Numbers Order

[JackHurst]

Earlier on, I was wondering about the order in which numbers are put on the board. I seem to remember at least one occasion where the large number was put at the right instead of the left.
So i have a number of questions for you all.
Lots of these questions overlap, and get repetitive, so sorry.

1)Do you know what episode(s) this was? I'd like to see if it was because Carol bodged up, or if the contestant asked for it.

2)Are you allowed to request What order the numbers get put out in?

3)Have many people done this before?

4)What benefit would it be, if any?

5)If you use this to see the big numbers first, is this rule bending, or just good tactics?

6)Would there be much point in it being included in apterous if possible


My own answer to 4) is that i think it could be put to use if you were in a close game against a weak numbers player, and for example, you chose 2 large, and asked for one large number to be put at either end. It might make the opponent a bit more confused and worried, which could give you the edge. Having said this, it is more likely that you'd just go with 6 small or 4 big, but if you're also not so confident, you could use this trick just to trip up your opponent.

Seeing the large numbers first might help, because i tend to panic when i chose 1 large, and the last number that comes out is a 25, is i saw it come out first, i'd have a couple of seconds to compose myself.


Any thoughts and stuffs would be good

[Michael Wallace]

IIRC the big numbers would usually go up first when someone asked for "2 large and 4 small" (especially if they left a big gap after saying "2 large" so that the numberess would pick them up before picking up the remaining numbers). I don't really see how it would be in any way bending the rules though - you can choose your letters in any order you like, for instance.

Edit: Where obviously I've got the order the wrong way around, but hopefully you see what I mean...

[Clive Brooker]

I always write the numbers down from right to left, so that I can later see at a glance whether what I've written down matches the board. An instruction like "please put the big ones one from the left and one from the right, and the small ones in the remaining spaces" might slow down an opponent who habitually writes down the numbers in the classical formation, and thereby extract an error.

[Gavin Chipper]

I'm sure I've seen big numbers on the opposite side from usual when an opponents have asked in a different order. "I'll have five from the second row, and one from the top." should do the job. The key may be to wait for Carol/Rachel to pick from your first row before you make your second announcement. You could also say "I'll have one from the top, four from the next row, and one from the top." This way should get the big numbers separated. Again, select slowly.

[Adam Dexter]

I've always wondered why the numbers can't be selected in the same way to the letters; that is, that each number should be seen before choosing the next. How much of an advantage would this give, given that the target is generated randomly anyway?

[Neil Zussman]

I've always wondered why the numbers can't be selected in the same way to the letters; that is, that each number should be seen before choosing the next. How much of an advantage would this give, given that the target is generated randomly anyway?

In the letters rounds, you can see the first 7 or so letters and then pick a vowel or consonant according to what you think will give you the longest word. In the numbers round, you can't see the target, so this wouldn't help- you may as well choose how many big numbers you want at the start, which would save time.

[Charlie Reams]

I've always wondered why the numbers can't be selected in the same way to the letters; that is, that each number should be seen before choosing the next. How much of an advantage would this give, given that the target is generated randomly anyway?

In the letters rounds, you can see the first 7 or so letters and then pick a vowel or consonant according to what you think will give you the longest word. In the numbers round, you can't see the target, so this wouldn't help- you may as well choose how many big numbers you want at the start, which would save time.

Hmm, it's conceivable there could be some mild advantage to picking numbers individually, at least if you're objective is to make the game easier; for example, a lot of players don't like 1 large if it's a 25, so you could pick a large first and, if it were 25, ask for another. Also if you were thinking of going for 6 small and, like me, you're a bit crap without a 10, you could ask for the first five small and then revert to 1 large if you hadn't seen a 10. There are probably other minor tweaks that one could make to match personal preferences. Nevertheless I think the current system is so much slicker that it compensates for the slight loss of tactics. In some ways I wish they'd adopt the same approach with the letters, at least for the first 7 (which are forced, albeit in some permutation, to be CCCCVVV) but I suspect changing something so visible would activate far too many Disgusteds of Tunbridge Wells.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"In some ways I wish they'd adopt the same approach with the letters, at least for the first 7 (which are forced, albeit in some permutation, to be CCCCVVV) but I suspect changing something so visible would activate far too many Disgusteds of Tunbridge Wells."

A good point - I wonder if the order of the letters on the screen makes a difference though (as was suggested for the numbers). I always wrote the letters in a circle, in an attempt not to get obsessed with the order they appeared and miss something longer. e.g. If you saw DESPOTIAN, you might be so pleased with 'despot' that you didn't notice 'pointed' or 'antipodes'.

But it is a good question - why are the numbers selected in one lump and the letters done individually?

[Clive Brooker]

Part of the reason will be that you can't do very much with the numbers (part from write them down) until you've seen the target.

At my audition, the targets were read out first, followed by the large numbers (if any), and finally the small. Being careful not to say anything that could be remotely helpful to anyone who might take the same audition, I can say that this made easy rounds even easier but had little effect with more difficult ones.