Play Countdown over Zoom
You can use the Countdown practice games on this site to host a game of Countdown over Zoom, Teams, Discord, or any other video call with screen sharing.
The host shares their screen and opens the letters practice or numbers practice page. Players write their answers privately on paper or in a notes app.
For a letters round, use the letters practice page. The host can pick vowels and consonants as players call them out, use Random fill, or use Conundrum mode for the final round. For a numbers round, use the numbers practice page and choose how many large numbers the player asks for.
With more than 2 players, just rotate who gets to choose the letters or numbers selection each round. Everyone can still play every round and score their own answer.
The practice pages include the Countdown clock and music. If the host wants more control, untick Automatic timer. This reveals manual clock controls, so the host can start, pause, reset, or end the clock themselves. You can also turn off Enable sound if you want to use your own clock or music.
Suggested hosting setup
- Share the browser tab or window showing the practice game.
- Ask one player to choose the letters or numbers selection for the round.
- Start the clock, or use your own timer if you have turned off the automatic timer.
- When time is up, ask players to declare their word length or numbers result.
- Use Show answers, Check word, Hint, or the solver pages if you need to adjudicate an answer.
- Keep score separately in a spreadsheet, chat message, or on paper. See Countdown scoring for the points system.
Current Countdown round schedule
The current televised format is a 15-round game: 10 letters rounds, 4 numbers rounds, and a final conundrum.
| Round | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Letters | Player 1 chooses |
| 2 | Letters | Player 2 chooses |
| 3 | Numbers | Player 1 chooses |
| 4 | Letters | Player 2 chooses |
| 5 | Letters | Player 1 chooses |
| 6 | Numbers | Player 2 chooses |
| 7 | Letters | Player 1 chooses |
| 8 | Letters | Player 2 chooses |
| 9 | Numbers | Player 1 chooses |
| 10 | Letters | Player 2 chooses |
| 11 | Letters | Player 1 chooses |
| 12 | Letters | Player 2 chooses |
| 13 | Letters | Player 1 chooses |
| 14 | Numbers | Player 2 chooses |
| 15 | Conundrum | Buzzer round |
If the scores are tied after the conundrum, play extra conundrums until one player solves one correctly and wins.
For a shorter Zoom game, you can use the same pattern but stop earlier. A simple 9-round version is three blocks of letters, letters, numbers, followed by a conundrum.