Trama

The Australian version of the British game show. From more than 5,000 children aged 11 and 12 who took the initial test, 48 were selected to appear in this series, with 12 appearing in each of four heats. In the first round, a number of general knowledge questions are directed at all of the contestants, which each having to choose between four possible answers. The six highest scores advance to the next round, which begins with a codebreaker, where the contestants are shown a pad with numbers and letters, similar to a telephone keypad, and have to use this to decipher a number sequence after being given a clue about the word they have to find. The order in which they crack the code determines the starting order for the next game, where the contestants select from a choice of subjects (e.g. literature, maths, geography) and have to answer as many questions correctly as possible within a given time. The three highest scores advance to the final round, where after another codebreaker, the contestants study a board of 36 squares for 10 seconds to memorize the squares containing their favourite specialised subjects. They then select a number of squares and have to answer the corresponding question, scoring 1 point if they correctly answer a general knowledge question, 2 points if they correctly answer a question in their favourite subject or 3 points if they can correctly answer a question from someone else's favourite subject. The final three from each heat make up the starting twelve for the grand final episode, where the final winner receives a $20,000 trust account and the honour of being Australia's Brainiest Kid.—Allister Coots