| Brain Games | |
|---|---|
| Presented by | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes (seasons 2–6, 9) 50 minutes (seasons 1, 7–8) |
| Production companies | Magical Elves Productions National Geographic Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | National Geographic |
| Release | October 9, 2011 – March 4, 2022 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Brain Games is an American popular science television series that explores cognitive science by focusing on illusions, psychological experiments, and counterintuitive thinking. The series debuted on National Geographic in 2011 as a special.[1] Its return as an original series in 2013 set a record for the highest premiere rating for any National Geographic original series with 1.5 million viewers.[2]
Neil Patrick Harris was the unseen narrator in the first season, replaced by Jason Silva for the remainder of the series as its host and presenter; in addition, sleight-of-hand artist Apollo Robbins has been a frequent consultant and illusionist guest on the show. As time passed, Magician Eric Leclerc took over this role in seasons 4 and 5. The show is interactive, encouraging television viewers, often along with a handful of live volunteers, to engage in visual, auditory, and other cognitive experiments, or "brain games", that emphasize the main points presented in each episode. Experts like Sri Sarma also explain why humans react in a certain way because of the brain.
The series is deemed acceptable for use toward E/I credits, and Litton Entertainment added repurposed reruns of the show to its One Magnificent Morning block in fall 2017.[3]
In December 2019, it was announced that a new format of this series, hosted by Keegan-Michael Key, would premiere on January 20, 2020; neuroscientist Daniel Levitin was brought in as a script consultant for the season to ensure accuracy. Its sneak peek was played on December 29, 2019.[4][5] On January 17, 2020, a ninth season was announced,[6] but production was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ninth season was branded as "Brain Games: On the Road",[citation needed] and was hosted by Chuck Nice and was released on both National Geographic and Disney+.
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