Brain Wall

Brain Wall (脳カベ, Nōkabe) is a component of the Japanese game show Tonneruzu no Minasan no Okage deshita (とんねるずのみなさんのおかげで した, lit. "Thanks to the people from Tunnels." ["Tunnels" is a comedy pair.]) Video clips from the show proliferated on video-sharing websites and the concept was eventually adopted by several countries. It became popularly known to non-Japanese speakers and YouTube fans as simply Human Tetris or Hole in the Wall, named for its involvement of the physical body and a supposed close resemblance to the rules of the video game Tetris.

Game rules

The rules of the game are the same, and how points are awarded vary from country to country.

• Contestants wearing helmets and elbow and knee pads and a silver (or gold in some countries) spandex unitard stand on the "Play Area". A Styrofoam wall, 4 metres (13 ft) wide by 2.3 metres (7.5 ft) tall, consisting of cut-outs resembling Tetris blocks, is revealed and moves towards the contestants in a 15 metres (49 ft) path. They have to make use of their wits in seconds to assume the position that will allow them to fit through the opening(s). Later episodes involve the use of more complicated shapes, such as words, gymnastic positions, shapes from popular culture, and even above-ground-level shapes. Contestants usually have to twist and bend their bodies with agility and dexterity to fit through the hole in the wall.
• If contestants fail to fit through the hole, they are pushed by the wall into a pool of water that is 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) deep behind them and no points are awarded.
• Contestants play in teams and only win points if they are able to fit though the wall. Points are awarded if the contestant(s) in the round are able to successfully cross the Styrofoam wall completely, except in the following situations :
  • No points are awarded if any of the contestants fall into the water due to any reason, even if they successfully pass through the wall. (There have been instances where the wall is cleared but contestants find themselves trapped over the water)
  • No points are awarded if the contestants crash through the styrofoam wall causing it to break apart.^[1]

The first component of the game involves a solo contestant, while later components involve groups of two people or more.

International versions

The production rights to the show outside Japan is owned by FremantleMedia and the program has been produced in 45 countries.

Country	Name	Host	Network	First day aired
Arab world[2]	جدار جبار Jidar Jabbar	Mansour El Ghassani (Season 1, 2010) Said Al Memari (Season 2, 2011)	Abu Dhabi TV	September 20, 2010
Argentina[3]	El muro infernal	Alejandro Wiebe	Telefe	March 3, 2008
Australia[4]	Hole in the Wall	Jules Lund	Nine Network	August 6, 2008
Brazil[5]	De cara no muro	Fausto Silva	Rede Globo	May 2009
Belgium Flemish[6]	Hole in the Wall	Roos van Acker	VT4	September 2009
Bulgaria[7]	Дупка в Стената	Rumen Lukanov	Nova TV	July 18, 2008
Cambodia[8]	Hole in the Wall: ល្បែងជ្រែកជញ្ជាំង		CTN (2011-2013) MyTV (2013-present)	September 10, 2011
Canada French[9]	Le mur	Benoît Gagnon	V	September 3, 2009
Chile[10]	La muralla infernal	Javiera Contador and José Miguel Viñuela Fernando Godoy and Lucila Vit	Megavisión	March 16, 2009 - May 2009 July 2009 - November 2009
Croatia[11]	Pazi, zid!	Mia Kovačić	Nova TV	September and October 2008
Colombia[12]	Duro contra el muro	Carlos Calero	RCN TV	February 4, 2008
China	动洞墙		SMG
China	正大综艺-墙来啦	Qiang Shi (史强) & Xun Zhu (朱迅)	CCTV	September 19, 2010
Denmark	Hul i hovedet	Uffe Holm	TV3+
Estonia	Auk Seinas	Tõnis Milling	TV3	Spring 2009
Finland	Reikä seinässä	Mari Kakko	Nelonen	March 15, 2009
France	Le Mur Infernal	Laurence Boccolini	TMC
Germany	Ab Durch die Wand	Sonja Zietlow and Dirk Bach	RTL	October 18, 2009
Greece	Μια τρύπα στο νερό Mia trypa sto neró		Mega TV	2008
Hong Kong	大咕窿	Yishan Ng and Calinda Yuen-wai Chan and Dickson Wong	TVB	May 9, 2009
Hungary	Kalandra Fal!	Sebestyén Balázs and János Vadon	RTL Klub	May 4, 2009
India	Hole in the Wall	Cyrus Sahukar	POGO
Indonesia	Hole in the Wall Knockout Indonesia	Pandji Pragiwaksono	RCTI Global TV	December 17, 2007
Israel	ראש בקיר Rosh Bakir	Shai Goldstein and Daror Rafaeli	channel 10	2009
Japan	脳カベ Nōkabe	Tunnels	Fuji TV	July 26, 2006
Lithuania	Skylė sienoje	Aistė Paškevičiūtė and Džiugas Siaurusaitis	TV3	2009
Malaysia	Bolos	Zizan Razak	Astro Ria	2009
Mexico	Aguas Con El Muro	Martín Altomaro and María Inés	TV Azteca	2009, 2010–present
Netherlands	Hole in the wall	Beau van Erven Dorens and Gerard Joling	SBS6	October 10, 2009
Norway	Ylvis møter veggen	Kjetil André Aamodt and Kjersti Idem along with Ylvis	TVNorge	2008
Paraguay	El muro	Roberto Willis	Canal 13	November 2008
Peru	Tecsuperate			June 2009
Philippines	Hole in the Wall	Ogie Alcasid and Michael V.	GMA Network	April 20, 2009
Poland	Hole in the Wall	Adam Małczyk and Adam Grzanka	TV4	March 7, 2009
Portugal	Salve-se Quem Puder	Diana Chaves and Marco Horácio	SIC and SIC K	June 1, 2009
Romania	Vedete-n Figuri	Dan Fintescu and Dina Marina	Prima TV	January 16, 2009
Russia	Стенка на стенку Stenka na Stenku	Ivan Urgant and Alexander Tsekalo	ORT
South Korea	Jiwhaza	Choi Gwi-hwan	SBS	April 14, 2007
Southeast Asia	Hole in the Wall	Brooke Burns and Mark Thompson (2008–2009) Teck Holmes (2010)	Disney Channel Asia	November 2012
Spain	El Muro Infernal	Julian Iantzi	La Sexta	Summer 2008
Sweden	Hål i väggen	Johan Petersson (Season 1, 2008) Erik Ekstrand, Mackan Edlund (Season 2, 2009-2010)	TV6	September 14, 2008
Taiwan	齊天大勝 Who's the Winner Topic: Hole in the Wall 爆衝型人	Jacky Wu	TTV	Introduced: 16 June 2007 - 29 September 2007
Thailand	Wall feisty game	Sherry Mushroom Pho, Somjit Jongjohor	BBTV Channel 7	2011
Turkey	Bak Su Duvara	Behzat Uygur	Star TV	2009
Ukraine	Море по коліно More po Kolino	Dmytro Perepelkin	ICTV	August 29, 2010
United Kingdom	Hole in the Wall	Dale Winton Anton du Beke	BBC One	September 20, 2008
United States	Hole in the Wall	Brooke Burns and Mark Thompson	Fox	September 7, 2008
		Teck Holmes	Cartoon Network	October 6, 2010
Vietnam	Người đi xuyên tường	Hoài Linh and Đại Nghĩa	VTV3	December 26, 2014

References