Page 27 of 30
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 10:09 pm
by Johnny Canuck
How big is the biggest group of people such that everyone in it has played everyone else in an Apterous game at least once?
Have any groups of three or more people done the same thing on televised Countdown?
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 2:08 am
by Thomas Carey
Johnny Canuck wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 10:09 pm
How big is the biggest group of people such that everyone in it has played everyone else in an Apterous game at least once?
Have any groups of three or more people done the same thing on televised Countdown?
One I can immediate think of is Briggs, Moloney and Bursford from my series alone. I feel like there may be some 4s if you look at coc and stuff (two of my above three played Jonathan Wynn, so swap him out with Judy for a different three), but I wouldn't be too surprised if 3 is best
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:25 am
by Ben Wilson
Travers, O'Neil, Worsley is another one.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 2:43 am
by Jack Worsley
I've thought about this before but never publicly asked. Tournoff, Gallen and Travers is another one that springs to mind. Add Matthew Shore to the mix and you get very close to a four, but sadly he never played Gallen. Also Carson, Davies and Bevins if specials count.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 7:21 am
by JackHurst
Jack Worsley wrote: ↑Mon Sep 20, 2021 2:43 am
I've thought about this before but never publicly asked. Tournoff, Gallen and Travers is another one that springs to mind. Add Matthew Shore to the mix and you get very close to a four, but sadly he never played Gallen. Also Carson, Davies and Bevins if specials count.
Nice. Conor is involved in another 3 with myself and Chris Will too.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 10:54 am
by Gavin Chipper
I think the impressiveness goes up pretty quickly with number. Three sounds pretty ordinary, and yet no fours have been found yet. Five and it would make the news.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2021 6:42 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Jun 14, 2021 7:04 pm
Gloria Hunniford is 81. Who are the oldest and youngest DC guests? It seems that at one point at least, Gabby Logan/Yorath was the
youngest ever female guest.
Stanley Johnson is also 81 at the time of airing his episodes (though clearly 80 during filming as he "forgot" he'd had his birthday).
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2021 10:23 am
by Rhys Benjamin
In terms of rounds remaining, what is the earliest a game has been mathematically won?
(and obviously, this needs to be per format.)
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2021 2:45 pm
by Patrick Thompson
Apologies if already done but who has the highest max percentage when picking 6 small (min of 10 games)?
And same question for 4 large.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 10:50 am
by Graeme Cole
Carl Harrison wrote: ↑Wed Jun 16, 2021 2:38 pm
What are the highest and lowest total "max" scores from an 8-game consecutive run during heats (in the 15-round era). Not necessarily looking at just the record from octochamps runs, but any consecutive set of 8 games.
There was a bit of a discussion around this in the "1000 club" thread - the max score available from Luke Boynton's 8 games in the current series was 1149, which would be the 3rd highest max ever available from an Mocktorun on Apterous - so it would be interesting to see how this compares with the history of the show, and show how much variability there is in the maximum score available over 8 games depending on when you happen to appear. (Although I presume the averages have been moving up over time, particularly post-2016 when the large dictionary update came in)
This includes all 15-rounder heat games up to the end of series 83.
Old 15 rounder:
The lowest max from any eight consecutive games was 941, in the eight-game runs ending with episodes 3093, 3097, 3103, 3138, 3142, 3143, 3145, 3155, 3194, 3195, 3196, 3362, 3363, 3365, 3366, 5020, 5021 and 5025.
The highest max from any eight consecutive games was 1110, in the eight-game run ending with
episode 3111.
Modern 15 rounder:
The lowest max from any eight consecutive games was 978, in the eight-game runs ending with episodes 5673, 5685, 5686, 5830, 5831, 6089 and 6134.
The highest max from any eight consecutive games was 1200, in the eight-game run ending with
episode 7492.
Through the return of the now rather ancient graph generator, we can see how the average max per game (in this case for all games, not just heats) has changed since the introduction of the old 15-round format in series 46...
Countdown started using ODO in series 71. I'm not sure exactly when significant numbers of new words were added to ODO, but looking at the graph I'm guessing it was around series 73. The shift from the old 15 rounder to the modern 15 rounder in series 68 might have had a small effect on maxes, but every series since series 73 has had a higher average max than any series before then.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:01 am
by Graeme Cole
Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:47 pm
Not really sure what I'm asking here but - teatime teasers. I'm part of the 8-9-8 gang - I had 8 letter teasers on my original series, 9 letters in my CoC and 8 letters in my Christmas special. I can't imagine there's too many people who've gone 8-9-8 (I'm the only one of the six who played the Christmas specials) - am I the only one?
Are there any other people who've played in 3 different eras of teatime teaser? Has anyone done more than 3?
(The dates for the 'eras' of TTT can be found here if it helps
https://wiki.apterous.org/Teatime_Teaser )
Nobody has played in more than three "eras" of TTT.
If you count the time before series 46, where there were no teasers, as a separate "era", twelve people have played in three: Ann Dibben, Martin Hurst, Kate Ogilvie, Andrew Fenton, Amey Deshpande, Andrew Hulme, Bruce Lambert, Graham Nash, David Williams, Ian Volante, Martyn Simpson and Thomas Carey.
If you don't count the teaserless era at all, there are only three who have been in three separate eras: Ian Volante, Martyn Simpson and Thomas Carey.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:08 am
by Graeme Cole
Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 1:43 pm
Most disallowed words total by both contestants in
a) any game
b) any non-prelim game
c) across all seven games in a series finals?
Asking because, hoo boy, the series 83 finals have a lot.
(a)
Episode 5499 had 10 disallowed words.
(b)
Episode 7534 (series 83 QF) had 7 disallowed words.
(c) The
Series 61 and
Series 83 finals each had 16 disallowed words in total.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:03 pm
by Graeme Cole
Jack Worsley wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 7:30 pm
Great to see this is still going. A couple relating to my Christmas special against Conor:
First of all, every letters round in our game contained nine distinct letters. Has this ever happened before or since in any format?
The second question relates to teatime teasers, so I'm not sure if it's answerable from your database, but here it is anyway. The second TTT in our special was the same as the second in my fourth heat, in terms of the scramble and the answer, although the clue was slightly different. Has any other contestant had the same TTT answer (would be cool if they were the same scramble and clue too but not essential) in different episodes?
Old 15 round games where every selection contained nine distinct letters: Episodes 3104, 3106, 3120, 3168 and 3814.
Modern 15 round games where every selection contained nine distinct letters: Episodes 7355, 7372, 7396, 7448, 7473, 7477, 7498 and (your game against Conor) S49.
The database shows me 30 occurrences in the 9-round era, but it would naturally have been more likely with only six letters rounds. Also, this might be affected by incomplete game details in some early series.
These occurrences seem highly clustered. All but one of the old-15 occurrences were in series 46 and 47, and all the modern-15 occurrences were in series 82 and 83. Perhaps there were some short-lived changes to the shuffling strategy around then?
The database doesn't store teasers so I can't answer the second part.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:07 pm
by Graeme Cole
JackHurst wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 9:02 pm
I believe the highest score in the series finals just finished was 101. i.e among all of the 7 games making up the finals, 101 was the highest score.
Is 101 the lowest highest score from a series finals? If not which series had lower?
Series 46, 58 and 83 had a highest finals score of 101, but
Series 53 beats them with a highest finals score of 100.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:17 pm
by Graeme Cole
Fiona T wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 12:46 am
With no intention of detracting from his awesome win, Adam Latchford became series [83] champ without declaring a valid 9 in either his prelims or finals! Is he the only one?
No. This was very common in the 9-round game, and in 15-round Countdown, Ben Wilson, Nick Wainwright and Adam Latchford all won their series without having previously declared a valid 9.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:19 pm
by Graeme Cole
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 6:21 am
What is the percentage of not written down declarations?
Which contestant had the most during an octorun?
Has anybody completed an octorun without any not written down declarations?
Neither the database nor the wiki records whether a contestant's word or numbers solution wasn't written down. This is only recorded if they didn't declare not written down and their declaration was disallowed because of it.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:35 pm
by Graeme Cole
JackHurst wrote: ↑Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:18 pm
On average, what letters max % do players achieve?
1) Across all players from the past 10 series?
2) In series Heats (lets say in the last 10 series)?
3) Non series finalists from the last 10 series?
I'm assuming "max %" means the number of letters points scored by the player in a game divided by the number of letters points available in the game, times 100, and not something like "percentage of letters rounds maxed".
1) 58.0%, considering all performances in all games in series 74-83.
2) 57.3%, considering all performances in prelim games in series 74-83.
3) 50.9%, considering all performances by players in prelim games in series 74-83 who did not appear in a finals match in any of those series.
By comparison, the average letters max % for those series in only the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals is 70.6%. The individual figures for only quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals respectively are 65.6%, 75.3% and 81.1%.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:50 pm
by Graeme Cole
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 7:36 am
What do the stats say about the letter shuffling this series? I think the selections have been awful, with about 34 of the same vowel coming out consecutively on at least 9 occasions.
The average max per game so far in series 84 has been 132.88, so according to
this graph it's closer to series 73-80 than to the heights of the last three series.
Point for discussion: we already know that purely random shuffling would give you more duplicate letters than we actually see on Apterous and Countdown. When we say selections are "awful", do we mean "selections where the max is low, or where the only words of length six or more are really obscure" or do we mean "selections with a reasonable max using non-obscure words, but which we're not used to seeing on Apterous"?
Case in point: consider the ZoomDown selection from
round 11 of game 1 the other day, RSROEECIR. With the three Rs, it doesn't look like the "friendliest" of selections, but the maxes are ORRERIES and SORCERER, of which at least the latter is not an obscure word. We might say that SORCERER is difficult to spot, but do we say that because it's inherently difficult to unscramble or just because we're so used to Apterous-style shuffling that we don't see that kind of selection very often? Perhaps this needs its own thread to itself.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:57 pm
by Matt Morrison
It's Sunday and the Church of Cole is in session.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 1:28 pm
by Graeme Cole
Adam Latchford wrote: ↑Thu Aug 19, 2021 1:26 pm
Might seem like a boring one but I saw this the other day...
Series 83 February had someone who made the finals on every single episode. Has this ever happened before?
How many back to back octochamps have their ever been?
May 2020 also had no contestants who didn't make the finals, but
there was only one new episode in it. The same goes for July 2005, whose only episode was the
series 53 final.
July 2002,
June 2013 (albeit containing the series 68 finals and a gap of a week) and
May 2014 also had every episode featuring at least one series finalist.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 1:28 pm
by Graeme Cole
Johnny Canuck wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 11:27 pm
Adam Latchford wrote: ↑Thu Aug 19, 2021 1:26 pmHow many back to back octochamps have their ever been?
Unless it's been beaten since, it was three (Adam Rolston, Tony Manwani and Dave Ashton) in Series 79.
This hasn't been beaten since then.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 1:54 pm
by Graeme Cole
Johnny Canuck wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 10:09 pm
How big is the biggest group of people such that everyone in it has played everyone else in an Apterous game at least once?
Have any groups of three or more people done the same thing on televised Countdown?
I can't answer the Apterous question, but on Countdown, these 3-cliques (to borrow the
graph theory term) are far more common than I expected. There are 98 sets of three players A, B, C where A has played B, B has played C and C has played A on any televised episode of Countdown. These 98 sets are all different but they're not all disjoint - in other words, some players appear in multiple sets.
For example, Mark Tournoff, Conor Travers and Matthew Shore are one 3-clique and Mark Tournoff, Conor Travers and Paul Howe are another. Paul Howe and Matthew Shore have never played each other, but if they did, it would make a 4-clique.
Perhaps surprisingly given the number of 3-cliques, there is no set of 4 players all of whom have played each other on Countdown.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 2:18 pm
by Graeme Cole
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 3:25 pm
by Graeme Cole
Patrick Thompson wrote: ↑Wed Oct 06, 2021 2:45 pm
Apologies if already done but who has the highest max percentage when picking 6 small (min of 10 games)?
And same question for 4 large.
I've assumed that by "10 games" you mean "minimum 10 numbers rounds".
6 small:
If "max percentage" means "number of 6-small rounds where the player got the closest possible to the target, as a percentage of number of 6-small rounds faced", Dylan Taylor takes it, having maxed all 15 of the 6-small rounds he faced.
If "max percentage" means "number of points scored on 6 small rounds, as a percentage of the number of points available on 6 small rounds", Chris Cummins and Dylan Taylor both have 100%.
I've put the top 10s here, partly to give more information but mainly so I appear in an answer again:
Code: Select all
6 small (maxed rounds / available rounds)
NAME ROUNDS MAXED %
Dylan Taylor 15 15 100.0
Chris Cummins 15 14 93.3
Dinos Sfyris 13 12 92.3
Jonathan Liew 20 17 85.0
Zarte Siempre 11 9 81.8
Nick Wainwright 14 11 78.6
Graeme Cole 16 12 75.0
Jack Welsby 15 11 73.3
Gavin Rogers 11 8 72.7
Tom Chafer-Cook 10 7 70.0
Code: Select all
6 small (points scored / available points)
NAME ROUNDS SCORED MAX %
Chris Cummins 15 134 134 100.0
Dylan Taylor 15 141 141 100.0
Zarte Siempre 11 104 110 94.5
Stephen Mellor 12 105 114 92.1
Graeme Cole 16 132 151 87.4
Scott Mearns 10 83 97 85.6
Gavin Rogers 11 91 107 85.0
Bradley Horrocks 23 183 218 83.9
Dinos Sfyris 13 104 124 83.9
Richard Saldanha 11 81 97 83.5
4 large:
Code: Select all
4 large (maxed rounds / available rounds)
NAME ROUNDS MAXED %
Jack Worsley 14 13 92.9
George Ford 21 19 90.5
Andy Platt 24 21 87.5
Dan McColm 12 10 83.3
Jon O'Neill 18 15 83.3
Thomas Cappleman 21 17 81.0
Martyn Simpson 13 10 76.9
David O'Donnell 20 15 75.0
Jonathan Rawlinson 11 8 72.7
Noel McIlvenny 22 16 72.7
Code: Select all
4 large (points scored / available points)
NAME ROUNDS SCORED MAX %
Jack Worsley 14 134 137 97.8
George Ford 21 204 210 97.1
Jon O'Neill 18 168 177 94.9
Thomas Cappleman 21 190 201 94.5
David O'Donnell 20 180 194 92.8
Andy Platt 24 207 225 92.0
Ned Pendleton 10 91 100 91.0
James Haughton 20 168 185 90.8
Laurence Killen 10 88 97 90.7
Mark Deeks 10 88 97 90.7
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 9:01 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:50 pm
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 7:36 am
What do the stats say about the letter shuffling this series? I think the selections have been awful, with about 34 of the same vowel coming out consecutively on at least 9 occasions.
The average max per game so far in series 84 has been 132.88, so according to
this graph it's closer to series 73-80 than to the heights of the last three series.
Point for discussion: we already know that purely random shuffling would give you more duplicate letters than we actually see on Apterous and Countdown. When we say selections are "awful", do we mean "selections where the max is low, or where the only words of length six or more are really obscure" or do we mean "selections with a reasonable max using non-obscure words, but which we're not used to seeing on Apterous"?
Case in point: consider the ZoomDown selection from
round 11 of game 1 the other day, RSROEECIR. With the three Rs, it doesn't look like the "friendliest" of selections, but the maxes are ORRERIES and SORCERER, of which at least the latter is not an obscure word. We might say that SORCERER is difficult to spot, but do we say that because it's inherently difficult to unscramble or just because we're so used to Apterous-style shuffling that we don't see that kind of selection very often? Perhaps this needs its own thread to itself.
Some good work from you in this thread!
On the awful selections thing - I would tend to say a selection is awful even if it has a good max (like 8 or 9) but it's hard to spot and the next best is 5. But in terms of comparing the selections across series, I don't think such subjective judgements matter that much. "Awful" selections tend to produce lower maxes even if the odd one doesn't, so it will average out. If the average max across a whole series is significantly lower than in another series, the chances are that the selections are worse by pretty much all metrics.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 9:02 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 3:25 pm
6 small:
If "max percentage" means "number of 6-small rounds where the player got the closest possible to the target, as a percentage of number of 6-small rounds faced", Dylan Taylor takes it, having maxed all 15 of the 6-small rounds he faced.
Closest possible to the target - Graeme has maxed getting the correct definition of what a max round is.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 9:08 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 2:18 pm
Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Wed Oct 06, 2021 10:23 am
In terms of rounds remaining, what is the earliest a game has been mathematically won?
(and obviously, this needs to be per format.)
9 rounder: 15 episodes were won on round 6 (3 rounds and 38 points remaining).
...
Old 15 rounder: Two episodes were won on round 10 (5 rounds and 74 points remaining).
...
Modern 15 rounder: 13 episodes have been won on round 10 (5 rounds and 74 points remaining), up to the end of series 83.
I suppose the next question is - what's the closest it's been to 1 round earlier? E.g. in the modern 15-rounder, you'd need a 92-point lead (I think) to win it after round 9. What's the biggest lead anyone's had?
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:34 pm
by Thomas Carey
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 10:50 am
Carl Harrison wrote: ↑Wed Jun 16, 2021 2:38 pm
What are the highest and lowest total "max" scores from an 8-game consecutive run during heats (in the 15-round era). Not necessarily looking at just the record from octochamps runs, but any consecutive set of 8 games.
There was a bit of a discussion around this in the "1000 club" thread - the max score available from Luke Boynton's 8 games in the current series was 1149, which would be the 3rd highest max ever available from an Mocktorun on Apterous - so it would be interesting to see how this compares with the history of the show, and show how much variability there is in the maximum score available over 8 games depending on when you happen to appear. (Although I presume the averages have been moving up over time, particularly post-2016 when the large dictionary update came in)
This includes all 15-rounder heat games up to the end of series 83.
Old 15 rounder:
The lowest max from any eight consecutive games was 941, in the eight-game runs ending with episodes 3093, 3097, 3103, 3138, 3142, 3143, 3145, 3155, 3194, 3195, 3196, 3362, 3363, 3365, 3366, 5020, 5021 and 5025.
The highest max from any eight consecutive games was 1110, in the eight-game run ending with
episode 3111.
Modern 15 rounder:
The lowest max from any eight consecutive games was 978, in the eight-game runs ending with episodes 5673, 5685, 5686, 5830, 5831, 6089 and 6134.
The highest max from any eight consecutive games was 1200, in the eight-game run ending with
episode 7492.
Through the return of the now rather ancient graph generator, we can see how the average max per game (in this case for all games, not just heats) has changed since the introduction of the old 15-round format in series 46...
Countdown started using ODO in series 71. I'm not sure exactly when significant numbers of new words were added to ODO, but looking at the graph I'm guessing it was around series 73. The shift from the old 15 rounder to the modern 15 rounder in series 68 might have had a small effect on maxes, but every series since series 73 has had a higher average max than any series before then.
Yeah it was the middle of series 73 - my octorun was the last 8 games before the influx
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2021 7:44 am
by Adam Latchford
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:08 am
Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 1:43 pm
Most disallowed words total by both contestants in
a) any game
b) any non-prelim game
c) across all seven games in a series finals?
Asking because, hoo boy, the series 83 finals have a lot.
(a)
Episode 5499 had 10 disallowed words.
(b)
Episode 7534 (series 83 QF) had 7 disallowed words.
(c) The
Series 61 and
Series 83 finals each had 16 disallowed words in total.
yaaaaaaas highest amount of disallowed words in a non pre lim record holder, that's going straight on my fridge
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2021 11:43 am
by Ian Volante
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:01 am
Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:47 pm
Not really sure what I'm asking here but - teatime teasers. I'm part of the 8-9-8 gang - I had 8 letter teasers on my original series, 9 letters in my CoC and 8 letters in my Christmas special. I can't imagine there's too many people who've gone 8-9-8 (I'm the only one of the six who played the Christmas specials) - am I the only one?
Are there any other people who've played in 3 different eras of teatime teaser? Has anyone done more than 3?
(The dates for the 'eras' of TTT can be found here if it helps
https://wiki.apterous.org/Teatime_Teaser )
If you don't count the teaserless era at all, there are only three who have been in three separate eras: Ian Volante, Martyn Simpson and Thomas Carey.
At last, I'm almost unique!
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2021 10:31 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 10:50 am
Carl Harrison wrote: ↑Wed Jun 16, 2021 2:38 pm
What are the highest and lowest total "max" scores from an 8-game consecutive run during heats (in the 15-round era). Not necessarily looking at just the record from octochamps runs, but any consecutive set of 8 games.
There was a bit of a discussion around this in the "1000 club" thread - the max score available from Luke Boynton's 8 games in the current series was 1149, which would be the 3rd highest max ever available from an Mocktorun on Apterous - so it would be interesting to see how this compares with the history of the show, and show how much variability there is in the maximum score available over 8 games depending on when you happen to appear. (Although I presume the averages have been moving up over time, particularly post-2016 when the large dictionary update came in)
This includes all 15-rounder heat games up to the end of series 83.
Old 15 rounder:
The lowest max from any eight consecutive games was 941, in the eight-game runs ending with episodes 3093, 3097, 3103, 3138, 3142, 3143, 3145, 3155, 3194, 3195, 3196, 3362, 3363, 3365, 3366, 5020, 5021 and 5025.
The highest max from any eight consecutive games was 1110, in the eight-game run ending with
episode 3111.
Modern 15 rounder:
The lowest max from any eight consecutive games was 978, in the eight-game runs ending with episodes 5673, 5685, 5686, 5830, 5831, 6089 and 6134.
The highest max from any eight consecutive games was 1200, in the eight-game run ending with
episode 7492.
This used to be a stat on the Countdown database thing (cdb) but I'm not sure that still exists. And by one of the biggest coincidences of all time, the 8 games starting with Helen Grayson's run
had the lowest max in the 9-round era. A coincidence because she also had the highest percentage of the max score in any heat run in the 9-round era. The lack of available max score might have actually made it easier to score a higher percentage of the max, but the coincidence rating doesn't fall a great deal even when you take that into account.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2021 10:42 am
by JackHurst
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:35 pm
JackHurst wrote: ↑Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:18 pm
On average, what letters max % do players achieve?
1) Across all players from the past 10 series?
2) In series Heats (lets say in the last 10 series)?
3) Non series finalists from the last 10 series?
I'm assuming "max %" means the number of letters points scored by the player in a game divided by the number of letters points available in the game, times 100, and not something like "percentage of letters rounds maxed".
1) 58.0%, considering all performances in all games in series 74-83.
2) 57.3%, considering all performances in prelim games in series 74-83.
3) 50.9%, considering all performances by players in prelim games in series 74-83 who did not appear in a finals match in any of those series.
By comparison, the average letters max % for those series in only the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals is 70.6%. The individual figures for only quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals respectively are 65.6%, 75.3% and 81.1%.
I was actually asking for % of rounds maxed. The reason I ask is because when I build a stats section in my app, I want a benchmark of % letters rounds maxed to tell the user they are probably good enough to apply for the show.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2021 10:25 pm
by Rhys Benjamin
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 10:31 pm
This used to be a stat on the Countdown database thing (cdb) but I'm not sure that still exists.
It should be here:
http://cdb.apterous.org/octomax.php - the links are still up under octochamps and everything - but it's fubared.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2021 8:50 pm
by Sam Cappleman-Lynes
In how many games have there been more vowels than consonants picked in total across all letters rounds?
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 8:38 pm
by Thomas Carey
Thanks for all your answers!
Inspired by him being on a repeat of the celebrity chase right now - I've had Jon Culshaw as a DC guest for two separate 'runs' - my first 3 heats, and then my CoC QF. How many people have had some DC guest for more than one run? Has anyone had the same guest three separate times, or more than two guests at least twice?
By 'run' I'm going to go with a time that a guest was in DC with no different guest in between, rather than individual filming days as I know some guests have filmed multiple days in a row for whatever reason.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 9:48 pm
by Carl Harrison
Sam Cappleman-Lynes wrote: ↑Thu Oct 14, 2021 8:50 pm
In how many games have there been more vowels than consonants picked in total across all letters rounds?
I'd hazard a strong guess that surely there has never been a TV game where every single letters round has had 5 vowels. (Perhaps back in the day you were allowed 6 vowels, but I still can't believe vowels would have outnumbered consonants in any match.)
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 9:51 pm
by Carl Harrison
Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 8:38 pm
Thanks for all your answers!
Inspired by him being on a repeat of the celebrity chase right now - I've had Jon Culshaw as a DC guest for two separate 'runs' - my first 3 heats, and then my CoC QF. How many people have had some DC guest for more than one run? Has anyone had the same guest three separate times, or more than two guests at least twice?
By 'run' I'm going to go with a time that a guest was in DC with no different guest in between, rather than individual filming days as I know some guests have filmed multiple days in a row for whatever reason.
Good question. Following on from that, which contestant has had the most number of different DC guests. I've looked at Conor who seems to have had 10 different ones (plus a special match with no DC guest at all!) and I'm guessing that will take some beating, but haven't looked much further.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 10:16 pm
by Ben Wilson
Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 8:38 pm
Thanks for all your answers!
Inspired by him being on a repeat of the celebrity chase right now - I've had Jon Culshaw as a DC guest for two separate 'runs' - my first 3 heats, and then my CoC QF. How many people have had some DC guest for more than one run? Has anyone had the same guest three separate times, or more than two guests at least twice?
By 'run' I'm going to go with a time that a guest was in DC with no different guest in between, rather than individual filming days as I know some guests have filmed multiple days in a row for whatever reason.
I'm willing to bet that the answer to this question is 'yes', the filming blocks were all pre-1990 and the DC guest in question was Brandreth.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 11:48 pm
by Sam Cappleman-Lynes
Carl Harrison wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 9:48 pm
Sam Cappleman-Lynes wrote: ↑Thu Oct 14, 2021 8:50 pm
In how many games have there been more vowels than consonants picked in total across all letters rounds?
I'd hazard a strong guess that surely there has never been a TV game where every single letters round has had 5 vowels.
Sure, but that wasn't the question. More vowels than consonants has happened at least once, in
this game which had 51 out of the 99 letters being vowels. I wondered if there were any more examples.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2021 1:42 am
by Jack Worsley
Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 8:38 pm
Thanks for all your answers!
Inspired by him being on a repeat of the celebrity chase right now - I've had Jon Culshaw as a DC guest for two separate 'runs' - my first 3 heats, and then my CoC QF. How many people have had some DC guest for more than one run? Has anyone had the same guest three separate times, or more than two guests at least twice?
By 'run' I'm going to go with a time that a guest was in DC with no different guest in between, rather than individual filming days as I know some guests have filmed multiple days in a row for whatever reason.
I had Dr Phil twice (Series 66 finals and two matches in the 30BC). Kirk has had him three times (Series 60 heats, finals and 30BC). There's bound to be plenty more examples of contestants having the same guest twice, particularly in the early years when there appeared to be a smaller pool of guests.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2021 1:14 pm
by Carl Harrison
Jack Worsley wrote: ↑Sun Oct 17, 2021 1:42 am
Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 8:38 pm
Thanks for all your answers!
Inspired by him being on a repeat of the celebrity chase right now - I've had Jon Culshaw as a DC guest for two separate 'runs' - my first 3 heats, and then my CoC QF. How many people have had some DC guest for more than one run? Has anyone had the same guest three separate times, or more than two guests at least twice?
By 'run' I'm going to go with a time that a guest was in DC with no different guest in between, rather than individual filming days as I know some guests have filmed multiple days in a row for whatever reason.
I had Dr Phil twice (Series 66 finals and two matches in the 30BC). Kirk has had him three times (Series 60 heats, finals and 30BC). There's bound to be plenty more examples of contestants having the same guest twice, particularly in the early years when there appeared to be a smaller pool of guests.
Mark Nyman looks to have had two difference DC guests on 3 separate occasions - Gyles Brandreth and Ned Sherrin - both in series heats, finals and CoC (including a joint DC guest appearance by both of them in the series final).
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2021 3:05 pm
by Carl Harrison
Sam Cappleman-Lynes wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 11:48 pm
Carl Harrison wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 9:48 pm
Sam Cappleman-Lynes wrote: ↑Thu Oct 14, 2021 8:50 pm
In how many games have there been more vowels than consonants picked in total across all letters rounds?
I'd hazard a strong guess that surely there has never been a TV game where every single letters round has had 5 vowels.
Sure, but that wasn't the question. More vowels than consonants has happened at least once, in
this game which had 51 out of the 99 letters being vowels. I wondered if there were any more examples.
Durr, yes of course you don't need 5V in every round to have more vowels in total. I never was that good at numbers! Good find though, I was amazed that even one such show exists.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 6:54 pm
by Jack Worsley
How many episodes have been won by the player who won fewer rounds? I imagine most cases involve the winner spotting a nine that their opponent missed but I know of one episode where this was not the case.
https://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_5555 Are there any others?
Has anyone ever won despite winning two or more rounds fewer than their opponent?
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 9:22 pm
by Gavin Chipper
What's the highest number of rounds a player has stayed on 0 points for and still ended up winning?
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 8:14 pm
by Martin Hurst
https://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_7638
Has there ever been a game before on Countdown between two contestants with fewer characters in their name between them? (7 v 7 = 14)?
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 8:25 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Did Yoga have just Yoga on his name plate?
Yoga v Mandi Hale would be nine.
Edit - I meant 13.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 10:28 pm
by Johnny Canuck
I’m reliably informed that Paul “YT” White was plated as such. Therefore
this one gets us to 10, or 4 using only first names.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:04 pm
by Max Benkel
What's the reason for the drinking glasses to be taken away from contestants? covid reasons?
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2022 2:46 pm
by JackHurst
Max Benkel wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:04 pm
What's the reason for the drinking glasses to be taken away from contestants? covid reasons?
Yes. Everybody has a bottle of water stashed underneath the desk now.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 6:11 pm
by Carl Harrison
What is the highest numbers target that has ever been declared by a competitor (and/or scored points with it). I'm guessing there have been a few 1000's over time, but has there ever been anything declared in the 1001-1009 range?
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:15 pm
by L'oisleatch McGraw
Johnny Canuck wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 10:09 pm
How big is the biggest group of people such that everyone in it has played everyone else in an Apterous game at least once?
Might have missed it, but didn't notice an answer to this yet.
I imagine
this would be a good jumping off point.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 9:21 am
by Thomas Cappleman
L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:15 pm
Johnny Canuck wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 10:09 pm
How big is the biggest group of people such that everyone in it has played everyone else in an Apterous game at least once?
Might have missed it, but didn't notice an answer to this yet.
I imagine
this would be a good jumping off point.
Based on numbers I can see in my rival list, the point where a person's ranking equals the number of opponents they've played (i.e. the largest possible answer to this, if everyone above them had all played each other) is about 230. Maybe somewhere around 100 is plausible?
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Tue May 17, 2022 3:19 pm
by Gavin Chipper
What is the ranking order of letters in terms of how many times they've been used in declarations?
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Thu May 26, 2022 4:45 am
by Thomas Carey
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Thu May 26, 2022 9:38 am
by Gavin Chipper
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Thu May 26, 2022 1:57 pm
by Christy Cooper
What is the probability of getting a selection that contains all 4 of the 'bad' consonants? (J, X, Q, and Z)
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 2:36 am
by Johnny Canuck
Based on the standard letter distributions mentioned earlier in this thread (you can just pick the most recent one, and ignore the effects of shuffling), what is the least likely 9-letter word that has been available in a selection at least once? What is the least likely 9 that has actually been spotted?
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 9:06 am
by Ian Fitzpatrick
Has BAMBOOZLE ever been a conundrum?
Anyone watching Mcdonald & Dodds last night will understand the relevance of the question
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 7:50 pm
by Graeme Cole
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 9:08 pm
I suppose the next question is - what's the closest it's been to 1 round earlier? E.g. in the modern 15-rounder, you'd need a 92-point lead (I think) to win it after round 9. What's the biggest lead anyone's had?
The biggest lead anyone has had after 9 rounds of a modern 15-rounder is 86, which was Tom Cappleman in
episode 6109.
In the old 15-rounder, the largest lead after R9 was 74 by Julian Fell in
episode 3349.
In the 9-rounder, you'd need to be more than 56 ahead after R5 to have the game sewn up then. The closest anyone came to that was David Acton who was 47 ahead in
episode 1762.
Re: Ask Graeme?
Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 8:12 pm
by Graeme Cole
JackHurst wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 10:42 am
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 12:35 pm
JackHurst wrote: ↑Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:18 pm
On average, what letters max % do players achieve?
1) Across all players from the past 10 series?
2) In series Heats (lets say in the last 10 series)?
3) Non series finalists from the last 10 series?
I'm assuming "max %" means the number of letters points scored by the player in a game divided by the number of letters points available in the game, times 100, and not something like "percentage of letters rounds maxed".
1) 58.0%, considering all performances in all games in series 74-83.
2) 57.3%, considering all performances in prelim games in series 74-83.
3) 50.9%, considering all performances by players in prelim games in series 74-83 who did not appear in a finals match in any of those series.
By comparison, the average letters max % for those series in only the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals is 70.6%. The individual figures for only quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals respectively are 65.6%, 75.3% and 81.1%.
I was actually asking for % of rounds maxed. The reason I ask is because when I build a stats section in my app, I want a benchmark of % letters rounds maxed to tell the user they are probably good enough to apply for the show.
The percentage of rounds maxed by the average player is much lower than the percentage of points scored relative to the max, but I guess this isn't too surprising.
Across all performances in series 76-85, the average number of letters maxes per person per game is 2.59, or 25.9%.
Counting series heats only, the average performance maxes 24.6% of letters rounds.
Counting only performances from players who never appeared in a series finals, it's 19.4%.
Among performances from players in those series who did appear in a series finals, it's 41.7%, and the average letters max performance among those who reached a series final was 61.2%.
Note: A "performance" is specifically "one player's letters rounds in one game".