Brain Game (North Carolina)

Brain Game is a weekly quizbowl-type show for high school students that airs on WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina. The program debuted in 1997. It currently airs at 11:30 am on Saturdays, and the current host is former WRAL traffic reporter Mark Roberts. Early programs were hosted by WRAL weathercaster Greg Fishel.

1 Rules
- 1.1 Differences from most quizbowl games
2 Format and Segments
3 Participants and Winners
- 3.1 Recent Champions
4 External links

Rules

Each Brain Game show is contested by three teams of three players each. Teams may buzz in and attempt to answer at any time while the question is being read. Team members may confer with one another prior to answering. Academic-based questions in the games come from the standard North Carolina curriculum for ninth and tenth graders.

Prior to fall 2008, the teams with the nine best scores advanced to a playoff of three semifinal games, with the winners advancing to a championship game. Teams could advance to the semifinals without winning their regular season games - only the score accumulated during the regular season game determined the playoff teams.

In the fall of 2008, the rules were changed so that the winners of each game would automatically advance to the playoffs. The best non-winning high score qualified a team as a "wild card" in the playoffs.

Differences from most quizbowl games

Brain Game is significantly different from most quizbowl formats in several ways:

Brain Game allows three players to compete at a time, whereas most formats permit four players
Regardless of who buzzes in on a team, anyone on the team may answer the question
Three teams compete at a time, whereas most formats have two teams compete at a time
Some questions are accompanied by an audio or visual clue by means of a screen located on the set

Format and Segments

Brain Game shows consist of the following segments:

Pop-Up Culture
- 10 questions about pop culture, worth twenty points up or down
Headliners
- 10 questions about current events, worth twenty points up or down
Word Power
- teams buzz in to fill in a crossword puzzle based on clues, worth twenty points up or down
Arts and Crafts
- ten questions about art, culture, literature, and music, worth twenty points up or down
Name Game
- each team gets thirty seconds to answer five questions (directed to one team at a time), worth ten points up or down. If a team gets all five questions correct, they receive a twenty point bonus
Crunching Numbers
- ten math questions, worth twenty points up or down
Rocket Science
- ten questions about science, worth twenty points up or down
Globetrotting
- ten questions about an area of the world that varies from show to show, worth twenty points up or down
America Coast to Coast
- ten questions about an area of America that varies from show to show, worth twenty points up or down

Note that the players know beforehand what areas of the world and of the United States will be covered in the Globetrotting and America Coast to Coast rounds.

Participants and Winners

Most teams that participate in Brain Game come from the WRAL-TV viewing area, though Jay M. Robinson High School from the Charlotte area now competes regularly.

Recent Champions

The schedule switched from semesters to school years beginning in 2009-2010 season.

Results details

Season	Winner	Location
Fall 2004	Enloe	Raleigh
Spring 2005	Leesville Road	Raleigh
Fall 2005	Terry Sanford	Fayetteville
Spring 2006	Terry Sanford	Fayetteville
Fall 2006	Grimsley	Greensboro
Spring 2007	Person	Roxboro
Fall 2007	Raleigh Charter	Raleigh
Spring 2008	Raleigh Charter	Raleigh
Fall 2008	Enloe	Raleigh
Spring 2009	Grimsley	Greensboro
Spring 2010	Enloe	Raleigh
Spring 2011	School of Science and Math	Durham