Pick Your Brain was an American syndicated game show

Game show

A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 that featured children as contestants. The series ran on weekends for one year, debuting on September 18, 1993 and running until September 1994. Pick Your Brain was created by former Double Dare host Marc Summers

Marc Summers

Marc Summers is an American television personality, comedian, game show host, producer, and a two-time talk show host. He is best known for hosting the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare and currently hosts Unwrapped on The Food Network.- Early career :Summers was born Marc Berkowitz in...

, who also served as its host and executive producer. He was assisted by a giant robot named 2-XL

2-XL

2-XL was an educational toy in the shape of a robot that was introduced in 1978. 2-XL was the brainchild of Dr. Michael J. Freeman, who felt that toys should be both fun and educational. The toy was interactive, playing various tracks from a magnetic audio tape depending on the user's actions.The...

, based on the popular Tiger Electronics

Tiger Electronics

Tiger Electronics is an American toy manufacturer, best known for its handheld LCD games, the Furby, and Giga Pets. When Tiger was an independent company, Tiger Electronics Inc., its headquarters were in Vernon Hills, Illinois....

 toy of the same name and voiced by actor Greg Berg

Greg Berg

Greg Berg is an American voice actor.He has done voice-overs for various cartoons and video games. He has also been used in films as a voice match for certain male Hollywood actors...

.

Pick Your Brain was produced by Marc Summers Productions and Summit Media Group

4Kids Entertainment

4Kids Entertainment is an American film and television production company in bankruptcy since April 2011. It is known for English-dubbing Japanese anime and specializing in the acquisition, production and licensing of children's entertainment around the United States...

, and was distributed by Rysher Entertainment

Rysher Entertainment

Rysher Entertainment is the owner of TV and film programming content, primarily distributed around the world by CBS Television Distribution and CBS/ Paramount Pictures...

.

Round one

Round one was a memory-based quiz round. To start, 2-XL gave the children a choice of two characters at the beginning of the round. The children would then vote secretly as to which one they wanted to see. After the children made their selection a short film was shown to them, with Summers either playing the character in question or someone else telling a story about the character. After the film was shown Summers asked a series of seven toss-up questions about it. To answer, a player pushed a brain-shaped buzzer and the first to buzz in got to try the question; players could not buzz in until Summers read the entire question. Only one answer was allowed per question, and any child who gave a correct answer earned 25 points. If someone failed to answer correctly/at all or none of the three children buzzed in, 2-XL would give the answer himself.

At the end of the first round 2-XL asked a question to the home viewers and revealed the answer before the beginning of the second round.

Round two

In the second round all three players were joined on stage by an adult companion, who would assist them in playing. For this round 2-XL displayed three games in his window and shuffled them randomly. In order to choose a game the child had to hit one of three buttons below the window and played whatever game was displayed. Each game was conducted the same way- all three were worth a maximum of 250 points and the objectives were always to complete as many of five parts as possible.

The same three games were always featured:

• Phys-Quiz: The two players participated in a physical stunt lasting 60 seconds.
• 2 by 2: One of the players was given a subject, then given a choice of two subcategories for their partner to answer questions from.
• XL's Extra: The team that picked this was given a chance to win a bonus prize if they gave five answers to a question from a chosen subject. The players alternated giving answers, and the round ended if they got all five, took more than three seconds to answer, gave an incorrect answer, or repeated an answer.

Round three

This final round was played as a straight general knowledge quiz. This time, the children raced to light up five brains displayed in a line atop their podium. The first and second place players were given a head start, with the leader receiving two free brains and the second place player one. If any of the scores were tied the children received the same amount of brains, corresponding with their place. As in the first round, Summers would read toss-up questions and the players would buzz in to answer. Unlike in the first round, players could interrupt the question, and if a player gave an incorrect answer, the other two could then buzz in and try to answer correctly. The first player to light up all five brains won the game, a $5,000 savings bond for their education (provided by Toys "R" Us), and advanced to the bonus round.

At the end of this round the children were each given a sweatshirt with the name/logo of a college or university they wished to attend when they got older.

Bonus round

The winning child was rejoined by their adult partner to play this round. 2-XL would display two prizes in his window and shuffle them around randomly. The child was given up to three tries to try and match one of them. One of the prizes was a trip of some sort, while the other was a smaller prize or $1,000. In order to pick a prize the child would hit one of 2-XL's four buttons, which locked the choice and place and couldn't be pressed again once it was hit. Whichever prize the child matched was the one they won.

External links

• Rules for Pick Your Brain
• Pick Your Brain @ Jay Anton's Game Show Page