Numbers game

The numbers game was played as rounds 4 and 8 in the 9-round format, and is played as rounds 5, 10 and 14 in the 15-round format.

The game involves a board of 24 numbered cards, initially arranged face down in a layout of four rows as follows:

• The top row contains four cards, which are 25, 50, 75 and 100.
• The remaining three rows contain six, seven and seven cards respectively; these cards are two each of the integers between 1 and 10 inclusive.

One contestant chooses from where in this layout six numbers are to be picked. A three-digit target number is then generated by CECIL, and the contestants have 30 seconds to make the target number (or as near to it as possible) from some or all of the six numbers.

Each of the six chosen numbers may be used only once in any solution. Only addition, subtraction, multiplication and division may be used; moreover, no fractional numbers may appear as part of a solution.

The scoring system is as follows:

• 10 points for reaching the target exactly
• 7 points for getting within 5 of the target
• 5 points for getting within 10 of the target

Only the contestant whose solution is nearest the target scores.