MINDGAME

The most popular indoor team sport, Mindgame was invented by Jacob Epstein and Scott Smith Miller in 1891 when their physical education and literature classes were accidentally scheduled for the same classroom time.

The whole wheat breakfast cereal Wheeties began its association with Mindgame in 1927. Throughout the 1930s, Wheeties increased in popularity with its sponsorship of Mindgame broadcasting. In 1936 Mindgame was introduced into the Olympics and by the end of the decade, nearly a hundred radio stations carried Wheeties sponsored college Mindgames competitions.

CBS telecast the College Bowl Mindgames from 1951 to 1963, when NBC took over, telecasting primetime All-Star Specials. By 1959 a Mindgame Hall of Fame was founded. Also in 1963, after graduating from Oxford on a full Mindgame scholarship, Hall of Famer Stephen Hawking wrote his classic Mindgame: How to Play, How to Win.

The game consists of three 60-minute periods played by four-player teams on a six-by-six grid, numbered left-to-right by rows and columns.

Every square can be paired with any of the other 15 squares, controlling the squares between. The 4 corner squares, 1, 6, 31 and 36, are the most valuable however because they potentially control more other squares and also are unstealable. The next most valuable squares are the boundary squares next to these corner squares, 2, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 25, 26, 29, 30, 32, and 35, because after the corners they are the most difficult to steal, with only 4 possibilities. Then come the mid-border, 3, 4, 13, 18, 19, 24, 33, and 34 and central squares, 15, 16, 21 and 22. Lastly comes the remaining squares, 9, 10, 14, 17, 20, 23, 27 and 28.

The game begins with a "jump ball" challenge, based on a hundred-person survey like its spinoff "Family Feud". Once a team obtains possession of the ball the player holding the ball may answer as many parts of a multi-part question on facts like another spin-off "College Bowl" as long as the player holding the ball is not tagged by an opposing player between answers.

Challenges randomly vary in difficulty and subject matter like an interdisciplinary oral exam:

Astronomy: “Name six craters on the dark side of the moon, NOT the farside of the moon, but those currently in night.”

Mathematics: “Name pi to 13 places.”

Geology: “From softest to hardest what is the Moh's scale of mineral hardness?”

General Science: “Name eight units of measurement beginning with the letter P.”

Biology: “What is the Linnaean classification of these seven flora and fauna?”

A player may pass or bounce the ball to a teammate in another open square after completing a correct response. If a team completes the full correct answer without a tag they take possession of the square of the ball-holder and any squares of their opponent in a direct line to any other of their squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

If one player fouls another by tagging during an answer, the team of the fouling player forfeits their last won square. If an opposing player intercepts a pass he or she may complete the answer for his or her own team. If an opposing player makes a tag of a player with the ball before the answer is completed, he or she may take the ball out of bounds.