Rounds continue with four more Letters Games followed by another Numbers Game then three more Letters Games followed by a third Numbers Game. Each character has 4 base actions (Look, Move, Push and Control) plus a Special Talent (if enabled). Lay the board out on the table. Each player is given a sheet from the pad and gets hold of a pen or pencil. The letter cards are separated into two individual piles, vowels and consonants. Each pile is shuffled thoroughly and placed by the side of the board. Players might find it helpful to use a piece of blank paper to assist them. START OF PLAY: In COOPERATION mode, there are 8 turns for 4 characters, 7 turns for 5 characters and 6 for 6 characters.

The Countdown game show has become somewhat of a British institution. The first programme was aired on Channel 4 in 1982 and the game show has over 5,000 episodes behind it, across no less than 65 series, making it one of the longest-running game shows in existence. At the end of each turn, first character becomes the last one, and is turn marker is moved to the right of the previous last character on the countdown board. Move your character to an adjacent room. If the room is still hidden, it is revealed when you reach it. The room will stay revealed for the rest of the game. A room effect applies every time a character enters it.

ROUND 5 - THE FIRST NUMBERS GAME:

When all actions have been resolved, the TURN ENDS: All Control tokens are removed from the complex. The first player becomes the last player. In Suspicion Mode, the prisoners can escape even if 1 or 2 guards remain within the ROOM 25. Also, if only one prisoner has been killed or didn’t reach Room 25 in time, the others can still escape but ONLY during the LAST TURN of the countdown. All the players have a starting clue. During the first Turn, before the first Programming phase, each player secretly looks at one of the four rooms adjacent to the Central room, and replaces it face-down in its initial location. Warning: Each player looks at ONE room only, even if they play more than one characters. PROGRAMMING: All players program simultaneously up to 2 actions by turn and, if they want, the ADRENALINE only once in the game Each player has thirty seconds to try and reach the target number using any or all of the six numbers just once by means of any combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

If more than one player has the joint longest word then these players all score. These scores are written in the adjacent Round Box on these player's Score Sheet and are then added to their Total Score Box. The M.A.C. cards (MOVE ALONE COMPLEX) generate immediate events that affect the complex or the characters and make the game much more difficult (but might provide assistance). In COOPERATION mode, players control prisoners trying to find Room 25 and escape together before the end of the countdown. The player to the left of the next player choosing cards takes the four large numbers cards and mixes them up before placing them face down on the table. This player also shuffles the twenty smaller Numbers Cards and places them in a separate pile on the table. This player then writes down in secret a three digit target number in the Target Box on their Score Sheet for Round 5. Warning! During the setup the Robot rooms are part of the 12 rooms that is placed on the Exit Zones, as the Vision Room.After the thirty seconds is up all players compare words. The player with the longest word wins the number of points equal to the number of letters in their word.