Apps Upside Your Head: Countdown

By | January 6, 2016

countdown16£1.49 at time of writing
Out now on iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore

iOS version tested on iPad, copy supplied by publisher.

Edit: Sounds like a recent update has improved issues regarding letter distribution and Conundrums in an update. Good stuff.

Barnstorm! The idea that they’re working on another TV show up fills us with all sorts of excitement – their previous work (The Chase, Tipping Point, Perfection, Eggheads) all really good apps that capture their shows well that we’d absolutely recommend.

And now here’s Countdown, which is slightly different to usual in that there have been official Countdown apps in the past. They’ve all been strangely not much cop. With a caveat which I will come to once again I’m happy to suggest that if you like the show then you’ll like the game, the first one that lets you play the show’s format as you see it on television – against a range of four AI difficulties, against an opponent or on your own. You can also play a short five round game (two letters, two numbers, a conundrum) and practise any round you like.

It plays out as you’d expect, in a letters game you make as many words as you want and then select one to submit. Numbers game uses your numbers as a sort of calculator (a nice touch here is there are buttons for “six random numbers” and for “one from the top, five for anywhere else” when selecting your numbers if you can’t be bothered to jab at the screen) and feels like the most successful version of number solving in an app so far. The conundrum is buzzing in and tapping the tiles to spell out the word without making a mistake or taking too long.

Two player is pass and play except for the conundrum which is first on the buzzer. It’s a shame that there seems to be no way to play two player simultaneously pad and pencil using the screen as a board, if you’re playing a full fifteen round game in two player you’ll hear the clock 29 times total. Maybe also a system to choose your own Countdown make-up would be nice – pretend you’re back in the eighties with Richard and Carol in a nine-round game perhaps.

Other criticisms. The caveat I have is that I’m not quite sure if the letter distribution algorithm is quite right – if I pick a pretty standard  six consonants and three vowels Dictionary Corner rarely seems to come up with anything more than a six, occasionally a seven, rarely an eight. I don’t know if this is me being unlucky or if it’s not quite right (I seemed to get a lot of Vs). Also the conundrums don’t seem to be quite constructed in the usual Countdown style of smaller words which you make a nine-letter word from, or at least less obviously so. Some of the words are pretty obscure – of course rendzinas! This doesn’t stop the game from working but seeing as Barnstorm are normally so good in getting the feel of show correct this seems like a bit of a surprise.

Despite all this it’s difficult not to declare it’s the best official Countdown app released so far, and there’s a fair chance that issues will get updated out in due course.

17 thoughts on “Apps Upside Your Head: Countdown

  1. Marc

    You’re absolutely right about the letter distribution–there’s only supposed to be one Z in the deck, but I’ve had 3 in one game. But that’s my only complaint.

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      Also in fairness I’ve got no idea if 6/3 is the best combination (it always felt logical to me, as someone rubbish at word games), it has just occurred to me I might be being a bit unfair in that regard. That being said, the computer picks the tiles half the time so…

      Reply
      1. Weaver

        The Countdown Page lists the letters distribution from early 2009.

        The regulars at c4countdown seem to prefer four-vowel selections, as this has the greatest chance of a nine-letter word.

        On the actual show, the current Championship of Champions event is of breathtakingly high quality. These players seem to be able to spot eight-letter words in their heads while the letters are being selected, then pick a final vowel or consonant to maximise the chance of getting a nine.

        Reply
        1. Brig Bother Post author

          Interesting ta.

          The impression I get is that each letter has a percentage chance of coming up rather than there being a shuffled stack of letters.

          Reply
        2. Tom F

          “These players seem to be able to spot eight-letter words in their heads while the letters are being selected, then pick a final vowel or consonant to maximise the chance of getting a nine.”

          I can confirm this. Knowing vaguely a recent nearly-series champion, it’s amazing how fast they are. They particularly learn to look at 7 or 8 letter sets and plan ahead. They also memorise lists of words that are likely results of the letter distribution.

          Reply
          1. Ronald

            I am finding recent Countdown unwatchable for this reason – there is no play-along factor when the players are so good.

          2. Andrew 'Kesh' Sullivan

            I certainly felt out of my depth when I went on the show back in 2014 and went up against a really strong player. It’s got to the point now where you have to know what you’re doing to do well at that show. It’s a stark contrast to how it used to be after watching the older shows Challenge put out some time back.

  2. Simon F

    When the answer for one of the first conundrums I got was OMADHAWNS (from a clue of SHADOWMAN), you get the feeling that the scrambled word and answer were the wrong way round 🙂

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      Oh that’s fun, thanks. The Dutch one is the original and I’ve seen titles but not full episodes – if it looks similar to the German that’s because I believe they filmed the German one at Endemol’s Hilversum studios in the Netherlands.

      Around the turn of the millenium they did a relaunch (interestingly/bafflingly the tension music was borrowed from The Waiting Game with Ruby Wax) but it looks like a one series wonder. It kept the same endgame as the original but included a very quick elimination game pre-titles.

      Reply
  3. SquaredEyes

    It’s Art from The Mole with the casting call for a local version of Britain’s Brightest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aXfhMerceM

    De Slimste is still breaking records for NPO2 though, being the most watched show on prime-time almost every day it airs and it broke it’s own ever record to 1.8mln viewers last Tuesday.

    Reply
  4. Brekkie

    Noel having the following to say on Twitter when asked whether Deal or No Deal are taking applications:
    “I don’t think so but honestly I have no idea if the show is continuing with or without me. Que Sera “

    Reply
  5. Daniel Peake

    I do like the fact that in that selection Nick, you’ve got DECENT (a decent word in itself), and IN right above it, and haven’t put INDECENT. Ah well.

    Reply
    1. Simon F

      Plus introduced a “best” value in the numbers games so the current calculation isn’t necessary the one it uses.

      Reply

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