BrainSurge

***BrainSurge*** is a Transmanian children's game show adapted from the same-titled American format created by Scott A. Stone and Clay Newbill and developed for the Republic of Transmanitain. Hosted by Sharon Nyman.

## Format

*BrainSurge'*s challenges are designed to test the memory and comprehension skills of its contestants.

### Level One

The contestants (ages 11-17) begin by playing a series of audiovisual puzzles. There were 6 puzzles worth 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 100 points each (for a maximum of 250 points). Each solution is a number that the contestants need to enter using their keypads. The contestants have 10 seconds to lock in their answers. The four highest-scoring contestants advance to the next round the two contestants is eliminated, but receives a consolation prize and a bucket of slime. Ties are broken by how quickly the contestants entered their answers. All eliminated contestants in this and future levels are sent down the "Brain Drain", a slide formed as a human ear containing foam.

### Level Two

During the second round, the four remaining contestants are told a story from a book read by the host and are asked questions in turn about the story. Contestants lock in their answers by sitting down on a chair. If a contestant gets a question right, a ding sound is heard. If a contestant gets a question wrong (or if they fail to answer), the chair makes a farting noise, and the contestant/team is pulled backwards through a paper "tooth" of a large face (made to resemble the original host) and eliminated from further play. This continues until two contestants remain. There were two types of questions used in Level 2. One type involved who, what, where, when, and why type questions about events in the story (in this type, if a question is missed the next player will be asked the same question, but sometimes a new question in season 1) and the other type involved players/teams naming things that the host listed in the story (e.g. name the musical instruments mentioned in the story) and in this type repeating an already said answer, including another form of that answer, counted as a wrong answer.

### Knockout Round

In the Knockout round, the two remaining contestants have ten seconds to memorize a grid of 16 numbers containing 8 pairs of images from the story. The contestants/teams then take turns matching pairs of images from the story. If a contestant makes a mistake than the game will go to a sudden death which whoever makes a match move on; if no contestant makes a mistake, the contestant who made the last correct match wins the game. At this point, the losing contestant's chair does the same thing as if a question is wrong. The contestant that lost in this round and the 2 eliminated contestants who got a question wrong from Level 2 all receive a consolation prize and go down the Brain Drain.

### Level Three: The Final Stage

For the bonus round, the contestant must successfully trace out three paths on grids within 90 seconds. The first path is 6 squares (5 squares on a season 1 episode) on a 4x4 grid, the second is 8 squares (10 squares on two season 1 episodes and 9 squares on a season 2 episode) on a 5x5 grid, and the third is 10 squares on a 6x6 grid; squares are always connected (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally). Each square has an actuator in the middle that must be stepped on to activate the square. Contestants see each path twice; the clock starts running when the contestant first activates a square. After completing a path successfully, the contestant must step on an actuator outside the board to stop the clock. Contestants are told immediately when they make a mistake, the grid turns red, makes a buzzer sound, and they must return to the start and view the pattern again before being allowed to continue; when viewing the pattern after a mistake, the clock continues to run. Contestants can win three prizes, one for completing each of the three paths, with the grand prize usually being a trip; any prizes they win on one stage are theirs to keep, regardless of the final outcome. If time runs out, the contestant must go down the Brain Drain but still keep their prizes they won, while contestants who succeed before time runs out are slimed, in-network tradition.