Brain Games: On the Road

The initial wonder of this traveling game show will wear off after a few episodes for many, but kids in the sweet spot will continue to love having their minds blown. After many seasons, Brain Games has taken its unique brand of educational entertainment on the road. While still fascinating, the result is a step down on the enjoyment scale. The franchise is known for using mind-bending tricks and joyful animations to explain how the brain works in a manner that's entertaining to both kids and adults. By moving from a format that requires 100% viewer interaction to a game show style competition in season eight, the show hit peak enjoyment levels; especially with the addition of host Keegan-Michael Key and a bevy of celebrity contestants.

This latest version takes the competition on the road to regular folk, likely as a response to the pandemic, but fails to add anything compelling and becomes more than a little boring. Viewers can still interact with some of the games, and will certainly learn from all of them, but without the added celebrity pizazz (and a much higher production value) the challenges that can't also be done at home quickly become dull viewing for most. The exception being young elementary students who will likely continue to find the show fascinating.