Countdown in other countries

Countdown was first adapted from the French game show Des chiffres et des lettres in 1982. Since then, Countdown has been adapted into various other languages.

French version

Des chiffres et des lettres (Numbers and letters) was the original form of Countdown, created by Armand Jammot. It was at first called Le mot le plus long (the longest word) because the numbers game and duel hadn't yet been created. Letters games had 7 letters, just like in Scrabble. In 1972 Jammot created the numbers game and in 1982, the letters games changed to 9 letters instead of 7. Games are made up of 14 rounds, the same format as the Countdown Grand Finals although the rounds aren't in the same order. The conundrum is replaced by he duel which is can either by a mental calculation or a themed game using 9 letters, but not simply a single 9-letter anagram. Since 2008, the final game which is a letters game awards double points, so 18 points for nine, 16 for an eight, etc. Players win 100 euros for every show they win, but matches are a best of three affair, so each player has to win two out of three legs to win the match. The maximum number of wins is five, which is ten shows in total. In 2005 Pierre-Marie Billy won the Tournoi des légendes, the equivalent of the supreme championship in English.

Spanish version

The Spanish TV show Cifras y Letras (also Numbers and letters) is another adaptation of Des chiffres et des lettres. There are four rounds consisting of a number game followed by two letter games . Between the second and third round there is a duel that consists of finding two words on the same theme from the nine letters provided.

Points:

• Words are worth one point per letter, but a nine-letter word is worth double; that is, 18 points.
• The correct sum gets 9 points.
• The duel is worth 10 points. Just like the French show, only one answer is accepted, but if the answer is wrong the other player gets 10 points.

The winner wins 602 euros and gets to play again the next day. If both players tie, they both get to play again the next day and each player wins 301 euros. There is no limit to the number of shows that an individual player can win, and thusly Francisco Segura won 116 consecutive shows in 2007/08, breaking the previous record of 66 held by Carlos Adán Bonilla.

Dutch version

The Dutch version is called Cijfers en Letters. The numbers game works in the same way as a Countdown numbers game, with the targets 100-999 available, unlike the French and the Spanish versions where only the targets 101-999 are available. Letters also work in the same way, except that the contestants choose 8 letters and not 9. There are no duels or conundrums in the Dutch version.

South African version

The South African version was called A Word or 2. It started in 1998 and ran for ten seasons, and for at least part of its run was bilingual (both English and Afrikaans words being accepted).

Screengrabs can be found on Bother's Bar.

Australian version

The Australian version is called Letters and Numbers. It started in 2010, but was cancelled within 2 years, and replaced by repeats of the British version.