WRAL Brain Game

Brain Game is a long-running show that has aired on WRAL featuring teams from North Carolina. The show has aired since January 1997. Mark Roberts is the current host, who tries too hard to be hip and cannot tell the difference between ESP, ESPN, and buzzing in early on a transparent question.

Format

There are two tournaments each school year: fall and spring. On each show, three teams compete to answer questions and score points. Almost all questions are toss-ups which are worth plus or minus the value of the question; additionally, most questions can only be answered by one team. The game is divided into the following rounds.

• Pop-up culture (10 questions worth +/-10 points)¹
• Headliners (10 questions worth +/-10 points)¹
• Crossword puzzle (10 questions worth +/-20 points)
• Arts & Crafts (5 questions worth +/-20 points)
• Name game

  Each team gets 30 seconds to answer five questions, scoring +/-10 points for each question (they may pass without penalty). If a team answers all five questions correctly, that team gets a 20 point bonus.

• Crunching numbers (10 questions worth +/-20 points)
• Rocket science (10 questions worth +/-20 points)
• Globetrotting (10 questions worth +/-20 points)²
• Across America (10 questions worth +/-20 points)²

Notes

1. In these rounds, a question that is answered wrong by the first team becomes a toss-up and may be answered by one of the opposing teams. (This rule change began for the Fall 2007 season.)
2. In these rounds, the teams are given the specific topics in advance.

Before Fall 2008, Arts & Crafts was the Connections round.

Playoffs

Before Fall 2008, the top nine teams (based on scores) advanced to the playoffs. This meant that two teams that played against each other could both qualify; conversely, it also meant that two strong teams who lowered each others' scores could both miss the playoffs.

Beginning in Fall 2008, each preliminary round winner advances to the playoffs, along with the three highest scoring runners-up.