Braingames

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Braingames is an educational program shown on HBO in the mid 1980s. It was a half-hour program consisting of brain-teasing animated skits (either stop-motion or cartoon) designed to make the viewers think.

[edit] Episodes

There was one episode made in 1983, then in 1984-85, 5 new episodes were made with new games, and a few brought back from the original episode. After that, an episode called "The Best of Braingames" was made which had five of the best Braingames games from the other 5 episodes, plus a special episode of "The Riddler" (see below) where Chuck Roast read off the winners of a contest for "The Absotively Posolutlely Worst Riddle in America".

Although full episodes have not been shown in years, HBO occasionally has shown games singly between programs.

[edit] Games

The following is a list of the different games played on the various shows:

  • Earplay - From both the original episode and played on two of the later episodes, this consisted of 5 different sounds being made. First the viewer simply heard the sound for about 15 seconds, then the sound would be rewound and replayed, this time with the corresponding video footage. (NOTE: In all three showings, at least one of the sounds was an arcade game.)
  • Digitville - Here, we visit a town where the entire population consists of people and pets whose heads are actually items that use numbers (clocks, etc.), and they come up with number games for us to play. This was played on two of the newer episodes.
  • Faces/Whosamawatchamacallits - Faces was on the first episode, then Whosamawatchamacallits was the game on the next 5 episodes. The two games were similar, showing initially a distorted image, while the voice gives clues until the image is clear.
  • Tales of Wrongovia - Kind of an anachronism quiz. We go back into history, where a historical person is faced with a dilemma. Each dilemma involves showing four different items that would all be useful for the person in question, but in all but two, one of the items wasn't available to them at the time. (In the other two, only one of the four items was available.) It's the job of the viewer to guess which one couldn't (or could) be used.
  • The Riddler - Chuck Roast hosts a game full of riddles. Need I say more?
  • Memory Rock/Workout - Four people are shown either in a rock band or exercising, and questions are asked that involve how many of them are of a specific way (either what they are wearing or what they are doing). In "Rock", there was one more question that did not involve a number, and that was to ask what the name of the song being played.
  • Odd Card Out/Safari Solitaire - The original episode had Odd Card Out, and the subsequent episodes had Safari Solitaire. The idea was that four cards were dealt with different pictures, but one was set apart from the rest based on the question asked. Odd Card Out was based on numerous things, but Safari Solitaire was specifically geared towards animals (and humans).
  • Uninvited Guests - Groups of four people who look like they belong together come into a very upscale party, but one doesn't belong. We get to find out which one is uninvited.
  • Eyewitness - A man goes in and quietly robs a bank. Then 6 hours later, four suspects are caught and we get to guess which one was the robber. We are reminded that only certain things can naturally be changed on a person in a 6 hour time span and that nothing on the suspects is fake (no putty, makeup, wigs, or fake facial hair).
  • Museum Misstakes - We visit a museum and every picture we are shown includes something out of the ordinary.
  • Eyeball Twisters - Things are shown so close-up that you couldn't possibly tell what they are immediately while the voice-over gives clues.
  • Between the Lines - What looks to be a "chalkboard" drawing of a partial picture is shown, and the voice-over gives ideas of what it could be (some very unusual things).
  • Lloofbat/Aceps Gevoya/Splatnarnt - Three different games all involving unscrambling words associated with the theme. Lloofbat (football) was all things regarding a typical football game as it is played. Aceps Gevoya (space voyage) involved things an alien named BLT runs into as he makes his way home after spending quite an amount of time exploring space. Splatnarnt (transplant) involved a mad scientist and his female assistant creating a monster, and we unscramble inner parts of the body.
  • Unidentified Flying Pranksters - A group of wild aliens come to a typical town and changes one minor detail from what we originally saw. The viewer gets to guess what they did.
  • Ze Inspector and Ze Lost Princess - Title written in the style of an Indiana Jones movie, this involved an inspector reading a map to find a princess, and literally the map was a rebus puzzle.
  • Name That Sport - Different people describe a sport to the viewer and they have to guess which one it is.
  • Aliens
  • Mysteriosos

[edit] Home Release

The episodes were released on three different VHS videotapes in the 1980s and 1990s, but there has been no word on DVD release as of yet.