COBRIS - COUNTDOWN IN BRISTOL
SATURDAY 8 JULY 2006
With star host the famous radio presenter, weatherman, quarter finalist and SIX times COUNTDOWN champion Daniel Peake
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Bristol Countdown tournament was held on Saturday 8th July at the Bristol County Sports Association, Colston St, close to the centre of Bristol. There were 24 contestants.
Venue
The Bristol County Sports Association is a private members club which hosts chess, bridge, backgammon, snooker etc. It's main claim to fame is that it was disguised to be used as the Orange Tree in Teachers. Some pictures of it in this photo. It is situated up the hill from the Colston Hall and the area of Bristol locally known as The Centre.
|
|
|
For a map of the area click here. The venue is about 2 miles from Temple Meads station - catch the 8 or 9 bus from the station forecourt and get off when you see the waterfront ahead of you and a concrete island which some planners think attractive, with Bristol's glorious fountains, cunningly disguised as twenty rather ordinary hosepipes, on the left.
 |
 |
|
"Like twenty old men peeing into a pond" - Councillor Bill Martin |
|
 |
 |
|
This is where the bus stops |
The venue is up past Yates's |
We managed to fit everyone into the far end of the room, though it was a bit of a tight squeeze and there was nearly a shortage of tables. The venue had a bar with tea and coffee, staffed by Dave Osborne, and the buffet lunch was also popular.
Timetable
| 1100 | Coffee, meet each other and set up. |
| 1130 | Initial warm-up practices - Conundrum Challenge won by Chris, and the first ever public exhibition of Goatdown, won by Jono. |
| 1215 | Round 1 |
| 1300 | Lunch |
| 1400 - 1800 | Rounds 2-5 with a coffee break after Round 3 |
After the event we moved off to the nearby Wetherspoons where one of our members was told to go and stand outside as he was under 18. However we did manage to conceal him in the corner and buy dinner for him.
Format
 |
 |
The games were run using the same format as last year - i.e. all players have the same letters/numbers which are displayed on stage, but they play against each other in pairs.
The main event was a 5 round Swiss tournament - everyone plays in each round, and you play an opponent who is on the same score as you as nearly as possible. Some of the top players were seeded. The games were 9 rounds each (LLLNLLLNC).
For the letters games, choice went from player to player and as there were 35 letters games in total each player chose letters once or twice. Each round was introduced by a cringing couplet from the Peakey school of penmanship.
For the numbers games the choice was predetermined. As 1 large is the most popular this was used on alternate games and the other choices cycled. Therefore the sequence was 10121314 and then repeat.
For the conundrum players had to tap the table and then write down the answer. Second conundrums were used a couple of times when there was a tie, but this extra score was not added to the aggregate. The conundrum was 'revealed' by removing a tablecloth held in front of the board while the letters were being arranged. This caused a slight problem in the final round tiebreak when the cloth was dropped too fast and the letters flew off, but Chris was up to the task and managed to solve the scramble before the letters touched the floor.
Officials
Host: Daniel Peake
DC: Jerry Humphreys
Assistants: James Scrivin, William Lowry, Steve Davies
Website: Jon O'Neill
Bar Supervisor: Dave Osborne
Disclaimer
The Bristol Countdown tournament is run by Jerry Humphreys and is based on the TV game show. This event is 'unofficial' and not associated with Channel 4 or Yorkshire Television in any way. Countdown is an Armand Jammot game.
Links
Contact me on msn: jerryhum1@hotmail.com