Calling all fans of TV’s Countdown, all those who enjoy a bit of quizzing and a chance to rack your brains against like-minded friendly individuals. Consider joining us at one of our many fan run, unofficial Countdown tournaments run at various locations across the UK and Ireland.

FOCAL is a non-profit organisation led by volunteers and fans of Countdown. Each of our tournaments are non-official. We have no affiliation with or endorsement from ITV, Channel 4, or any other relevant entity. No copyright infringement is intended through the promotion and running of our tournaments. No gambling takes place at any of our events, and cash prizes are never offered.

About us

We are FOCAL: a non-profit organisation that runs unofficial tournaments based on the hit Channel 4 weekday afternoon game show Countdown. The name comes from an acronym: Finals Of the Co-Event Annual League. Fittingly, the word ‘focal’ translates to ‘word’ in Irish.

Whether you’re a fan of Countdown itself, a board game enthusiast, fond of word and number puzzles, or simply up for new experiences, our events make for fun and exciting days out for people of all ages, abilities, backgrounds and walks of life, You’ll make friends, meet many people who’ve been on the show or are planning to one day, discover new words, and even be taught the odd techniques or two.

FOCAL was formed in 2016 as the brainchild of legendary player Zarte Siempre, who later went on to become the champion of Series 78 and Championship of Champions XV. It helps volunteers from across the Countdown community organise tournaments all over the UK and Ireland. Co-events, as we call them, have been running since well before FOCAL was devised, dating as far back as the Edinburgh Countdown Club in 1989. The first of the modern-day tournaments was introduced in 2005 by the Series 46 champion, Ben Wilson. Since then, nearly 200 co-events have taken place, with that number continuing to rise.

Players competing at FOCAL-affiliated co-events earn “FOCAL points” throughout the year for their performance in each tournament. An end-of-year finals event is then held by FOCAL to determine the annual champion from the eight top-performing contenders in the standings. See our Hall of Fame for a compendium of all the co-event and FOCAL champions since 2016.

Why not come and join us? There are no membership fees, so you can attend as many events as you want, whenever and wherever you prefer. Details for every event are published on separate pages, which you can access from the Upcoming Events button on the menu bar at the top of the page.

Any more questions?

Check out our FAQs page. If you have further questions, please feel free to email us at hello@focalcountdown.com and one of the team will be in touch!