Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
The click-bait was necessary; otherwise, you would have never cared about a show called Brain Games. But you should. Because it’s the coolest, most mind-bending series on Netflix right now.
Narrated by Neil Patrick Harris, Brain Games, which originally aired on National Geographic channel (who also aired The Truth Behind series we’re also totally obsessed with), dives deep into the trippy world of everyday optical illusions and memory challenges that disprove the innate assumptions you thought you knew about the physical world around you. Each episode opens with an exercise for your mind, usually an optical illusion, which often leaves you scratching your head, mouth agape. Here’s a very brief taste from the very beginning of the series: take a look at the picture below.
Now, take a guess at which square is darker than the other. What if we told you they were the same exact color, but are simply seen differently because of how our vision is duped by shadows? What if you learned that there is, in fact, no such thing as color in the world — that we’re all living within a blank, Pleasantville-like slate, programmed to see the world how we want to rather than how it actually is. Brain Games delves into the reality of human perception using magicians, sound engineers, neurologists, brain athletes (yes, those are real), and more, to get to the bottom of why we all see things that aren’t really there.
Though it sounds super educational, the producers do a great job of keeping it fast paced and encouraging you to play along with the various games throughout the duration of an episode. One thing is for sure: you can’t stop watching because it’s totally mesmerizing. If you’re looking for something engaging and pretty darn amazing to watch tonight, grab a beer, plop yourself down on the couch, and work out your mind with Brain Games. Take a peak at sleight-of-hand expert Apollo Robbins does here to mess with your mind.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKCT-simmBo]Hooked yet? We thought so. Stream both seasons on Netflix now.
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Photos: National Geographic/Netflix
