Brain Games Mini-Gauntlet
- Year
- 2020
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- Social
- Agency
- Neo-Pangea
Objective
National Geographic needed to build hype for the new season of Brain Games ahead of a fixed air date, and a standard trailer couldn't do the job: the show is about testing your brain, so agency NeoPangea argued the only honest pitch was to let viewers try the challenge themselves rather than just watch someone else do it.
Solution
The ad appears right in the Facebook or Instagram feed as a retro, pixel-art arcade game — tap to open it and you're straight into a three-round "mini-gauntlet": a coordination challenge, a face-off against a mentalist, and a quick-thinking speed test, all in chiptune sound and vertical phone framing. Points tally up as you go, and the closing screen stacks your score against one of the season's celebrity guests, from Rebel Wilson to Jack Black. From there the ad closes the loop with the premiere date and time and two buttons: LEARN MORE to head to the show, or REPLAY to run the gauntlet again.
- 1
The ad opens on a splash screen inside the Facebook/Instagram feed: the Brain Games logo, a pixel-art "Mini-Gauntlet" title, and host Keegan-Michael Key giving a thumbs-up against a studio backdrop.
- 2
Before each of the three mini-games, a briefing screen names the level, states its challenge and rule in a line of text, and shows an illustration of how it works; the player taps a yellow BEGIN button to proceed.
- 3
In the first mini-game, the player tilts a pitcher to pour water into a glass that drifts and tips as the room sways around it, scoring points for successful pours before a countdown timer runs out.
- 4
In the second mini-game, the player repeatedly throws rock-paper-scissors against the show's mentalist, who reveals a hidden prediction card after each round; a correct prediction against the player is marked with a red cross, and rounds continue until time expires.
- 5
In the third mini-game, a ball printed with a color's name drops in, and the player must sort it into the bin labeled with the color of the ball's text rather than the word written on it; the bins swap positions between throws, and misses are flagged with a red cross.
- 6
A completion screen tallies the points earned across all three mini-games into one final score.
- 7
That score is then compared to real celebrity guests who played the Gauntlet on air, such as Rebel Wilson, Mark Cuban, and Jack Black, with a pixel-art portrait naming the closest match.
- 8
The final screen closes with a call to watch the new season and two buttons: one links out to learn more, the other replays the mini-games without leaving the feed.
