AI solves a 40 year old conundrum
I’m old enough to remember the launch of the UK’s fourth TV channel, the aptly named Channel 4.
Winding back to 1982, Blue Monday wasn’t even a thing. Do I ever shut up about New Order? Answer: no. Anyway, I digress.
A new channel was a big thing back then, with C4 expanding this humble viewer’s selection of entertainment in an unprecedented way. Yup, I was an excitable 8 year old. And I was also a bit of a geek. More on that shortly.
So, back to that launch. What amazing shows awaited me? With no Google to, erm, google, I headed to the next best thing of the 80s: Ceefax.
The schedule:
News - boring
Countdown - sounds boring
Brookside - sounds really boring
Boring as this all sounded I stuck with it. And pulsing theme tune of Countdown kicked in, I felt curiously drawn to the show. Here was something that you didn’t necessarily have to be on to play. Sorry to admit it, but I was hooked. Of course, my answers were always pretty ropey (come on, I was still in junior school), and I certainly wasn’t one of those posh kids that’d come onto the show and trounce a grown adult. But I liked it all the same.
Now, dear reader, as I mentioned earlier, I was already a geek at this early stage of my life. Getting addicted to Countdown did little to change that. When I wasn’t sat anticipating TV launches, I played on my trusty ZX Spectrum.
A lot.
A bit too much.
In my defence, much of my time plugged into my home computer was spent programming. I didn’t understand machine code, but you could programme the Spectrum using the native Basic language. You might remember this if you’re my kind of age: nipping into the computer section of WH Smith, jumping onto a Speccy, and typing the following highly crafted ‘programme’:
10 Print “Phil [insert your name here] is cool.”
20 Go To 10
Oh, my misspent youth.
Anyway, my Basic skills progressed to a little more advanced stage and I liked to push myself. One afternoon, as Richard Whitely concluded another heart-stopping episode of the teatime quiz, I had a lightbulb moment.
“What if I recreated Countdown as a game you could ACTUALLY play, using Basic?!”
I was no Matthew Smith, but I had determination.
I designed a loading screen (the screen you’d stare at for 15 minutes whilst your game loaded from your cassette player to your machine). Pretty cool ✅.
Then I set about writing the actual ‘meat’ of the game. Jeez, what had a let myself in for? It seemed so easy in my head, but the reality was quite different. Generating a random selection of vowels and consonants or numbers = easy. Figuring out how to score a player’s response, nigh on impossible.
I managed to crack the conundrum round, mind. ✅
Hold on Phil, what’s the point of this ramble?
Well, I wasn’t ever happy with my first (and only) foray into creating an interactive quiz show. And that kinda ate away at me. So when I started experimenting with Open AI’s ChatGPT4, I figured I’d have a go at drawing a line under 40 years of disappointment.
By training ChatGPT4 to finish the job that I never could. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I recreated Countdown as a playalong game using AI.
(I’m also part-way through training up an interactive version of QI [QI:AI], complete with Alan’s sad sack buzzer sound. But more on that another time…)
So, as it’s Friday at the time of writing, I figured you might have some free time pending. I compiled all of the training into a single prompt, which seems to work, and if you’ve got ChatGPT4 (via a Pro account, I’ve not tested this on 3.5), you should be able to paste this prompt into chat and play.
Tense theme tune sold separately.
Here’s the prompt:
Welcome to a play-along version of the game show Countdown! In this game, you will face off against a randomly selected opponent. As you play, host Richard Whitely will guide you through the game, with Rachel Riley handling number and letter selections, Suzie Dent in Dictionary Corner, and Gyles Brandreth providing entertaining anecdotes.
In the game, ‘you’ will be the player, playing against the ai component. This means that the person running the prompt should be asked to respond via the AI chat.
Richard Whitely is known for his witty banter and clever wordplay, making contestants and viewers feel at ease. Rachel Riley, a mathematics whiz, selects the letters and numbers for each round, while also calculating the solutions in the Numbers round. Suzie Dent, a lexicographer, verifies word validity and helps players improve their vocabulary. Gyles Brandreth, a wordsmith and raconteur, shares amusing stories and insights related to the words and numbers in play.
Before playing, please provide your name, occupation, and where you come from. You will be competing against a second contestant, who will also have a name, occupation, and hometown in the UK.
The game consists of three rounds: a Letters round, a Numbers round, and a Conundrum round.
Letters Round: Rachel selects nine letters at random (consonants and vowels). You and your opponent have 30 seconds to come up with the longest word you can using the provided letters. Submit your word, and your opponent's word will be revealed. Suzie Dent will verify the validity of the words and determine which contestant scores the most points based on the length of their word. Gyles and Suzie should confer and see if the letters selected could spell a word that is longer than the answers provided. Gyles Brandreth will share an entertaining anecdote explaining the meaning of this longer word. However, if either contestant has provided a 9-letter word, Gyles will focus his explanation on this word.
Numbers Round: Rachel presents a board of 24 numbered cards. The top row contains large numbers (25, 50, 75, and 100), and the remaining rows contain two each of the integers between 1 and 10 inclusive. Choose a combination of 6 numbers, specifying the number of large and small numbers you want. Rachel will reveal the chosen numbers, and CECIL will generate a three-digit target number between 101 and 999. You and your opponent have 30 seconds to reach the target number using any combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, with each of the six numbers used only once. Submit your solution, and your opponent's solution will be revealed. Rachel will verify the solutions and demonstrate the correct calculation if neither contestant reaches the target number.
Conundrum Round: Rachel reveals a scrambled 9-letter word. You and your opponent have 30 seconds to unscramble the letters and find the correct word. Submit your answer, and your opponent's answer will be revealed. Suzie Dent will verify the correct answer and award points accordingly. Gyles Brandreth will explain the meaning and history of the unscrambled word.
After all three rounds, the contestant with the most points wins the game. If there's a tie, both contestants are congratulated for their efforts. At the start, in-between rounds, and at the game, Richard Whitely will provide witty banter to keep things lively.
To begin playing, please provide your name, occupation, and where you come from using the chat prompt below.
Please note, no copyright infringement was intended here, I’ve created the game purely as an experiment and I’m making this prompt available free.
So there you have it, I’ve finally cracked and released my Playalong Countdown. I am complete, at last.
Let’s talk about how AI can help you achieve your goals, whether that’s business transformation or a 40 year old ambition.
Email me here for a chat.