What is Countdown?
Countdown is a long-running British game show broadcast on Channel 4. First aired in 1982, it holds the record as the first programme ever broadcast on Channel 4. Each episode features two contestants competing across a mix of letters rounds, numbers rounds, and a final Conundrum.
The letters and numbers games are the core skill-based challenges — and the ones our solver is designed to help you practise. Countdown rewards vocabulary, mental arithmetic, and strategic thinking.
The Letters Game
The letters game tests your vocabulary. You must find the longest valid UK English word you can from nine randomly chosen letters.
Choosing Your Letters
The contestant in control chooses nine letters, one at a time, from two face-down stacks: a vowel stack (A, E, I, O, U) and a consonant stack. The final selection must include at least 3 vowels and at least 4 consonants.
The Clock
Once all nine letters are on the board, the famous Countdown clock starts. Contestants have 30 seconds to find the longest word they can make from those letters, using each letter only as many times as it appears in the selection.
Valid Words
A word is accepted if it appears in the Oxford English Dictionary and is a standard British English word. The following are not permitted:
- Proper nouns (names of people, places, brands)
- Hyphenated words or words requiring an apostrophe
- American spellings (e.g. "color" is invalid; "colour" is valid)
- Abbreviations or acronyms
Plurals, verb forms (including past tense, present participle), and comparative/superlative adjective forms are all permitted.
Scoring
| Word length | Points |
|---|---|
| 3–8 letters | 1 point per letter (e.g. 7 letters = 7 points) |
| 9 letters (all letters used) | 18 points (bonus for a full nine-letter word) |
Both contestants score if they find words of the same length.
Strategy Tips
- Scan for common prefixes (un-, re-, pre-, dis-) and suffixes (-ing, -tion, -ness, -ment, -er, -ed, -est).
- Look for vowel-heavy short words first, then try to extend them.
- A 7-letter word beats most opponents — you don't have to find the full 9.
- Use our Letters Solver to practise and learn new words.
The Numbers Game
The numbers game tests mental arithmetic. You must reach a randomly generated three-digit target using six chosen numbers and the four basic operations.
Choosing Your Numbers
There are two groups of number tiles:
- Small numbers: Two tiles each of 1 through 10 (20 tiles in total)
- Large numbers: One tile each of 25, 50, 75, and 100
The contestant chooses 6 tiles in total. You may choose 0 to 4 large numbers — the rest are small. Common selections include "one large" or "two large", though choosing all small numbers is a perfectly valid strategy.
The Target
Once the six numbers are revealed, a random three-digit target between 100 and 999 is generated. Contestants then have 30 seconds to reach it.
Rules for Calculations
- You may use any of the four operations: addition (+), subtraction (−), multiplication (×), division (÷).
- You do not need to use all six numbers.
- Each number may be used at most once (as many times as it appears in your selection).
- All intermediate results must be positive whole numbers — no fractions or negative numbers at any step.
- Division is only permitted when it results in a whole number with no remainder.
Scoring
| Distance from target | Points |
|---|---|
| Exact (0 away) | 10 points |
| Within 5 (1–5 away) | 7 points |
| Within 10 (6–10 away) | 5 points |
| More than 10 away | 0 points |
Both contestants score if they are equally close to the target.
Strategy Tips
- Large numbers help you reach high targets quickly — try multiplying a large number by a small one, then adjusting with the remaining numbers.
- Work towards the target in steps: get close with two or three numbers, then fine-tune with the rest.
- If the exact target seems impossible, don't give up — being within 10 still scores valuable points.
- Use our Numbers Solver to see all possible solutions and learn the techniques.
The Conundrum
Each episode ends with the Conundrum — a nine-letter anagram displayed on the board. The first contestant to buzz in with the correct answer wins 10 points. The Conundrum is always a single word made from all nine letters. Speed and pattern recognition are key. Our word solver can help you unpick anagrams — simply enter the nine letters and look for a word using all of them.