c4countdown

Gavin Chipper wrote:So if one were to pay £2.50 extra for the food, what is there?

We'll chip(per) in and buy you a steak if you come.

Jon Corby wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:So if one were to pay £2.50 extra for the food, what is there?

We'll chip(per) in and buy you a steak if you come.

I'm surprised Gev isn't a vegetarian. He seems like the sort of annoying whiny shit that would be.

EDIT: Also gev is veg backwards.

Matt Morrison wrote:

Jon Corby wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:So if one were to pay £2.50 extra for the food, what is there?

We'll chip(per) in and buy you a steak if you come.

I'm surprised Gev isn't a vegetarian. He seems like the sort of annoying whiny shit that would be.

EDIT: Also gev is veg backwards.

I was equally surprised that he was straight, given Gevin's "Gavin" phase.

Just got draft exam timetable. I've got Complex Analysis on the morning of COLIN. Guess I'm not coming

Jon O'Neill wrote:I was equally surprised that he was straight, given Gevin's "Gavin" phase.

Yeah, but by Matt's 'vegetarian' logic: Gav is vag backwards, which means he (only) eats vag. Which means he is definitely straight.

Yeah, 10 for artistic impression, 0 for technical merit on my joke.

Matt Morrison wrote:

Jon Corby wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:So if one were to pay £2.50 extra for the food, what is there?

We'll chip(per) in and buy you a steak if you come.

I'm surprised Gev isn't a vegetarian. He seems like the sort of annoying whiny shit that would be.

EDIT: Also gev is veg backwards.

Oh yeah, that's the other thing. Is there a vegetarian option?

Here's the menu for the day-

Main course

-Home-made stew w. a jacket potato
or
-vegetarian quiche

Dessert

-Home-made apple crumble w. custard
or
-Home-made trifle.

The cost is £2.50- you don't have to pay in advance but you will need to let me know in advance that you'll be wanting food. No pre-order=no lunch.

Presumably the apple crumble can come without custard?

Jon O'Neill wrote:Yeah, 10 for artistic impression, 0 for technical merit on my joke.

Fucking hell, that's just embarrassing. I hadn't even really read your post properly, I just saw the word 'straight' and dived in

Jon Corby wrote:

Jon O'Neill wrote:Yeah, 10 for artistic impression, 0 for technical merit on my joke.

Fucking hell, that's just embarrassing. I hadn't even really read your post properly, I just saw the word 'straight' and dived in

At least you explained my excellent joke to everybody else who didn't understand.

Jon O'Neill wrote:

Jon Corby wrote:

Jon O'Neill wrote:Yeah, 10 for artistic impression, 0 for technical merit on my joke.

Fucking hell, that's just embarrassing. I hadn't even really read your post properly, I just saw the word 'straight' and dived in

At least you explained my excellent joke to everybody else who didn't understand.

True. I'm happy to take that hit for you.

Ben Wilson wrote:Here's the menu for the day-

Main course

-Home-made stew w. a jacket potato
or
-vegetarian quiche

Dessert

-Home-made apple crumble w. custard
or
-Home-made trifle.

The cost is £2.50- you don't have to pay in advance but you will need to let me know in advance that you'll be wanting food. No pre-order=no lunch.

Not sure where we order but I'd like the stew and apple crumble please

Might give this a go actually. Good practice for when I go on a few days afterwards!

2 more for lunch please Ben

1 x Stew / Apple Crumble
1 x Stew / Trifle

Is there a bar at the venue?

Phil Collinge wrote:2 more for lunch please Ben

1 x Stew / Apple Crumble
1 x Stew / Trifle

Is there a bar at the venue?

Not at the venue but everyone will decamp there eventually/immediately after the event (it's at most a quarter of a mile down the road).

Stew and trifle please.

Dan McColm wrote:Might give this a go actually. Good practice for when I go on a few days afterwards!

That's exactly what I did - went to COLIN then recorded a couple of days after....and it worked as I won the series

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Dan McColm wrote:Might give this a go actually. Good practice for when I go on a few days afterwards!

That's exactly what I did - went to COLIN then recorded a couple of days after....and it worked as I won the series

You must have won that COLIN too then, surely?

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Dan McColm wrote:Might give this a go actually. Good practice for when I go on a few days afterwards!

That's exactly what I did - went to COLIN then recorded a couple of days after....and it worked as I won the series

Not expecting to win anything in all honesty - just going along 'cos I love Countdown quite a lot. And the fact everyone gets leathered afterwards. The girlfriend is not happy about me going to this - she'll be even less happy about the fact I'm recording on Valentine's day (if I win my first 2 games).

Dan McColm wrote:The girlfriend is not happy about me going to this

Bring her along. She might get asked to define words like "far".

Quite interested in coming to this, but will have to look into travel as I'm in Oxford and never been to Lincoln, can't drive. I know it's about a 2/3 hour drive, but no idea about whether it's accessible easily by train or bus. Any Oxonians on here to enlighten me?

Dan Abrey wrote:Quite interested in coming to this, but will have to look into travel as I'm in Oxford and never been to Lincoln, can't drive. I know it's about a 2/3 hour drive, but no idea about whether it's accessible easily by train or bus. Any Oxonians on here to enlighten me?

Dude, welcome to the Internet. There are tools for this.

P.S. 4 hours.

Dan Abrey wrote:Quite interested in coming to this, but will have to look into travel as I'm in Oxford and never been to Lincoln, can't drive. I know it's about a 2/3 hour drive, but no idea about whether it's accessible easily by train or bus. Any Oxonians on here to enlighten me?

You can get a train from Oxford train station to Lincoln Central at 6:31 on the 29th for £27 and then back to Oxford leaving Lincoln at 18:36 for a further £27 (£54 in total). It seems quite a fair bit of travel by train mainly because there are 3 changes on these ones but I reckon it could be bettered in terms of price and of course if you get yourself a railcard then it becomes a bit cheaper. That is just what I found on first looking and you'll probably be able to find cheaper.

Just realised I hadn't posted the itinerary in the actual thread yet, so better late than never:

Open 1000
Exhibition Game 1 1030
Exhibition game 2 1100
Round 1 1130
Lunch 1300
Round 2 1400
Round 3 1530
Prizegiving 1700

The prizegiving will be preceded by a final 9-round game if there are two unbeaten players on the day.

You may also have noticed that there are two exhibition games this year- as always, these are just fun little asides in which participation isn't mandatory (indeed, I don't mind it all that much if you rock up at 1129 as long as you're sat and ready to play at 1130) but will give a good warm-up for the day ahead.

Exhibition game 1 will be the same as last year- a 14-round (old finals format) game in which every round has a different variant... which will only be determined prior to the round starting. This year, to keep everything moving smoothly, everyone participating in the game will beforehand draw a number from 1-14 (or 1-14 and 'T.S.' if there are more than 14 players) and the player will draw the variant and the selection for that round (unless they have rounds 7 and 14, which are of course conundrums). The variants that might get played are:

Letters rounds

Standard, Hyper, Junior, Goat, Hypergoat, Junior Goat, Touch, Hypertouch, Junior Touch, Unlimited, Hyper Unlimited, Junior Unlimited, Lock (played at COLIN 2010 in which the final letter in the selection must be used in the word declared), Hyperlock, Junior Lock, Blind, Hyperblind, Junior Blind, Goatblind, Touchblind, Omelette, Hyper Omelette, Aegilops, Spoilage, French, German.

Numbers rounds

Standard, Hyper, Junior, Touch, Hypertouch, Junior Touch, Nasty, Blind, Hyperblind, Junior Blind, Nasty Blind, Omelette, Hyper Omelette (as you'd imagine it to be), Omelette Blind, Aegilops, Spoilage, Funky.

Conundrums

Standard, Hyper, Junior, Touch, Hypertouch, Junior Touch, Goat, Hypergoat, Junior Goat, Nasty, Hypernasty, Junior Nasty, Blind, Hyperblind, Junior Blind, Omelette, Hyper Omelette (again, as you'd imagine it to be), Aegilops, Spoilage.

Exhibition game 2 will be quite different from #1 though. As I couldn't figure out any way to shoehorn Dogfight (the only missing variant) into game 1, I decided that game 2 will be a free-for-all dogfight battle. The scoring will be winners only, the format will be LLLN repeating, and everyone will start with three lives. The last man standing will be declared the winner and will net themselves a little spot prize.

...But the spot prizes don't end there. Just before the start of round 1, everyone will receive a complementary magazine- produced by yours truly- that will contain various puzzles and games, including all the unused conundrums from exhibition game 1, a 'keyword' puzzle and a special countdown-flavoured maze. It'll also have the specially-penned 'history of COLIN' which I spent literally minutes writing, as well as photos and memories of all COLINs past. Each challenge included in the mag will have a special little spot prize attached to it.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Genuine request.
If anyone is prepared to give me a lift from either London or Milton Keynes (i will pay half or indeed all of petrol costs) then I WILL DEFINITELY BE GOING.
PM me if you are willing to give us a lift (better PM me or you might be ostracized lol)

If anybody wants to buy a 2011 calendar off me for £5 then I'll bring one down. I got 2 for Christmas as I'm such a predictable boring bastard and that's all they could find Countdown related.

Ha, I got one of those too, and last year as well. Worried its going to be a perpetual stocking filler now.

Kirk Bevins wrote:If anybody wants to buy a 2011 calendar off me for £5 then I'll bring one down. I got 2 for Christmas as I'm such a predictable boring bastard and that's all they could find Countdown related.

Chuck it on ebay

Marc Meakin wrote: Chuck it on ebay

I gave my last one to Tom Rowell for free to help him on TV. This time I fancy a bit of cash for it though

With people travelling a long distance to play Countdown then they clearly like the programme so I'm sure someone will chuck me a fiver for it. Think they cost like £9.99. Ben, wanna buy it for a spot prize?

Previously I couldn't come to colin because it interfered with my mensa test but they have since changed the date so I can come if my parents will take me. Which is likelyish. Watch this space.

Ben Wilson wrote:Evening all

Entries are now open for COLIN 2011- the seventh annual COLIN, and shaping up to be the biggest and the best yet! The format will be unchanged- everyone plays six games of 9-round Countdown and hosts three more- but the surroundings this year are different. St. Hugh's- COLIN's home since 2007- is unavailable, so for 2011 COLIN will be at the Memorial Hall on Newark Road in North Hykeham, which is just down the road from the post-COLIN pub, something I'm sure everyone will appreciate!

There'll be prizes for the top 5 as always, with two additional 'ratings' prizes and a couple of extra-silly spot prizes, more of which will be revealed later...

The itinerary is unchanged from last year- game 1 kicks off at 11:30, then we have some lunch, then play through until about 5:30 when I give out the prizes and everyone goes and gets hammered. The hall will be open from 9:00 though, so there'll be plenty of opportunity for impromptu warm-up games as well as the 'official' exhibition match, which this year will have a bit of a twist to it...

As always, entry will be a mere £8, payable in advance either by paypal to hulla.mahulla@btopenworld.com or by cheque to my home address (available upon request).

Hope to see you all in January!

BJW
COLIN 2011 facebook event page

Current list of paid-up entrants:

Charlie Reams
Jon O'Neill
Kirk Bevins
Paul Howe
James Robinson
Matt Bayfield
Ryan Taylor
Richard Priest
Kai Laddiman
Jon Corby
Mike Brown
Lee Fisher
Jim Bentley
Matt Morrison
Heather Badcock
Rob Foster
Phil Collinge
Supee Juachan
Josh Hurst
Stewart Gordon


Total: 20

Sorry, I am unable to come to the COLIN thing. Might come to the next one. When is the next one, do you know, and where is it?

Soph K wrote:Sorry, I am unable to come to the COLIN thing. Might come to the next one. When is the next one, do you know, and where is it?

The next one afterwards is likely to be London some time in Spring, organised by Raccoon Boy (?) Michael Wallace. It'll get a brief mention at COLIN, followed by a longer one if Michael himself attends.

Pretty certain I'll be going now (Sophie was wrong and doesn't seem to want to play anyway) but can I just ask if you need to pay if you're just standing around watching (i.e. there but not playing)?

Also I have a laptop and can take it if you want, however at present I do not have an OED3 nor Countdown board game. Would this be a major problem?

Joseph

Joseph Krol wrote:Pretty certain I'll be going now (Sophie was wrong and doesn't seem to want to play anyway) but can I just ask if you need to pay if you're just standing around watching (i.e. there but not playing)?

Also I have a laptop and can take it if you want, however at present I do not have an OED3 nor Countdown board game. Would this be a major problem?

Joseph

I am now definitely going and to clarify I am definitely playing. Just asking in case my family members want to watch me being pwned by the +2000s/beat people unspectacularly/anything else that could happen.

Joseph Krol wrote:Pretty certain I'll be going now (Sophie was wrong and doesn't seem to want to play anyway) but can I just ask if you need to pay if you're just standing around watching (i.e. there but not playing)?

Also I have a laptop and can take it if you want, however at present I do not have an OED3 nor Countdown board game. Would this be a major problem?

Joseph

If you could bring the stuff it'd be useful but not essential if space is at a premium. I've got 9 board games of my own so will only need a couple more bringing- ODEs are what are most needed.

Ben Wilson wrote:

Joseph Krol wrote:Pretty certain I'll be going now (Sophie was wrong and doesn't seem to want to play anyway) but can I just ask if you need to pay if you're just standing around watching (i.e. there but not playing)?

Also I have a laptop and can take it if you want, however at present I do not have an OED3 nor Countdown board game. Would this be a major problem?

Joseph

If you could bring the stuff it'd be useful but not essential if space is at a premium. I've got 9 board games of my own so will only need a couple more bringing- ODEs are what are most needed.

Might be able to get an ODE (unlikely as my local WHSmiths do not stock it)

Joseph Krol wrote:

Ben Wilson wrote:

Joseph Krol wrote:Pretty certain I'll be going now (Sophie was wrong and doesn't seem to want to play anyway) but can I just ask if you need to pay if you're just standing around watching (i.e. there but not playing)?

Also I have a laptop and can take it if you want, however at present I do not have an OED3 nor Countdown board game. Would this be a major problem?

Joseph

If you could bring the stuff it'd be useful but not essential if space is at a premium. I've got 9 board games of my own so will only need a couple more bringing- ODEs are what are most needed.

Might be able to get an ODE (unlikely as my local WHSmiths do not stock it)

Don't worry about buying one specifically for this, I'll bring mine (hopefully) and I'm sure a couple of other people will

Has it actually been decided if we are using the ODE3, or sticking with the ODE2r

I have the dictionary that you get in the lucky bag from Countdown. I'm guessing that's the right one? It comes in two parts though which fucking sucks.

Presumably it's not too late to pay up for this. I was going to do this a couple of weeks ago, but then I had a look at the trains and stuff and Lincoln might as well be Scotland. I'd probably have to stay over on the Friday and if I also stayed over on Saturday I'd have to deal with the AIDS Sunday service on the way back. So I'm still thinking about it.

Ryan Taylor wrote:I have the dictionary that you get in the lucky bag from Countdown. I'm guessing that's the right one? It comes in two parts though which fucking sucks.

I got that one too, I think. Is it the SOED? If so I don't think it's the same as ODE2r, but I'm not quite sure.

Kai Laddiman wrote:

Ryan Taylor wrote:I have the dictionary that you get in the lucky bag from Countdown. I'm guessing that's the right one? It comes in two parts though which fucking sucks.

I got that one too, I think. Is it the SOED? If so I don't think it's the same as ODE2r, but I'm not quite sure.

It definitely says shorter on the box. I'm sure it will still have words in it (and lots of them).

Gavin Chipper wrote:Presumably it's not too late to pay up for this. I was going to do this a couple of weeks ago, but then I had a look at the trains and stuff and Lincoln might as well be Scotland. I'd probably have to stay over on the Friday and if I also stayed over on Saturday I'd have to deal with the AIDS Sunday service on the way back. So I'm still thinking about it.

There's still time. I'd ask where you were coming from so I could have an idea of what transport services to recommend but I should know better than that by now.

As for the dictionaries, I've said all along I'll be following apterous's lead. If that switches over to ODE3, there will be a very hasty appeal for people to bring along copies to the event. Otherwise, good old ODE2r it is.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Presumably it's not too late to pay up for this. I was going to do this a couple of weeks ago, but then I had a look at the trains and stuff and Lincoln might as well be Scotland. I'd probably have to stay over on the Friday and if I also stayed over on Saturday I'd have to deal with the AIDS Sunday service on the way back. So I'm still thinking about it.

Edit: Joke fail.

What's happening about the conundrums? Do we make our own or what?

The SOED is a rather different animal than the ODE, being heavier on historical information. Although it does flag obsolete words, you shouldn't rely on it for adjudicating the validity of words offered.
ODE3 (which I haven't seen yet) will presumably include changes of usage since the previous edition, so apart from any new words, there may be hyphens lost, or 1 vs. 2 word alterations. (Is FLASHCUBE now two words )

Joseph Krol wrote:What's happening about the conundrums? Do we make our own or what?

Ben sorts it all out.

For ease of recap construction, would anyone like me to design a recap form for COLIN? Will print off as many as people ask for, and will email them to you for doing them at home. Depending on demand, you may or may not be required to give me donations.

Joseph Krol wrote:For ease of recap construction, would anyone like me to design a recap form for COLIN? Will print off as many as people ask for, and will email them to you for doing them at home. Depending on demand, you may or may not be required to give me donations.

Just finished doing this. The final design uses pictures from the Countdwon Page, hope that no-one is annoyed.

Joseph Krol wrote:

Joseph Krol wrote:For ease of recap construction, would anyone like me to design a recap form for COLIN? Will print off as many as people ask for, and will email them to you for doing them at home. Depending on demand, you may or may not be required to give me donations.

Just finished doing this. The final design uses pictures from the Countdwon Page, hope that no-one is annoyed.

How good do you think I'll do at COLIN?

Joseph Krol wrote:How good do you think I'll do at COLIN?

Not very.

Ryan Taylor wrote:

Joseph Krol wrote:How good do you think I'll do at COLIN?

Not very.

Looking at the attendees, I'm sorry to say that's probably true.

Joseph Krol wrote:

Ryan Taylor wrote:

Joseph Krol wrote:How good do you think I'll do at COLIN?

Not very.

Looking at the attendees, I'm sorry to say that's probably true.

I was only joking by the way. Enjoying the day is the main thing. Leave the competitive stuff to Kirk.

I'm practising specifically so people don't think that I'm a failure. lol

The last man standing will be declared the winner and will net themselves a little spot prize.

And how do you know that it will be a man? Could be a woman, an unborn foetus, a ladyboy, a gay, a transsexual, a bi, a squirrel, a dog, a cat, or Caliban from the Tempest.

And does that mean that if you sit dwon to play you cannot win?

Seriously though, I hope to get there for the first exhibition game as it seems great fun to play, which by extension means that I hope to be there for the second.

Joseph Krol wrote:I hope to get there for the first exhibition game as it seems great fun to play, which by extension means that I hope to be there for the second.

Just to confirm, so that Ben can be sure, will you remain there for Round 1, Lunch, Rounds 2 and 3, and then the Prizegiving?

Matt Morrison wrote:

Joseph Krol wrote:I hope to get there for the first exhibition game as it seems great fun to play, which by extension means that I hope to be there for the second.

Just to confirm, so that Ben can be sure, will you remain there for Round 1, Lunch, Rounds 2 and 3, and then the Prizegiving?

I'm bringing my own lunch but yes.

Is there wi-fi at the venue?

Is there any question I haven't asked yet?

Is there an exceptionally kind person out there who would be able to give me a lift from Newark North Gate station (or somewhere nearby) to North Hykeham at about 10am on the 29th? It's only about 20 minutes away, so hopefully it shouldn't be too much of a detour, and we should still be in time for all exhibition games. The trains are all at the wrong times...
Please PM me asap!