Mental Samurai

This feels kind of insulting to the viewer. How do I even explain it... it's a mix of juvenile "repeat the phrase", "find the missing jigsaw piece of a 3 piece puzzle", and very random pop culture questions sprinkled in. It's a complete toss up as to how far you'll even get.

It seems the idea of the robot arm is to throw off the contestant, but it's a cheap gimmick because all it seems to do is waste precious seconds while the clock is ticking down.

One cringey moment is watching a couple who claimed to be Mensa members and therefore "smarter than 98% of the population", fail in the first round.

On the plus side, Rob Lowe is a pleasant host. Unfortunately he is wasted on this.

It's a good trivia type show but the contestant chair attached to an industrial robot is a stupid gimmick. This has to be the only trivia show where the waiver must contain lines about liability regarding whiplash and back injury.

One of the worst game shows ever. The robot arm serves no purpose. (And robot arms don't go "clunk" every time they start and stop.)

Almost as much time is spent on "background pieces" about each contestant as is spent on the game.

About half the questions are embarrassingly simple. Like, repeat four words in order -- really? And then they throw in a ridiculously hard question about obscure pop songs or TV shows.

Contestants are given a time limit to complete all of the questions. Meanwhile, the clock continues to run while time is wasted by the arm moving around. Then the contestant wastes time explaining their answer. Then they say "Lock it in" and have to pull a shifter handle; what's the point of the shifter handle if they have to say "Lock it in"? Then there seems to be a random amount of time wasted until it's finally announced whether the answer is correct. All this makes no sense. If you're going to have a time limit, don't run the clock down with silly theatrics.

And what the heck does this all have to do with Japanese warriors?

I ran some quick time estimates while watching a few contestants. I would estimate that between Ava taking an inordinate and seemingly random amount of time to announce if the answer is correct and the even more random transport to the next question she wastes up to 40% of the contestants time where they literally can't do anything. And that doesn't include the time it takes her to ask the question. It also succeeds in wasting the talents of Rob Lowe as he does pretty much nothing. Oh and one more thing it wastes, the time of anyone who watches this gimmicky mess.

Hosted by Rob Lowe, "Mental Samurai" is another of those big studio games, and it features a huge robotic arm that transports contestants between questions. The object of the game is to answer all twelve questions in five minutes. If you do, you win $10,000 and a chance to play the Circle of Samurai. If you miss even one of the twelve, you fail.

The Circle of Samurai consists of four questions. Correct answers increase your winnings to $25,000, then $50,000, then $100,000. Those who go the distance also earn the title Mental Samurai. It may lack the cachet of Jeopardy Champion or American Ninja, but it's something most people will not accomplish, if the first episode is any indication.

The questions are distributed equally among four categories: Knowledge, Puzzles, Sequence, and Memory. Factual knowledge helps, but this is not a trivia quiz. What makes the task difficult is the ticking clock. The robotic arm, called AVA, is disorienting. You can train for American Ninja and Jeopardy, but you can't simulate the jerky, 3-D movements of AVA.

Rob Lowe is there for support and empathy. The game is difficult enough without an antagonist. And the questions are not tricky; they don't have to be.

The producers strive to cast contestants with interesting backgrounds and/or big personalities. This can add or subtract to the enjoyment of watching. The show is a curious diversion from other game show fare, but lacks the engagement necessary for long-term success.

Update 6-2-21: Season two has welcome improvements, like contestanta competing against each other.