What? Where? When?

What? Where? When?
Genre	Game show
Starring	Vladimir Voroshilov, Boris Kryuk
Opening theme	Owl with Crown
No. of seasons	34
No. of episodes	1000+
Production
Running time	up to 90 min. (live)
Broadcast
Original channel	Channel One
Audio format	Mono, Stereo
Original run	1975 – present

What? Where? When? (Russian: Что? Где? Когда?, translit. Chto? Gdye? Kogda?) is an intellectual game show well known in Russian-language media and other CIS states. It is produced for television by TV Igra on the Russian Channel One and also exists as a competitive game played in clubs organized by the World Association of Clubs.

Format

Throughout the game, a panel of 6 experts brainstorm in order to attempt to answer questions sent in by viewers. For each question, the time limit is 1 minute. The kind of the questions is such that it takes logical thinking, intuition, insight, etc. to find the correct answer. The person who sent in the question earns a prize if the panel cannot get the correct answer, while the panel earns points if they manage to get the correct answer.^[1]

The basic rules of the game are:^[2]

• The game is played between a "team of TV viewers" and a team of six experts. Viewers ask questions to the experts, and the experts, during a one-minute discussion, try to find the answer to the given question.
• If the experts answer the question correctly, they earn a point. If their answer is wrong, the viewers' team gets a point, and the viewer who sent in this question receives a monetary prize. The experts do not receive monetary prizes, except for the case that they win the final game of the year.
• The experts sit around the round table divided into 13 sectors, 12 of which contain envelopes with questions mailed in by viewers and pre-checked for validity, while the 13th sector (see below) indicates a question randomly selected from questions submitted by Internet during the show. Questions from the 13th sector are not pre-checked thus their quality and validity are not guaranteed.
• The arrow on the spinning top selects the sector which will be played next. If the arrow points to a sector which has already been played, the next clockwise sector is selected.
• A question may involve material objects or media (video or audio) demonstrated to the players.
• Sometimes a subject of the question is located inside a "black box" which is brought into the room and placed on the table but not opened until the correct answer is announced. In this case, the question is usually ended with the phrase "what's in the black box?"
• The experts may choose to answer the question immediately, avoiding the one-minute discussion. Then, if their answer is correct, they get a reserve minute which can be appended further to discussion of any other question of the game.
• Usually, members of other teams of experts attend the game and informally discuss questions among themselves during the show. Once per game, the playing team can ask for help from other players present in the gambling hall. Surprisingly enough, despite the fact that teams actually compete with each other and have no material reasons to assist, the traditions of collaborative work in the club and the spirit of friendship - even between members of different teams - usually urge them to suggest the best answers they have to the playing team.
• The game continues up to 6 points scored by either side.
• When the experts get 5 points, they may declare "the final round" which means that only one expert remains to play the round. This clears the score, and this question "costs" 6 points. The expert must give the exact answer (any variations are not accepted) to win the game with score 6:0.

Special sectors

• "Blitz": three easier questions 20 seconds each. The experts must answer all 3 questions correctly to win the point.
• "Superblitz": same as blitz, but only one player must remain sitting at the table; he or she must answer each of the three questions after 20-second thinking.
• 0 (zero) (before 2001). Vladimir Voroshilov entered the room and asked the question himself (this was the only time where the host could be seen in the show); as he came in, he chose himself one of three questions placed in this sector. In some series the zero sector had the special rule: it was played only if the arrow pointed at it directly, the clockwise rule did not apply. The sector could be played up to 3 times this way. After Voroshilov's death this sector has been replaced with the 13th sector.
• The 13th sector. If the top points at the 13th sector, the computer randomly selects one of the questions received on the Internet during the game. The "13th sector" can be played only once in the game.

Examples of questions

Ordinary sector

• Question: Which color is associated with the second chapter of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, Leo Tolstoy's Cossaks and Fyodor Dostoyevsky's wife's jewels? Answer: Green (it is the standard color of gamble tables in casinos where each of the three writers once in his life gambled away the corresponding item (the manusripts for the first two pieces of literary work)).
• Question Once he aroused an enviromental disaster which later was highly praised as a great labor. Who is him? Answer: Heracles with his fifth Labour
• Question The entrance sign of a theatre in Paris reads: "Hic locus est ubi mors gaudet succurrere vitae" (This is the place where death delights to help the living). Which theatre is it? Answer: Anatomical theatre

Black box questions

• Introduction : Two different pieces of music are played to the experts (from Bach’s exercises). Question: The blackbox contains a thing which can be placed between these two pieces. What is it? Answer: Mirror (either piece is the reverse version of the other).

• Question: No modern book aroused so many talks as one in the black box. What is it? Answer: Phone book.

Blitz questions

Question: Seneca once said to Nero: “Anyway you never can kill….”. Kill who? Answer: who will replace you.

Superblitz questions

• Question: What is the word for "lightning" in German? Answer: Blitz
• Question: Which place has the highest rate of mortality according to Mark Twain? Answer: Bed

13-th sector

Question: What do we get twice for free and pay for afterwards? Answer: Teeth (baby teeth, permanent teeth and artificial teeth)

History

The game was developed between 1975 and 1977 by artist, television host and director Vladimir Voroshilov. The very first version of the game (aired September 4, 1975) emphasized knowledge rather than logic; two families competed from their homes. In the next two years only two games were aired, the second of which, on 24 December 1977, already was close to the today's format: a top spinning on the table selects a viewer's question which is discussed for one munute by a team of 6 persons; the host is "invisible" and present only as a voice. (At the time, Voroshilov was banned from appearing on the screen, even his name was not indicated in the show credits.) Since 1978, the game is aired regularly. The final major change in rules, in 1982, established that the game continues until 6 points are scored by either side. Since 1986, the games are broadcast live.

The game quickly became popular, and a dozen or so of the best players from the TV version have become household names of the same magnitude as pop-music stars: Viktor Sidnev, Nurali Latypov, Alexander Drouz, Alexei Blinov, Fyodor Dvinyatin, Boris Burda, Anatoly Wasserman, Maxim Potashev and so on.

International versions

Licensed 'national' versions of the game are currently being aired throughout countries of the former USSR (like Azerbaijan and Georgia). Notably, whilst the 'main' TV show is aired live, licensed shows are usually recorded.

In December 2009, it was announced that the U.S. production company Merv Griffin Entertainment (the creators of Wheel of Fortune, a game show successfully imported into Russia under the title Pole Chudes in 1990) would produce a pilot for ABC of an American version of the show tentatively titled The Six. The show will aim to preserve the essence of the Russian original, although producers have stated that there will be "tweaks" to the format and an in-vision host.^[1] In April 2010 it was reported that the show will be hosted by Vernon Kay. Production of the show took place on summer 2010.^[3][4] The game title was changed first to Six Minds and finally to Million Dollar Mind Game. It premiered on Sunday October 23, 2011 at 4 pm ET on ABC.^[5] In the US version, a team of six friends compete together, answering questions to climb a ladder of money amounts.

Country	Title	Host	Channel	Date premiered	Language
Armenia	Что? Где? Когда?	Karen Kocharyan	Armenia TV	February 2002	Russian
Azerbaijan	Что? Где? Когда? / Nə? Harada? Nə zaman?	Balash Kasumov	Space (2006-2010), AzTV (2010-...)	2006	Russian, Azerbaijani
Belarus	Что? Где? Когда?	Ales' Mukhin	ONT	March 2009	Russian
Bulgaria	Что? Где? Когда? / Какво? Къде? Кога?	Vladimir Voroshilov	Intervision, Channel One (Central Television of USSR)	November 13, 1987 - November 15, 1987	Russian, Bulgarian (simultaneous translation)
Georgia	რა? სად? როდის?, Intellect-Club	Georgiy Mosidze	Rustavi 2	October 6, 1996	Georgian
Italy	Million Dollar Mind Game	Teo Mammucari	TBA	TBA	Italian
Kazakhstan	Что? Где? Когда?	Balash Kasumov	Channel 7 (Sed'moy Kanal)	September 30, 2011	Russian
Russia	Что? Где? Когда?	Vladimir Voroshilov, Boris Kryuk	Channel One, NTV (1999-2000)	September 4, 1975	Russian
Turkey	Aklın Yolu Bir	Oktay Kaynarca	TNT	April 2011[6]	Turkish
USA	Million Dollar Mind Game	Vernon Kay	ABC	October 23, 2011	English
Ukraine	Що? Де? Коли?	Alexander Androsov	Pershyi Natsionalnyi (2008), K1(2009-...), Inter (2011)	February 2008	Russian, Ukrainian

Competitive game

In addition to the original TV version, which to this date is one of the most popular TV programs in Russia, a competitive variant exists that is played by over 10,000 teams in all countries of the former USSR and in Russian-speaking diasporas around the world, most notably in Israel, Germany, Finland, United Kingdom, United States and Canada. Although Russian is the official language of most national and all international tournaments, there are some countries like Bulgaria, Moldova, Uzbekistan and Georgia where non-Russian-language teams are more numerous. Face-to-face World Championships have been held every year since 2002 with corporate sponsorship and under the aegis of TV Igra and the governments and National Olympic committees of Russia and Azerbaijan. The 2010 championship took place in Israel with sponsorship of Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.

These competitions rely on logic rather than knowledge too, but usually require more erudition than the TV versions due to high educational level of gamers.

What? Where? When? tournament

See Also

• Neskuchny Garden, a place of What? Where? When?

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Andreeva, Nellie (December 9, 2009). "ABC eyeing Russian game show". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/abc-eyeing-russian-game-show-92206. Retrieved 10 December 2009. 
2. ^ http://chgk.tvigra.ru/library/?30years
3. ^ The Hollywood Reporter: ABC greenlights game show 'The Six'
4. ^ Vernon's $1million US deal
5. ^ "New Casting Call: ABC's Six Minds". about.com. http://gameshows.about.com/b/2010/05/20/new-casting-call-abcs-six-minds.htm. 
6. ^ http://www.tnttv.com.tr/aklinyolubir.php

External links

• "What? Where? When?" on Russian TV (Russian)
• "What? Where? When?" portal and game archive (Russian)
• Links to "What? Where? When?" around the world (Russian)
• "What? Where? When? Question Database" (Russian)