c4countdown

CO MSO is on again this year as part of the Mind Sports Olympiad (see https://mindsportsolympiad.com) at a new hotel venue.

Mercure London Earls Court, 47 Lillie Road, London, SW6 1UD.

The event is 5 round Swiss, followed by a final and 3rd place play-off, using the Bristol System where the same letters/numbers are used across each match-up in a round. Apterous dictionary to be used. This is based on the Oxford dictionary which is currently used in the show. Medals will be awarded to the top three as usual.

Registration to MSO is open https://mindsportsolympiad.com/product/countdown/ Entry is £22 up £2 from last year.

And yes, you can bring ham sandwiches, cutlery and so on!

I did query the price increase with them, especially given it was a tenner 3 years ago, and the response was that it should never have been £10 and that was a mistake!

We will be in room 3 in the London Suite. The hotel is just five minutes walk west of West Brompton station (District/Overground Mildmay).
Reasonably priced drinks and snacks are available from the kiosk in the foyer.

Tony Atkins wrote: Tue Aug 25, 2026 10:07 pm We will be in room 3 in the London Suite. The hotel is just five minutes walk west of West Brompton station (District/Overground Mildmay).
Reasonably priced drinks and snacks are available from the kiosk in the foyer.

I was there for scrabble on Sunday. You want the conference centre entrance next door to the main hotel entrance.

(I dunno about other snacks, but a banana was £1.50 which felt not very reasonably priced, although I think he might have been inventing prices on the fly!)

Congrats to Jonathan de Souza who won all 6 games, including the final, to take gold medal.
Sam Stock was second and MSR was third, beating Jessica Pratesi in the 3-4 play-off. 12 players.

The 3rd place result is incorrect on MSO's website. I'll mention it on their discord!

https://mindsportsolympiad.com/2026-medals/

Fiona T wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2026 4:56 pm The 3rd place result is incorrect on MSO's website. I'll mention it on their discord!

https://mindsportsolympiad.com/2026-medals/

They've fixed it