Brainbox Challenge
| Brainbox Challenge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Presented by | Clive Anderson |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Two |
| Original release | 25 February – 21 March 2008 |
Brainbox Challenge was a short-lived game show hosted by Clive Anderson and produced by BBC Manchester. It was broadcast weekdays on BBC Two, for most of its run in an evening slot, but in a lunchtime slot for its final week.
Brainbox Challenge has been created to improve viewers' mental abilities. The kinds of rounds include "Memory", "Language", "Visual and Spatial", "Numerical" and "Coding", designed to test different areas of the brain.
Each episode features five head-to-head challenges based on these different skills. The winner of each challenge becomes the "Brainbox Champion" and is shown a picture of their next challenger, along with their name, age, and occupation. The champion is then given the chance to leave with the money they've won ("take the cheque") or face that opponent ("take the challenge"). If they choose to take the challenge, they risk losing some or all of the money they have won by defeating challengers (see money ladder below). However, any money won in the bonus round (see below) is safe. If they choose to take the cheque, the new challenger will take the champion's podium, and a second new challenger will be introduced to challenge them.
A contestant can win up to £13,000 on the show--£10,000 for winning 15 challenges in a row, plus £3,000 for three perfect bonus rounds.
Money ladder
Every challenge players win moves them one step up on the money ladder. Once they reach one of the amounts in bold, they are guaranteed to leave with at least that much money, plus whatever money they have won in the bonus round.
- £10,000
- £8,000
- £7,000
- £6,000
- £5,000
- £4,000
- £3,000
- £2,500
- £2,000
- £1,500
- £1,000
- £750
- £500
- £250
- £100
Games
Most of the games, except Pairs in Squares, Total Recall and Word Matrix, are played on the buzzer. The first player to buzz in with the correct answer earns a point. There's no penalty for a wrong answer, but the other player will get a chance to answer.
- Animal Magic
- To begin with, the players are shown a series of animal photos with each one accompanied by an animal sound, but not the sound normally associated with the animal pictured. For example, a picture of a dog might be accompanied by a rooster crowing. Afterwards, they are shown one of the animals, and they'll have to name the animal whose sound accompanied that animal's picture.
- Answer Wall
- To begin with, the players are shown 20 different words for 20 seconds. After that, Clive will give them a series of brief definitions for some of the words that were on the wall.
- Code Nine
- The players are shown an equation. They must convert each digit in the equation to a different digit by subtracting it from 9, then solve the new equation, and finally convert each digit in the solution by subtracting it from 9. For example, if the equation were 8 + 4, the players would have to convert it to 1 + 5, which equals 6, and finally take that 6 away from 9 to give them the final solution of 3.
- Compass Confusion
- The players are shown a regular 8-pointed compass. After being shown where the points are on the compass, the points disappear. A little red dot appears on one of the points. Clive then shouts out a number followed by either "c" for clockwise or "ac" for anti-clockwise. For example, if the red dot started at "South" and Clive shouts out "13c", the answer would be "North-East", because if the dot moved 13 spaces clockwise, it would get to "North-East" from "South". Initially the compass is displayed with north at the top, but it is rotated twice in the course of the round to attempt to confuse the players.
- Double Trouble
- In this game, the players will see one arithmetic expression and hear a different one. The object of the game is to solve both expressions, then add the results together.
- Fading Figures
- The players are shown a set of simple arithmetic expressions for a few seconds, then they'll disappear one at a time. Once all the expressions have gone, the players may buzz in and give the correct sums in order from left to right. At the start, they begin with three sums, but by the end of the round it's four sums.
- Five A Day
- The players are given 20 seconds to memorise 5 different fruits, each of which has a different numerical value from 1 to 5. An expression such as orange + grapes - cherries will appear in the windows on the screen (similar to a fruit machine), and the players have to figure out the solution. The expressions will start out easy, but about halfway through, pairs of fruits will start to appear in each window, in which case the players will have to add together the values of those two fruits to solve the expression.
- Letter Link
- The players are shown a group of four four-letter words, each missing the same letter. They have to identify the one letter that will fill all four blanks. For example, if the words were _ORD, LI_K, NI_E and EPI_, the missing letter would be "C" because it forms the words CORD, LICK, NICE, and EPIC.
- Pairs In Squares
- This game is similar to Pelmanism or Concentration. The players are shown 10 numbered boxes, each of which hides a distinctive sound. Starting with the challenger, the players will take turns calling out pairs of numbers in an effort to find a pair of matching sounds. If a player does find a pair, they get a point and another turn. If not, it'll be their opponent's turn. Whoever has more points after all five pairs have been found wins.
- Picture This
- The players are shown the outline of a common object, and the first player to buzz in and identify it earns a point. It's not as easy as it sounds, though, because only small portions of the outline are visible at any one time.
- Shaping Up
- The players have to identify which of the ten shapes at the top of the screen have been used in a compound shape. The shapes may be any size, but are always in the same orientation as they are displayed at the top.
- Space Hopper
- The players are shown a sentence that contains a hidden word of at least four letters, along with a short clue as to what the hidden word is. For example, if the sentence were "Should Rebecca lend Arthur any money?", and the clue were "Used to tell time", the answer would be "calendar".
- Sphere and Now
- The players are shown 2 spheres with different sets of coloured letters rotating around them. The colour pattern is the same on both spheres. Clive will give one of the words contained in the left sphere, and the players must find that word, then find the word in the sphere on the right that matches the word's colour pattern.
- Symbol Solution
- The players are shown a code of 10 symbols and 10 letters. They are then presented with a photo and a set of coded words. They simply have to decode the words, then buzz in and identify which of the words most closely relates to the photo.
- Third Dimension
- The players have to correctly identify how many faces a three-dimensional shape has while it is rotating and spinning around.
- Total Recall
- In this game of remembering sequences, the players are shown a group of 8 related items. To begin with, a sequence of 4 of those items will flash, and the challenger must repeat the names of those items in the order they flashed. After that, it will then be the champion's turn to remember a different sequence of 4 items. If both players correctly remember their sequence, additional rounds are played with sequences of 5, then 6, then 7, and so on until only one player remembers his sequence correctly (or remembers a longer sequence from the beginning) and in so doing wins the game.
- Vowel of Silence
- The players are shown a series of words with all the vowels taken out, like "NTLLGNC", and they'll have to figure out the whole word (in this case, "intelligence").
- Word Matrix
- Starting with the challenger, each player gets their own word matrix, with three "core letters" at the centre. Other sets of letters will scroll across the screen, but only seven of those sets can be put in front of or behind the core letters to spell English words. For example, if the core letters were "LET", and the player sees "TAB" scrolling by, they should call out "tablet", and if they see "TER", they should say "letter". Whoever identifies more of the words in their matrix will win the game. If there's a tie, the player who makes fewer wrong guesses will win.
The Brainbox Challenge
At the end of each show, the current "Brainbox" gets a chance to play "The Brainbox Challenge" round to try to win a bonus of up to £1,000. This money is safe, even if they lose the first show, when they return the next day. The object is to correctly recall a series of up to 16 shapes—stars, circles, squares, triangles and diamonds. The game ends after any incorrect answer. Each correct answer is worth £50, but if the contestant can correctly recall all 16 shapes, they will win a £200 bonus on top of the £800 for the 16 correct shapes, for a total of £1,000.
The Brainbox Challenge changes slightly from week to week. In the first week of shows, the object was simply to recall which shape appeared two before the shape on the screen (thereby beginning to name shapes when the third one appears). In the second week, numbers were added onto the shapes to add further confusion. The contestant had to remember both the shape and the number on it. Although the contestants appeared unaware of this, each shape had its own distinct number (stars were always 1s, circles 2s, squares 3s, triangles 4s and diamonds 5s). In the third week, the numbers were taken off, and the object became to recall what shape appeared three before the one on screen. For the fourth and final week (of the first series at least), the numbers were put back on the shapes and the object was to recall both the shape and number appearing three before the one on screen.