A classic to kick off this new feature - this was a landmark game in the history of Countdown. Having become the second ever Octochamp (not that they called them that then!), producer-to-be Mark Nyman came back as number 1 seed for the quarter-finals of Series 3. Still a schoolboy from Willesden at the time, Mark had amassed 427 points in his preliminary matches and achieved something of a reputation for being hard to beat. Ted Wiles, a retired accountant living near Pontefract, was returning as number 8 seed having won just one game. Despite the fact that this match is from the days before I kept regular records of the selections of numbers and letters (Editor's Note - these have since been added), I feel it is worthy of its place as Game of the Week, as Mark's score of 79 stood for almost three years as the highest in a normal 9-round game of Countdown. The previous highest score had been 69, achieved by both William Bradford and Norma Nicholson. What a pity he couldn't get 10 points for the first numbers game, but then neither could Carol!
Mark Ted
Rd Selection Nyman Score Wiles
-- ------------------------ ----------- --- --- -----------
1 AKSHOWREV WHARVES 7 0 SHOWER
2 AUPYDTLSU ADULTS 13 0 DUSTY
3 IGNSVAETL STEALING 21 8 VALETING
4 828 (50,9,10,10,1,4) 830 28 8 -(800)
5 OEMRGXRSI GRIMES 34 8 MIXER
6 LAGESTENO ELONGATES 52 8 GLOATS
7 CDIEJTSOS COSIEST 59 8 EDICTS
8 305 (100,6,4,8,10,2) 305 69 18 305
9 ADBRARUCA (BARRACUDA) 5.00s 79 18