Brain Warp is an electronic audio game made by Tiger Electronics and released in 1996. Players follow the spoken instructions of the game unit by choosing the correct number or color. Its catch phrase is "If you don't keep up with me, you're finished!".
The spherical unit has six colored knobs - purple, red, green, white, orange and yellow - with numbers on them, and a blue base. A second version was released in 2002 with a translucent black base. The voice calls out a color, a number, or both, depending on the game selected, and the player flips the unit so that the correct knob is facing upwards. After every four points, the game becomes faster. If the player responds incorrectly, the round is ended and the unit will make a laughing sound. There are six games in total - three where the player has to follow the command, one memory game that uses a combination of colors and numbers, a code buster game and a game called Pass Attack where players have to make up their own pattern.[1][2]
The game was the most popular in Duracell's Kids' Choice National Toy Survey in 1996.[3]
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In 1998, Tiger Electronics released a sister game to Brain Warp, a tabletop audio game called Brain Shift.[4] Players move a 'stick shift' in response to voice commands to complete color and sound patterns, and the game becomes increasingly fast.[5] The game requires close attention, and teaches children to recognize and replicate patterns.[6] It came second in the 1998 Duracell Kids' Choice National Toy Survey,[7] and gained a "Seal of Approval" from the US-based National Parenting Center.[8] The hype around the release by Tiger Electronics of the Furby at the same time allowed the company to concentrate its marketing on Brain Shift.[9] This game has two different versions of startup up. It either says "Ok, listen up" or "Alright!" followed by its catchphrase, "Get your brain in gear and let's play Brain Shift." This game has 6 different colors: red, green, yellow, blue, orange and white. The game will then say "Now choose your game" and There are six different games:[4]
Some newer units of Brain Shift had a 'Tiger recommends Duracell' sticker attached to the retail packaging and where the batteries are inserted. This was because at that time, Tiger was allowed to promote Duracell batteries on their games.