c4countdown

Ben Wilson

Last night I had an odd one where I sent the online community into meltdown after reading in a TV listing guide that Carol Vorderman was going to replace Rachel for a week. This then led to a full-blown flashback (which should have been a clue that it was a dream but nm) about how Carol accidentally ...

Ben Wilson

Duplicate thread locked- find the pinned thread below

https://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=17477

Ben Wilson

https://www.thepoke.com/2026/10/14/this ... w-dropper/

Jono's apparently going viral.

Ben Wilson

Alert! Rooms at the Thorpe on the Hill Travelodge (aka 'The COLIN hotel (TM)') are current £25 per night for COLIN weekend! Get them while they're hot!

https://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/148/Lincoln-Thorpe-on-the-Hill-hotel?checkIn=29/01/2027&checkOut=31/01/2027&rooms[0][adults]=1&rooms[0 ...

Ben Wilson

Craig Beevers singing some opera at 0:27.

Ben Wilson

Charles Dance's father was born in 1874, and his youngest child was born in 2012.

Ben Wilson

Terrible news

I remember meeting her at the Edinburgh Countdown Club in 2003. She will definitely be missed.

Ben Wilson

Peter Sallis and Peter Sellars.

When I was particularly young, Fred Astaire and Freddie Starr.

Ben Wilson

Just two days to go if you want to maximise your chances of entering COLIN for free (retroactively)! A quick reminder that everyone who enters COLIN in the month of August will, at the event, receive eight entries into the 'refund raffle,' where the winner will get their entire entry fee handed back ...

Ben Wilson

Puddle Colour Scene

Ben Wilson

A few announcements several months in advance:

we're currently up to 5 confirmed entrants, meaning there's plenty of room for more... and plenty of incentive as well, as I'm pleased to announce the 'refund raffle.' One player, chosen at random, will get their entry fee refunded on the day!

The way ...

Ben Wilson

Low-key one last night by my standards. I'm sitting outside a shop in the centre of Lincoln drinking my morning tea out of my favourite mug, which is apparently part of my morning routine to the extent that I end up giving the mug to the guy behind the counter of the shop to wash up. After realising ...

Ben Wilson

Well, would you look at that, I'm doing this again.

For the 22nd time, COLIN is kicking off the co-event calendar with the traditional double header in Hykeham* at the end of (what I am told is) the suckiest month of the year. Happy as always to give people a thing to look forward to at the end of ...

Ben Wilson

Some lorries have their registrations printed on the roof.

Ben Wilson

Couple of small but odd ones last night that I'm blaming on the heat. In the first one, I'm living alone in a large home and watching TV in my basement when I hear noise coming from upstairs in my game room. I enter the game room and confront the intruder, only to encounter Jonathan de Souza saying ...

Ben Wilson

As always, last night's dream starts with me in a co-event being held in a pub somewhere. The event itself is being held in the front part, near the main door, but there's also a corridor and a back room where games are also going on. I'm on 5 wins out of 6, which for some reason I'm disappointed by ...

Ben Wilson

Even by my standards, this is a good one.

The dream starts with me being denied access to a hotel by a very angry old lady who doesn't just throw me out, but keeps following me downstairs as I try to get away from her. I eventually build up a lead over her, then open a Doctor Strange-style portal ...

Ben Wilson

Maybe half brother, if his father was Ken Bruce and/or a potato.

Ben Wilson

Bit of a long range bump, but is there a possibility of this being updated, or some way of users being able to update it themselves?

Ben Wilson

Right, last night's dream started with me catching a bus and climbing up to the tiny, as in 6 or 7 seat cozy upper deck (this is a recurring part of my dreams for some reason). I'm there with Adam Dexter as we're entering Destination X as a duo for some reason. In short order, our clothes get stolen ...

Ben Wilson

Both of 2026's events have been added to the stat file, which is now available for everyone's perusal. :-) No major additions other than a 'play around with the constants a bit' on the Handicap page, and I didn't update one other page as it was an arseache to compile in the first place and I'd ...

Ben Wilson

A particularly disjointed one I had last night and noted thusly:

At a biker rally, then suddenly there's an eco warrior protest or something and I'm in a back alley near a rail station. Graeme and Sam Stock are in attendance, and for some reason Graeme is married to Meghan Markle.

Ben Wilson

And a day late but...

COLIN XXI: The Hangover
The Memorial Hall
25 January 2026
PODIUM
1st place: Thomas Cappleman (Won final 72 - 62 against Dylan Taylor)
2nd place: Dylan Taylor (Lost final)
3rd place: Matthew Brockwell

STANDINGS
Players are ranked by number of wins then total points scored ...

Ben Wilson

COLIN XXI
The Ark
24 January 2026

PODIUM

1st place: Dylan Taylor (Won final 65 - 58 against Thomas Cappleman)
2nd place: Thomas Cappleman (Lost final)
3rd place: Dan Byrom

STANDINGS

Players are ranked by number of wins then total points scored.

Before final

P W Pts
1 Dylan Taylor 6 6 ...

Ben Wilson

Just got off the phone with the caretaker of the memorial hall- we will be able to access the social club on Saturday night, but it looks like it'll be the F&H for Friday. I've also had reassurance that the heating will be working this year on Sunday.

Ben Wilson

Afternoon all :-) As you know, the first round at COLIN is seeded, and the seedings are calculated according to previous performance in the COLIN main event. This hasn't changed this year, but with a whopping 15 people not coming back from last year's triple header, this year's seedings are a little ...

Ben Wilson

No worries, if you get a badge I'll stick it on you before you leave.

Ben Wilson

Good point- below are the itineraries for both events. The Hangover is scheduled to* start 15 minutes earlier than usual this year to hopefully prevent any of the travel crunch times people often get.

COLIN XXI Saturday:

10:30 doors open
11:30 introductions
11:50 round 1
13:10 lunch
14:00 round 2 ...

Ben Wilson

Just two weeks to go! Numbers currently stand at 27 for the main event and 26 for the Hangover so there are plenty of spaces left to fill- I'll take entries up to and including the day before the event, but the earlier I get your entries, the more cash I'll have to splash on prizes and goodies for ...

Ben Wilson

Evening all :-) Hope you had a good festive season 2025 and are looking forward to the start of 2026... and the start of the 2026 FOCAL season at COLIN!

The bad news first: due to the current lack of entrants (and therefore finance) there won't be a puzzle magazine this year- but rest assured ...

Ben Wilson

And as just an addendum, the latest stat to drop out of COLIN is that the only score- only one- that is more or less equally likely to be a winning or losing score is 52. This is a significant number for this year's COLIN. Why is it significant? All will be revealed soon...

Ben Wilson

Hey all, entries are a bit slower than I expected at the moment so if you are planning on entering this year and haven't sent me your fee yet, please do so or at least give me a heads up that you're planning on attending so I know how much budget I have to play with. :-) I Hope to have photos of ...

Ben Wilson

Added another page to the COLIN stat file! :-) Here's a trivia quiz with no prize:
1. What is the most common winning score at COLIN?
2. What are the most common losing scores? (There are two, tied)
3. What is the only score equally likely to be a winning or losing score, and also the most common ...

Ben Wilson

Updates!

Up to nine entries at the moment so it's slow going for now, but I trust interest will pick up after MK. :) (Milton Keynes, not Mortal Kombat)

An update on the prizes- the above calendar has been scrapped in favour of mugs again. COLIN XXI will have a 'theme' that will be revealed in due ...

Ben Wilson

Top 100, not bad at all

Ben Wilson

What happened in round 3 with loads of players playing whatever the scrabble equivalent is of prune?

Ben Wilson

Interesting one I've come across recently. I wanted to post this as a reply to Graeme's kerning / keming puzzle from a number of years ago but couldn't find it so I've posted it here instead:

rn icrosoft and g rn ail

It was from the COLIN puzzle mag in 2017. Text recreated below...

"That ...

Ben Wilson

James has messaged me to confirm he did not post this thread. If you have sent money to the PayPal link that was posted in this thread, please try to cancel the payment via PayPal.

Ben Wilson

Testing negative now but they're still coming.

Fourth dream started out as a weird first-person parkour videogame set in a sort-of abandoned stone tower that was a bit like that episode of Doctor Who with Peter Capaldi where it was just him and he had to punch through a crystal wall (that synopsis ...

Ben Wilson

Second dream, I'm running down a road in Lincoln as it's (apparently) the one time of year I actually can run, and it's some form of festival or open air market. At some point, my run takes me through a WWE event, where Mark Deeks is wrestling the Undertaker in a steel cage suspended over a concrete ...

Ben Wilson

Caution: long post.

Being laid up with covid has certainly had an effect on my psychological state with the hattrick of bizarre dreams as detailed below.

First dream, I was tasked with watching a shop that was in the same place as the B&M in Lincoln (next to the river in the city centre), but was ...

Ben Wilson

Paul Worsley wrote: Thu Oct 02, 2025 7:55 pm Patrick Murray, actor (Mickey Pearce, OFAH) 68. RIP.

Arguably, we need a new contender for the greatest living actor in a minor role in a sitcom.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Brenman ?

Ben Wilson

It starts off with me walking through the streets of Lincoln, many of which have passageways that are elaborately decorated but aren't used for anything, leading me to quip to Rachel Riley that the city has a lot of fancy dining rooms that aren't being used for anything. Well, one's being used for a ...

Ben Wilson

Jamie Weisenberg wrote: Sun Sep 14, 2025 3:50 pm
Mark Deeks wrote: Sat Sep 13, 2025 5:29 pm
Which is why she's in the job. So I ask again, why do you think she's being fed answers?
The human brain cannot process complex solutions in just 30 seconds unless you're a young autistic math wiz.

[citation needed]

Ben Wilson

A very brief one a few nights ago where Fiona T banned the rest of the world from using the letter 'T.'

Ben Wilson

It's COLIN's 21st birthday in January, but did you also know that it's the tenth anniversary of FOCAL as well? :-)

As such, an event like this deserves commemorating somehow, so the prize for the hangover event will be a calendar celebrating the 10 years of FOCAL.

...and that's where I need your ...

Ben Wilson

Just curious.

Ben Wilson

Had an odd one last night where I was doing a Destination X style challenge that involved me parkouring down the side of a building (well, more 'falling semi-safely) into a bar in Barcelona, only to discover that I was the 7th arrival out of 9 people. Following that, I jump into a mini-steamroller ...

Ben Wilson

As sure as the sun rises in the east, the end of January will see the FOCAL season kick off in Lincoln!

Yep, the event hosted by the man with the same initials as ‘Blackjack’ (and the same physique as Jack Black) is turning 21 this year, and even though the weekend won’t be as big as last (this ...

Ben Wilson

The bat signal is usually meant to summon Batman, not piss him off, but it's worth a try.

Ben Wilson

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/entertai ... at-84/amp/

Chuck Mangione, musician who was in a few episodes of King of the Hill.

Ben Wilson

To take things to the extreme, the best thing to do really is to not have a set opponent. Everyone does the same rounds and has an adjudicator seeing how long they take to get the conundrums. Everything is fed into the computer, which uses some scoring system to determine the day's winner.

This ...

Ben Wilson

In last night's dream I was putting the finishing touches on a 'man cave' in my house, which consisted of 3 octagonal rooms in a row. The left hand room was a study with various work stations in it including for some reason a haberdashery section. The middle room was a game room, in which Jen ...

Ben Wilson

Humans first arrived in New Zealand in the 13th century AD.

Ben Wilson

A brief one last night where I was on a street in Lincoln playing a game I'd called 'Dread Poker' against Charlie and a couple of other people. 'Dread Poker' is basically Poker mixed with Balatro, you play with 3 other people and draw 10-11 cards (my subconscious was unclear about this) and redraw ...

Ben Wilson

Can't wait.

Have (ab)used my mod powers to put this as a global announcement on a par with in-person events as it's community-related.

Ben Wilson

It took a bit longer than usual but the stat file has been updated to include all 3 of 2025's events and added a couple more silly pages.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qi1d267b ... 1615x&dl=0

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.

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 ...

Ben Wilson

It's no big deal to give meat eaters vegetarian/vegan alternatives, provided there are no allergies or food intolerance issues.

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