Recently, the Brain Ring game has returned to domestic television. What is it, what are its rules, what are the main features, we will talk about this in our article. In short, this is a popular television intellectual game.
Project history
For the first time on Russian television they learned about this game in 1990. On May 18, the first Brain Ring came out. What is it, then it was not clear to everyone. Initially, the idea of an intellectual game, by analogy with the famous project “What? Where? When?” Was born by Vladimir Voroshilov. Only in the new version did two teams of experts participate. Every year, the "Brain Ring" gained popularity.
In the seasons "What? Where? When?" The years 1987-1989 tried to organize something similar, when several teams competed at the same time at the table. Then they decided to open a new separate project "Brain Ring". What it will be, Voroshilov himself came up with Boris Kryuk, who became the stage director, in 1993, he was replaced by Andrei Kozlov, who is the presenter today.
First shoot
Filming of the first Brain Ring game took place in the Olympiets Sports Palace near Moscow, which was located in Khimki. Players and spectators were located around the tables, as well as on “What? Where? When?”. In the spring of 1991, the shooting was moved to the Moscow theater "Sphere".
Since 1992, they began shooting the Brain Ring game at one of the Ostankino studios. The atmosphere of the stadium was specially created, stands were built that were able to accommodate several thousand people at a time. Initially, the project went on the First Channel "Ostankino", then moved to the newly formed ORT.
Litigation
Quite quickly, millions of viewers learned that it was a “Brain Ring”. The organizers of the project concluded an agreement with the International Club Association “What? Where? When?”, According to which ORT was obliged to pay 35 thousand dollars for each issue.
But in the fall of 1995, the joint-stock company ORT-Reklama was formed, which fined the TV channel more than one million dollars for the fact that the amount of sponsored advertising on the air significantly exceeded the limits specified in the contract. After this incident, ORT stopped paying IAC money for all joint projects.
In 1996, litigation began. Mostly the claims of the IAC were rejected, and relations between Kozlov and Berezovsky began to escalate. IAC won the case only by contacting the Supreme Arbitration Court. After that, the creative team in full force left the channel.
After a 4-month break, “Brain Ring” began to go out on the newly appeared channel “TV Center”, in 2000 the project was closed due to the high cost of transmission, which did not pay off. A year later, Vladimir Voroshilov died, the project was abandoned for almost a decade.
Second Life
The “Brain Ring” was revived on the STS channel in 2009. In 2013, the project moved to the Zvezda channel, where it appeared on Saturday morning. In the tournament for the Cup of the Ministry of Defense, cadets of higher and secondary military educational institutions fought for victory. Compared to the format that came out on STS, this one was much more restrained. There was no live music and commentators.
In January 2018, it became known that the NTV channel became the new platform for the project. The “Brain ring” has been on NTV channel since March, officially announced that this is the Cup of Russia. Similar projects are being launched in Belarus, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine.
Rules of the game
An inexperienced viewer will not be easy to immediately understand the rules. In addition, the “Brain Ring” on NTV comes with some features. In this case, the main provisions remain unchanged.
Each issue consists of several fights that are held until one of the teams scores a certain number of points. Two teams participate in the battle, each with 6 people. One is on the red gaming table, the other is green. There are buttons on each table, by clicking on which players interrupt the time to discuss the issue. Thus, they signal that they are ready to respond.
For each correct answer, the team in the “Brain Ring” gets 1 point. If both teams could not find the right answer, the next round the number of points in the draw doubles. A maximum of 3 points can be played. If after that the teams fail to answer correctly, they will be disqualified.
False start
Of great importance in the "Brain Ring" scenario is the button. It is important to press it not only before the opponent, but also after the “Time” signal. If the team presses before this signal, it allows a false start. In this case, she loses the right to answer the question, time for discussion is provided only to rivals.
A similar situation occurs in the case of an incorrect answer to the question. The remaining time is provided to the second team to continue the discussion. Interestingly, initially in the “Brain Ring” the discussion teams were given 1 minute, now the time has been reduced to 20 seconds.
The best teams
The highest award of the Brain Ring is considered to be the Golden Brain Cup. In 2000, the winners of the last "Brain Ring" was the team of Odessa National University. It included Alexander Shatukh, Leonid Chernenko, Andrey Tsvigun, Konstantin Overchenko, Alexey Baev, team captain Vyacheslav Sannikov.
Over the years, many famous connoisseurs who were well known to viewers on the project “What? Where? When?” Played in “Brain”. In 1990, 1991 and 1994, Alexander Druz became the champion , Yelena Kislenkova won the Golden Brain 14 times in the UMA team, and Boris Burda and Vladimir Belkin often played.
New game rules
In order to increase the ratings of the project, in 2018 new rules were introduced. For example, if the opponents are left to answer 1 question in order to win the battle, the team that loses has the right to leave only one player at the table.
In this case, after the correct answer, the player receives 2 times more points. For him, the first second rule did not apply. It was introduced to fight with teams that used the so-called “power” technique by pressing the button without discussion, just to get ahead of the enemy. In this case, for a wrong answer in the first second, the player was disqualified until the end of the battle.
Later, single-player rules were improved. He got the opportunity to choose who will be the first to answer the question, even if the opponents pressed the button earlier.
Since the spectators on the project are the players themselves, who are alternately called to the table, many can not resist the prompts. To do this, there are assistants in the hall who monitor the behavior in the stands during the discussion of the issue. If someone tries to prompt, they remove him from the audience. In the history of the game there were about 30 such precedents.
Since the 1990s, it has become a tradition to arrange games with spectators in the Brain Ring timeouts. They even attracted viewers. For example, "Happy Passport" was popular. After the leader announced the final score of the battle, on which second the correct answer was given, and so on, until the six-digit number was added up from the numbers he voiced. After that, the letters of the series from the initials of the proved players were added. If one of the viewers has a passport number that matches this combination, he received a prize from the sponsor. In different years it could be a ZIL car, a snowmobile. When only part of the combination coincided in the passport, for example, 5 digits, one could expect to get a microphone from karaoke, a TV.
Draw system
In the 1990s, when the Brain Ring reached the greatest popularity, all teams were divided into three leagues. In the First League there were 20 teams, in the Premier League there were only three teams, there was also the so-called champion team, which, as a rule, bore the name of the general sponsor of the project at that time. In different years it was Samsung, Idea Bank, Doka Bread, Mivimeks and other names.
In the very first fight, which was held up to 3 points, two teams from the First League identified the winner, who got a chance to defeat the team from the Higher League. The fight was also held up to three points. His winner was in the Premier League and in the third fight, in which he fought with the current champion. This time the game was played up to 5 points.
In 1992, a linear scheme was introduced, in which the defeated team sat in the hall, and the winner fought in the ring with a new team. The champion who won the most recent battle became the champion.
In the late 1990s, a multicircle system was introduced. In each game the team won, which managed to win in three out of five battles, with each of them leading up to five points.
In the “Brain ring”, which is being played in 2018, two semifinals are held in each game, the winning teams in them fight each other in the final. The winner goes to the next stage, and the losing participants are given a chance to rehabilitate themselves in one of the subsequent games.