Braingames (1983 TV series) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Braingames
Braingames title card
Created by	Sheila Nevins
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	6
Production
Running time	25 minutes
Production company(s)	Eliot Noyes Productions (pilot) Home Box Office
Release
Original network	HBO
Original release	November 8, 1983 (1983-11-08) – December 22, 1985 (1985-12-22)

Braingames was a fun American TV show that aired on HBO in the mid-1980s. It was an educational program, meaning it was made to help you learn and think! Each episode was about 30 minutes long and featured animated puzzles and challenges. These "brain-teasers" used different animation styles, like stop-motion and cartoons, to get viewers thinking and solving problems.

Exploring Braingames Episodes

The very first episode of Braingames came out in 1983. It had a female Sphinx in its opening scene. Later, five more episodes were made between 1984 and 1985. These new episodes featured a friendly gentleman with an egg for a head in the intro. They included both brand-new games and some favorites from the first episode.

After these, a special episode called "The Best of Braingames" was created. It showed five of the most popular games from earlier episodes. This special also had a unique "Riddler" segment. In it, Chuck Roast announced the winners of a contest for funny riddles.

Every episode of Braingames ended with a sad voice saying, "Braingames...is now...over." The "Best of" episode had a similar sad ending. For the very last episode of the series, an even sadder voice cried, "Brain Games... Is over...for good."

Even though full episodes haven't been shown much recently, HBO sometimes played single games between other shows in the late 1980s and mid-1990s. From 1996 to 2000, full episodes were occasionally shown each month on HBO Family.

Fun Brain-Teasing Games

Braingames featured many different types of games designed to make you think! Here are some of them:

Sound and Sight Challenges

• Earplay - This game played five different sounds for about 15 seconds. Then, the sound would play again, but this time you'd see the video that went with it. Often, one of the sounds was from an arcade game!
• Eyeball Twisters - This game showed objects super close-up, making them hard to guess at first. A voice would give clues until the object was finally revealed.

Word and Number Puzzles

• Digitville - Imagine a town where everyone's head is something with numbers, like clocks or dice! In Digitville, the characters would create number games for viewers to solve. Jerry Lieberman produced this segment.
• The Riddler - Hosted by Chuck Roast, this segment was full of fun riddles for you to figure out. Joey Ahlbum produced it.
• Read Between the Lines - This was like a rebus puzzle, where a story was told, then a word puzzle appeared. You had to guess what the puzzle meant. For example, "I right I" meant "right between the eyes."
• Scrambled Word Games - There were four different games where you had to unscramble words related to a theme, which was also scrambled!
  • Lloofbat (Football) - All about an football game.
  • Aceps Gevoya (Space Voyage) - Followed an alien named BLT on his journey home through space. Janet Perlman produced this.
  • Splatnarnt (Transplant) - Featured a mad scientist and his assistant creating a monster, while you unscrambled names of body parts. Fred Garbers produced and directed this.
  • Mane Tath Storp (Name That Sport) - A game-show style segment where contestants and viewers had to unscramble the name of a sport being described. Bill Davis produced and directed this.

Visual and Memory Games

• Faces/Whosamawhatchamacallits - These games showed a distorted image that slowly became clearer as clues were given. You had to guess who or what it was. They often started with a superhero and ended with a monster.
• Memory Rock/Workout - You'd see four people, either in a rock band or exercising. Then, questions were asked about what they were wearing or doing. For example, "How many rings was the piano player wearing?"
• Odd Card Out/Safari Solitaire - Four cards with pictures were shown, and you had to find the one that didn't belong based on a question. "Safari Solitaire" focused specifically on animals. Stan Smith produced these.
• Uninvited Guests - Groups of four people would arrive at a fancy party, but one didn't quite fit in. You had to figure out who the "uninvited guest" was.
• Eyewitness - A man would quietly rob a bank. Later, four suspects were shown, and you had to guess who the robber was, remembering what could naturally change about a person in a few hours. Michael Sporn produced this.
• Museum Misstakes - This segment was set in a museum, and every picture had something unusual or out of place. One famous painting even had an animated cameo of the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street!
• Unidentified Flying Pranksters - A group of silly aliens would visit a town and change one small detail. Your job was to spot what they changed! John Canemaker produced this.
• Aliens - You had to find the one alien out of four that didn't belong with the others.
• Mysteriosos - Similar to "The Riddler," this game involved guessing what "droodles" (simple drawings) represented. Joey Ahlbum produced it.

History and Logic Puzzles

• Tales of Wrongovia - This was a history quiz about anachronisms (things that don't belong in their time period). A historical person faced a problem, and you saw four items. You had to guess which item wasn't available during their time. Michael Sporn produced this.
• Ze Inspector and Ze Lost Princess - This segment featured an inspector trying to find a princess using a letter that was actually a rebus puzzle. Bill Davis produced this.