Cifras y Letras

A game of Cifras y Letras in progress

Cifras y Letras is a Spanish game show developed from Des chiffres et des lettres in the same way as Countdown. During the 1990's it was shown on the chanell La 2 on Televisión Española. It is currently broadcast on Televisiones Autonómicas.

Format and scoring

Like DCeDL, the game is divided into three disciplines.

Letters games

Selections are generated by each contestant alternately selecting either a vowel or a consonant. Words which they decalre must be in the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española. Like the French version, conjugated verb forms are not allowed but participles (present, past and infinitive) are allowed. Unlike both Countdown and DCeDL, plurals are not allowed, though feminine forms are permitted. As in Countdown, contestants receive one point per letter in a valid longest word, and a score of 18 points is awarded for a nine letter word.

Numbers games

The players must attempt solve a numbers game with the exact same format as Countdown, but they have 45 seconds to do so instead of the 30 seconds available on Countdown. This is just as on the original French version. Also unlike Countdown, contestants receive just nine points for a correct numbers game.

Duels

Just as DCeDL, Cifras y Letras features a duel where the players are shown two words jumbled together, and have to buzz in with the correct pair of unscrambled words to earn 10 points. However, if a contestant buzzes in and gets the answer to the duel wrong, their opponent receives 10 points. Therefore the maximum possible score is 190.

Order of rounds

The version of Cifras y Letras on La 2 had 10 rounds, but the format has now been extended to 13 rounds with the following order:

• Numbers
• Letters
• Letters
• Numbers
• Letters
• Letters
• Duel
• Numbers
• Letters
• Letters
• Numbers
• Letters
• Letters

See also

• Cifras y Letras on the Spanish language Wikipedia.
• Cijfers en Letters