Covid-19

Update: 9 September 2020

The UK government has announced that the maximum 30 people for permissible gatherings will be reduced to 6, in England, as from Monday 14 September.

We continue to work with our organisers to reassess the planning and delivery of Focal events, with everyone’s safety in mind, which we now anticipate will return in 2021.

Before this announcement, we had compiled and issued a Risk Assessment Questionnaire (RAQ) to quantify, reduce and remove risk of contracting Covid, and to ensure that the activity on-the-day accurately reflects the planning.

Regrettably, the advertised event in Blackpool could not commit to ensuring the standards we expect in our RAQ and it had been cancelled.

In 2021, Lincoln will now not take place in January, though the organiser is currently cross-checking requirements with his host venues and developing the planning.

hello@focalcountdown.co.uk Please direct any enquiries to

We are Focal — the unofficial Countdown tournament circuit,

running events across the UK and Ireland.



If you watch Channel 4’s Countdown, or you’re a board game enthusiast, or you’d just like to try something new, you’ll meet new friends and learn new words at our fun and welcoming events.

There are no membership fees. You can come to as many events as you want, whenever you want. Details for every event are published on separate pages (see the menu bar at the top), and there’s usually a pub trip or group meal to look forward to afterwards.

How does Focal work?

Everyone who plays at one of our events scores Focal Points — the better you do, and the more people that attend, the more points you get. At the end of the year, the eight highest scorers are invited back for the Finals! For more details, head to our FAQs page.

All of our events run at weekends, mostly on Saturdays, but each one offers something different — such as a Pointless-style quiz, a fun magazine, or a darts competition — and we pride ourselves on bringing a wide range of formats and ideas under one banner. We ran 13 events in 2019.

Is Focal endorsed by Countdown?

No — it’s run by a band of hardy volunteers, led by a chair and a treasurer who pull together our accounts. It is completely unofficial, not televised and not-for-profit. No copyright infringement is intended.

Focal 2019 Finals Day

Our year-end Finals contest for 2019 took place at the Molineux Stadium, home of Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers. We’ve put together this short video recapping the Grand Final match between Bradley Horrocks and Callum Todd.

Video length: approx 12 mins. Sit back and enjoy!

Last updated: 9/9/2020