After more than 50 years of existence, “Numbers and Letters” is coming to an end. The oldest game show in France will no longer be broadcast at the start of the 2024 school year on France 3. The France Télévision group announced on Sunday. It must be said that the audiences were no longer there: 700,000 viewers on average, compared to seven million in the 1990s. However, in Isère, around ten members of the Bourgoin-Jallieu “Numbers and Letters” club continue to meet every Tuesday at the Bourgoin-Jallieu multipurpose hall and they do not intend to stop playing.
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Dominique, member of the club since 1989
A few sheets of draft paper, a pen in hand, it’s Dominique who gets the ball rolling. A member of the club since its creation in 1989, she installed an overhead projector to project the game on the wall. She starts the countdown. Here we go ! The dozen retirees who came to participate immersed themselves in a series of mental calculations.
The announcement of the end of the game show caused him a lot of pain. “It’s still a game that was very old, that many people watched. It’s too bad“, laments Dominique, even if she judges that “the game had deteriorated considerably for several years since he only spent the weekend.”
“People risk staying at home”
Dominique fears that he will no longer be able to recruit new members. “People were watching the show. They loved coming to the club to play as a community. Having no more support, they risk staying at home. It’s not the same to play in front of your screen and to be in front of other people. We often manage to meet at a restaurant, for example.“, assures Dominique.
Jacqueline joined the club in January. “As I passed by the multipurpose room, I saw that there was a club. I walked in and was told I could start.”, remembers this 72-year-old player. “I like mental arithmetic, I like numbers, meet other people Also. As I lost my husband, I am all alone with my son. It passes my time, it takes my mind off things.”.
The club is recruiting
With Michelle sitting to her right, she doesn’t understand why the game on TV has stopped. “I still find that absurd. It’s still an interesting game. There will no longer be a word game that develops the intellect a little on television “, lament the two septuagenarians. The club which has lost 70% of its members since the committee is seeking to recruit at all costs.
- Future members can contact Elisabeth by calling her at 06 79 74 16 25
