'What? Where? When?' (, translit. Chto? Gde? Kogda?; ChGK) is an intellectual game show well known in Russian-language media and other CIS states since the mid-1970s. Today 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 Intellectual Games. Over 50,000 teams worldwide play the sport version of the game, based on the TV show.

Format

Throughout the game, a team of six experts attempts to answer questions sent in by viewers. For each question, the time limit is one minute. The questions require a combination of skills such as logical thinking, intuition, insight, etc. to find the correct answer. The person who sent in the question earns a prize if the experts cannot give the correct answer, while the team of experts earns points if they manage to get the correct answer. The basic rules of the game are:

Special sectors

Prizes (Russian version)

Music pause

Music pauses are used as timeouts. Music plays in a cabaret style.

Sample questions

Ordinary sector

Black box questions

Any question ending in "What is in the black box"? In some questions, it was another black box, or even a flight data recorder (in Russian, the words are the same). There are three black boxes, but the large black box is usually the one used. The smaller and smallest boxes are used only if there are two or three boxes in the question, in blitz rounds, or if the item must be smaller in size. Other contents of the big black box have included the following:

Musical questions

Video questions

Picture-based questions

Item-based questions

The experts are presented an item and usually asked how it is used.

Blitz questions

Superblitz questions

13th sector

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 today's format: a top spinning on the table selected a viewer's question which is discussed for one minute 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 has been 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 have been broadcast live. Since 1990, TV broadcasting of the game takes place in the Okhotnichy domik that is located in the Neskuchny Garden. In 1991, the game became the first TV show in the USSR where TV viewers and experts could receive monetary prizes. Since 2001, only TV viewers can receive monetary prizes. 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, Rovshan Askerov, Fyodor Dvinyatin, Boris Burda, Anatoly Wasserman, Maxim Potashyov, among others.

International versions

Licensed versions of the game are currently being aired throughout countries of the former Soviet Union (like Azerbaijan and Georgia). Notably, whilst the original show is aired live, licensed shows are usually recorded. In December 2009, it was announced that the American production company Merv Griffin Entertainment would produce a pilot for ABC of an American version of the show, tentatively titled The Six. (Its predecessor, Merv Griffin Enterprises, produced Wheel of Fortune, a game show successfully imported into Russia under the title Pole Chudes in 1990). The new show aimed to preserve the essence of the Russian original, although producers had stated that there would be "tweaks" to the format and feature an on-camera host. In April 2010 it was reported that the show would be hosted by Vernon Kay. Production of the show took place in the summer of 2010. The game title was changed first to Six Minds and finally to Million Dollar Mind Game. The game premiered on Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. ET on ABC. In the American version, a team of six friends competed together to answer a series of questions. Each correct answer increased their cash prize, starting at $6,000 and increasing to $1 million for the tenth answer. However, if the team missed a total of four questions, the game ended and they lost everything. They had 60 seconds to discuss each question, after which the team captain for that question gave a response. Three forms of assistance were available, each of which could be used once after the captain responded: an extra 30 seconds of discussion time, replacing the question with a different one at the same money level, or rejecting the captain's answer and giving a different one. After any correct answer, the team members secretly voted on whether to continue or stop the game; if all six voted to stop, the game ended and they split their winnings equally. Otherwise, the game continued and the captain's position rotated by one seat. The originally produced episodes were burned off by ABC over a period of six weeks on Sunday afternoons as counterprogramming for NFL games on CBS and Fox (depending on market and television restrictions, the show often went up against meaningless games in some markets where a poorly performing team may be mandated to be covered in that market) after the October 2011 Las Vegas tragedy, and there was no indication that any new episodes would be produced in the future, despite critical acclaim by critics and game show fans alike. In May 2012, a network spokesperson confirmed that Million Dollar Mind Game was canceled. Legend: Currently airing No longer airing The Tajikistani version is unlicensed, and was not made by Igra-tv. It's Called Intellekt-Shou on Channel TV Safina.

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 50,000 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.

World Championships

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. The 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 edition was cancelled due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. To qualify, 4 methods exist: These competitions rely on logic rather than knowledge too, but usually require more erudition than the TV versions due to high educational level of the players.