COLIN XXI- the pre-drinks poll.

[Ben Wilson]

Well, it's been a week, and it's safe to say the first COLIN/co-event triple header went pretty well. And with just 51 weeks to go until next year's event, I need to start planning lol.

Next year, the main event and hangover will be taking place as normal, no major changes other than the hangover maybe starting a bit earlier. The pre-drinks, though, is different. This year's seemed to go well, with double the attendance I was initially expecting, but for next year, I need to do something to give the pre-drinks its own 'flair.' The main event is, well, the main event, and the Hangover has the team tournament, but for the Friday, I'm thinking something different is needed.

...then again, I could be wrong. People come to events to play games and see everyone, not take part in experiments, after all. And arguably, an event isn't even needed on the Friday at all- this year was a special milestone, after all.

So I'm throwing it open to everyone for feedback. Let me know in the poll and if you have any other/better ideas, please do comment below.

[George Armstrong]

Personally, whilst I loved the first ever triple header, I have to concede that it was a pita to get to on time (even before the train issues I'd have only just made it by train so ty for the lift Callum!) and I was also absolutely shattered by the time I got home (and admittedly spending the evening updating the FOCAL site, including writing the latest edition of the blog - https://focalcountdown.com/2025/01/27/c ... -turns-20/ .

Would be more than happy to see a COLIN triple again next year, but you can't be a traditional COLIN Friday playing pool, darts, and board games in the pub, giving us all a great chance to catch up with faces we haven't seen since the previous year!

(also no votes for goat atm, and equally no goat tourneys planned for this year - maybe a new trophystore addition for 2025 might help... https://www.trophystore.co.uk/goat-trop ... 7IQAvD_BwE )

[Gavin Chipper]

I voted to not hold it. I thought it was great and really enjoyed it - but as a one-off 20th anniversary event. I think in general it's nice for people to be able to rock up on the Friday in a more relaxed fashion, hang out, and get something to eat, rather than be straight into a tournament when you've got two more coming up anyway. So similar to George's sentiments.

If there was a pre-drinks next year, I would likely go anyway, although I probably would be more reluctant to if it was Goat. But if we're opening it up to Goat, why not Gevin's Delight or even a full numbers attack? The thing with Goat is that it would widen the gap between the good players and the average players, while still having the same players at the top. Whereas at least with a more numbers-based format, it might mix up the order a little. Not that I'm saying you should do a Gevin's Delight, but I would definitely prefer it to Goatdown.

[Callum Todd]

I definitely think there's space for a triple-header although I'm not at all against the idea of saving it for special occasions only.

Agreed if there is another triple-header the Friday event should be something different. Gevin's Delight sounds like a great idea to me (9 rounder verison presumably) or even something radically different like not involving head to heads but instead some big collaborative effort. I can't quite pin down an idea of exactly how that would be structured right now but I'm thinking of something more like a Friday social pub feel but with countdown gameplay, like how many points can the room score collectively in 3 hours or something. More thought needed. For now I'm going to vote Handicap as I think that's my favourite of the options offered.

[Fiona T]

Much the same - if there's an evening event I'd probably go cos everyone else would be, but I do enjoy pubby social!

Fun variant we tried - teams of two, player 1 declares length/target, player 2 has to deliver the word/solution declared. Could work well if strong players paired with beginners (and matched to similar opponents) - I can only see 6 but Rex probably knows an 8 - declare 8 but the max turns out to be 7. Similarly Rex sees the incredible 6s solve but thinks Fiona will do x10 so declares accordingly. Causes much frustration!

[Matt Rutherford]

Triple-header was a lot of fun, but if there is going to be one again, pushing the start time back for the Friday at 19:00 would make it a bit easier to get to. Getting to this one required me to basically do a Top Gear challenge straight from work, and even then running in thirty minutes after it had started (thanks again for letting me do that, esquire)

[Ben Wilson]

Welp, it's been a month and the results are more or less tied, but there's a fair chunk asking for no in person Friday event... which is what I was leaning toward anyway. There will be some form of warm-up event before XXI, but it'll be a mostly online thing with maybe an in-person element like a final. For obvious reasons*, I'm not laying down concrete plans just yet.

*it's eleven months away

[Ben Wilson]

Also, I'm still planning on testing a handicap event on apterous one weekend when there isn't a co-event (for obvious reasons). The working event name is 'I Can't Believe It's the COLIN Handicap Event Sample,' which I acknowledge needs work from an acronym standpoint.

[Phil Stanton]

Also, I'm still planning on testing a handicap event on apterous one weekend when there isn't a co-event (for obvious reasons). The working event name is 'I Can't Believe It's the COLIN Handicap Event Sample,' which I acknowledge needs work from an acronym standpoint.

COLIN Handicap Ultimate Match Play?
COLIN Handicap Online Duel Event?

These are of course suggested purely from an acronym standpoint.