.

(I don't know the actual reason. This is probably completely wrong.)

Actually, it's completely right ! 100%.

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:57 pm

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER. Today's game. http://rhysbenjamin.blogspot.com/2013/0 ... -boom.html?

Thomas Carey · Post by **Thomas Carey** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:08 am

Rhys Benjamin wrote:SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER. Today's game. http://rhysbenjamin.blogspot.com/2013/0 ... -boom.html?

Can you make it so the the latest game always goes to the top? It's a pain having to scroll through all of them every time a new game happens.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:08 am

Rhys Benjamin wrote:SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER. Today's game. http://rhysbenjamin.blogspot.com/2013/0 ... -boom.html?

You've spelt RIGOROUS wrong.

Jimmy Gough · Post by **Jimmy Gough** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:34 am

Only just found out this was happening! Best of luck to everyone competing, so good to see something like this finally went ahead. I'm sorry I couldn't be a part of it. My money's on innis to take it down, the ultimate countdown beast imo

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 2:52 pm

Kirk Bevins wrote:
Rhys Benjamin wrote:SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER. Today's game. http://rhysbenjamin.blogspot.com/2013/0 ... -boom.html?
You've spelt RIGOROUS wrong.

And HEPARIN.

And since the link doesn't change, I really think we've got the idea now that you are going to update it after each episode.

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 5:56 pm

Thomas Carey wrote:
Rhys Benjamin wrote:SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER. Today's game. http://rhysbenjamin.blogspot.com/2013/0 ... -boom.html?
Can you make it so the the latest game always goes to the top? It's a pain having to scroll through all of them every time a new game happens.

I'm afraid I can't do that.

Kirk Bevins wrote:
Rhys Benjamin wrote:SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER. Today's game. http://rhysbenjamin.blogspot.com/2013/0 ... -boom.html?
You've spelt RIGOROUS wrong.

I know, it was supposed to be an annoying pun.

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 5:59 pm

Rhys Benjamin wrote:
Kirk Bevins wrote:You've spelt RIGOROUS wrong.
I know, it was supposed to be an annoying pun.

LOLSATIRE

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 8:45 pm

Jon Corby wrote: LOLSATIRE

LITERALS for eight?

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 9:50 pm

The blog isn't completely up to date yet, but it now features the Jackie McLeod/Barry Grossman game.

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 11:44 am

Countdown Team wrote:
Graeme Cole wrote:(I don't know the actual reason. This is probably completely wrong.)
Actually, it's completely right ! 100%.

Out of interest, is CECIL simply wired up to a new display, or is it a new random number generator altogether? It's probably too early to draw any meaningful statistical significance (Raccoon Boy?) but of the 12 games so far this week, 6 have been in the 300s, with 5 in the upper half (315,356,379,381,381,396). COUNTDOWN ROCKED BY 'FIX' SCANDAL?

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 12:21 pm

I make it about a 1% chance that six of twelve picks will be in the same set of a hundred.

So therefore, Daily Mail reporter, there is a 99% chance that Countdown is fixed.

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 7:00 pm

Jon O'Neill wrote:Daily Mirror

Fixed that for you.

Prelims now done. Don't forget to +1! http://rhysbenjamin.blogspot.com/2013/0 ... l?spref=tw

David Williams · Post by **David Williams** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 8:12 pm

This maybe belongs in a viewing figures thread, or even in the coincidences one.

I didn't tell anyone other than family that I was on last week. And in that week the only person who has mentioned seeing me is someone who was recording it every day because their husband knows Dave Hoskisson, but didn't know when he was on. I've been to a chess club with about forty people there who all know me at least by sight, I've spoken to a dozen or so people at a football match who each know other people who know me, I've been on a walk with a dozen people who know me very well. Add that to other friends who I'd have expected to get in touch if they'd seen me, and you're probably talking of a hundred people of mainly similar age and disposition to me, plus their immediate families. And not one of them saw Countdown last Thursday.

Conor · Post by **Conor** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 8:37 pm

David Williams wrote:This maybe belongs in a viewing figures thread, or even in the coincidences one.

I didn't tell anyone other than family that I was on last week. And in that week the only person who has mentioned seeing me is someone who was recording it every day because their husband knows Dave Hoskisson, but didn't know when he was on. I've been to a chess club with about forty people there who all know me at least by sight, I've spoken to a dozen or so people at a football match who each know other people who know me, I've been on a walk with a dozen people who know me very well. Add that to other friends who I'd have expected to get in touch if they'd seen me, and you're probably talking of a hundred people of mainly similar age and disposition to me, plus their immediate families. And not one of them saw Countdown last Thursday.

The trouble with any sort of viewing figures analysis is that it's tough to isolate the positive or negative effect of this tournament from the impact of the show being moved to 2.40pm. Is this data (easily) available?

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 11:02 pm

Conor wrote:
David Williams wrote:This maybe belongs in a viewing figures thread, or even in the coincidences one.

I didn't tell anyone other than family that I was on last week. And in that week the only person who has mentioned seeing me is someone who was recording it every day because their husband knows Dave Hoskisson, but didn't know when he was on. I've been to a chess club with about forty people there who all know me at least by sight, I've spoken to a dozen or so people at a football match who each know other people who know me, I've been on a walk with a dozen people who know me very well. Add that to other friends who I'd have expected to get in touch if they'd seen me, and you're probably talking of a hundred people of mainly similar age and disposition to me, plus their immediate families. And not one of them saw Countdown last Thursday.
The trouble with any sort of viewing figures analysis is that it's tough to isolate the positive or negative effect of this tournament from the impact of the show being moved to 2.40pm. Is this data (easily) available?

I'd be very surprised if David's experience is due to the fact that this is a champions' series. In fact, quite a few of the games have been at a fairly "normal" standard anyway (albeit the higher end of normal), and it's only as we move through the tournament that this will change.

Countdown Team · Post by **Countdown Team** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 1:36 pm

Here's a copy of the draw, which was made on October 8th, at 11.00am, by a randomizer at random.org

There were originally 2 column of numbers, the first column is the order the names came out, the 2nd, which is obliterated by a marker pen, was the order they went in. The marker pen was purely to make the document easier to work with on the day. The line under David O'Donnell was for the first 23 being given byes.

Marcus Hares was replaced by Adam Gillard and Robert Richland by Darryl Francis.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 3:55 pm

Cool! Good to see. Ed.

JackHurst · Post by **JackHurst** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 9:37 pm

Conor and I should be on my friends radio show tomorrow at 11 am, talking about out participation in this tournament (no spoilers!), and all things countdown.

If any of you are interested:
http://www.camfm.co.uk/index.php?option ... age&id=256

Conor · Post by **Conor** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 5:57 pm

Just to point out the stream found in the link above has been updated for today's show.

Mark Deeks · Post by **Mark Deeks** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 7:38 pm

Very good first 40 minutes. But what was the point of the end other than just mocking someone who doesn't deserve it? You surely can't claim it was in any way an appreciative gesture when even the host himself says "we'll play it then apologise afterwards". That's a dick move, gents.

Lee Kelly · Post by **Lee Kelly** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 11:59 pm

who was the contestant that cheated?