Brain Chain
Brain Chain, the Strategy-Driven Trivia Game. Players jockey for position, answer general knowledge questions and strategically position their pieces to form a "Brain Chain"
Players	2–3 players or teams
Age range	8 +
Setup time	3 minutes
Playing time	30–90 minutes
Random chance	Low
Skills required	Strategy, Teamwork, Abstract reasoning , General knowledge

Brain Chain is a strategy-driven trivia board game played by 2 or 3 players or teams [of unlimited number]. The game is played on a 10x10 category grid surrounded by an exterior track upon which the playing pawn travels. Brain Chain has been described as Trivial Pursuit with a Go-Moku win mechanic and a dash of Pueblo ^[1] . The object is to be the first player or team to connect an unbroken row of six "links" horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1800x1307, 961 KB)Picture taken of photographers Brain Chain box, August of 2003. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1800x1307, 961 KB)Picture taken of photographers Brain Chain box, August of 2003. ... PolyStation Polystation is the nameplate for a Playstation-like Famiclone. ... Look up Trivia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, as differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Team building. ... Reason is a term used in philosophy and other human sciences to refer to the faculty of the human mind that creates and operates with abstract concepts. ... Look up Trivia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Trivia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A board game is a game played with counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from, or moved across a board (a premarked surface, usually specific to that game). ... Trivial Pursuit is a board game where progress is determined by a players ability to answer general knowledge or popular culture questions. ... Gomoku, go-moku, or gobang (Japanese: 五目, five points) is a board game traditionally played with go pieces (black and white stones) on a go board (19x19 intersections). ...

Brain Chain is an educational game well-designed for family play because the rules are simple, no one is eliminated, and because the winning chain length can be adjusted to allow for a game between 30 minutes and 90 minutes long. The game is enjoyed by hard-core trivia buffs since there is a definite advantage in answering trivia questions correctly. Even so, less-trivia-oriented players enjoy the strategic component of Brain Chain and the game mechanics allow for a superior strategy to trump mere trivia knowledge. Educational games are games; board and card games, including video games that are designed to teach people, typically children, about a certain subject, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand an historical event or culture, or assit them in learning a skill as they play. ...

Brain Chain was designed by Alicia Vaz, Scot Blackburn and Kris Harter. Roy Ice designed all of the graphics on the gameboard and box. Brigit Warner edited all of the trivia questions. Brain Chain is currently owned and distributed by Brain Chain Games, Inc.

Games Magazine has named Brain Chain a Top 100 Traditional Game.^[2] GAMES Magazine (ISSN 0199-9788) is a United States-based magazine devoted to games and puzzles, and is published by GAMES Publications, a division of Kappa Publishing Group. ... GAMES Magazine is a United States-based magazine devoted to games and puzzles, and is published by GAMES Publications, a division of Kappa Publishing Group. ...

Components and Setup

The game board consists of an interior category grid surrounded by an exterior grid upon which the playing pawn travels. The playing pawn is placed on the start/move link square on the exterior track. Brain Chain also contains a deck of movement cards, a stack of Brain Pills (tokens gained by answering questions correctly), and three set of colored links.

Before the game begins, each player is given four movement cards and one Brain Pill to start the game.

Gameplay

Each turn begins with the playing of one movement card and as many Brain Pills as the player wishes and moving the playing pawn, clockwise, the corresponding number of spaces. If the pawn does not land on one of the four corner squares, the player then picks a trivia category from the same horizontal row or vertical column as the pawn that is not already occupied by a link. The opposing team will then read a trivia question from the selected category. The player may consult his or her team, but only the player whose turn it is may announce the "final answer." If answered correctly, that player places a link on the chosen square in the category grid and takes a Brain Pill.

If the pawn is moved to one of the four strategic corner squares, the player follows the instructions on that space: Pick any square on the board to answer a question, add a link, remove a link, or move a link.

Trivia Questions and Answers

Each Brain Chain trivia set consists of approximately 3,200 trivia questions and answers which are divided among eight categories: Business, Entertainment, Geography, History, Science, Sports, Potluck and Oddball.

I.D.	Category Name	Types of Questions Asked
BIZ	Business	Mergers and acquisitions, stocks and bonds, money and currency, product lines, marketing, advertising slogans, accounting, finance, transportation, business law and management.
ENT	Entertainment	Movies, television, books, fine art, pop culture, media and news
GEO	Geography	World and U.S. geography, people of the world, customs, languages and religions.
HIS	History	World and U.S. history, law, government, the military and politics.
SCI	Science	Inventors and inventions, anatomy, biology, chemistry, physics, weather, astronomy, space exploration, technology, nature, the environment, telecom, mathematics and psychology.
SPO	Sports	Vast array of questions covering professional, amateur, college, international or Olympic sports.
POT	Potluck	This is a random "catch-all" category and may include questions from any of the above categories or other general knowledge questions.
ODD	Oddball	Oddball questions are different from all of the above. Each Oddball question consists of four alternatives; three of them with some positive trait in common. The fourth one does not connect with the others. The answer identifies the one that does not fit with a brief explanation of the positive connection between the other three.
PLA	Player's Choice	Allows the player to choose from any of the above eight categories.
OPP	Opponent's Choice	Allows the player's opponent to choose the category of question asked

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Winning the Game

To create a Brain Chain and win the game a player or team must form an unbroken line of six links in a row vertically, horizontally or diagonally on the Category Grid. The yellow playing pawn is considered a link during a player's turn -- allowing a team to win by connecting five links on the border of the grid and moving the pawn to connect with those links.

Strategy

In contrast to Trivial Pursuit, which relies almost exclusively on trivial knowledge and the "luck of the die," Brain Chain places a premium on strategy. Planning each move, recognizing the opponent's movement capacities and strategic thinking play a vital role in Brain Chain. Trivial Pursuit is a board game where progress is determined by a players ability to answer general knowledge or popular culture questions. ...

Brain Chain strategies include:

• Attempting to land on the powerful corner squares while attempting to prevent the opponent from doing the same;
• Playing and/or saving Brain Pills and "Move to Corner" cards to maximum effect; and
• Creating and extending chains to take advantage of categories that the player and his or her team excel at while minimizing questions that must be answered from difficult categories; and

Moving the playing pawn to select an optimum category, for example, makes it more likely that the team will answer correctly and earn a link (and Brain Pill), but placing it too close to a crucial corner square makes it likely that an opponent will come out of the exchange ahead.

During game play, players must create a chain, determine the probable location of the opponent's chain, and form a plan that takes into account the likely rows and columns needed to be gained by both teams and determine when and under what circumstances Brain Pills and corner cards should be played for maximum impact.

References

1. ^ BoardGameGeek, Review of Brain Chain, October 2, 2006.
2. ^ GAMES Magazine, December 2006 Issue, The 2007's Buyer's Guide to Games/Top 100 Traditional Games List, at page 46

GAMES Magazine (ISSN 0199-9788) is a United States-based magazine devoted to games and puzzles, and is published by GAMES Publications, a division of Kappa Publishing Group. ...

External links

• Brain Chain official website
• Brain Chain at BoardGameGeek