History Series / TheGenius

UK TV channel Creator/ITV has [[https://www.tvzoneuk.com/post/thegeniusgame-davidtennant-announcement announced]] their own adaptation coming in 2024 with Creator/DavidTennant hosting.

* SenpaiKohai: The Korean variant of the same relationship type (sunbae, hoobae) becomes the basis of several two-man alliances like Sangmin/Sunggyu and Dongmin/Hyunmin

* SempaiKohai: The Korean variant of the same relationship type (sunbae, hoobae) becomes the basis of several two-man alliances like Sangmin/Sunggyu and Dongmin/Hyunmin

An English-subbed version of all seasons can be found here: http://bxrme.tumblr.com/

* {{Corpsing}}: Players often mess with the dealers, trying to make them react.

** In season 2, [[spoiler: Sangmin took this {{up to eleven}} with exaggerated clues to tell the other team about his team's choices: it was either patting himself on the head for one outcome or dancing for the other. By the end of the game, he was completely exhausted from dancing and his head hurt from hitting it all the time. His team never picked up on it though, even if it was really obvious in retrospect]].

[[caption-width-right:315: [[note]] [- Clockwise from left: Kim Gura, Park Eun-ji, Lee Jun-seok, Kim Kyung-ran, Lee Sang-min, Choi Jung-moon, Cha Yu-ram, Cha Min-soo, Kim Poong, Choi Chang-yeop, Kim Sung-Gyu, Kim Min-seo, Hong Jin-ho-] [[/note]] ]]

S2: A token of immortality was added to the game, with clues given to each main match winner. [[spoiler: It was eventually found by Sangmin]].

S3: The winners of the death match are given a black garnet. When three black garnets are presented a, black mission can be attempted which would save the player from the death match if completed. [[spoiler: However they become a non-factor as none of the missions are completed successfully and the remaining black garnets are traded for normal garnets at the beginning of the tenth episode]]. The loser's garnets are also taken out of the game instead of being taken by their death match opponent.

S4: Besides being an all-stars season, S4 introduced 3 "Garnet Matches" where the person with the most and least garnets will be the winner and death match candidate of the episode respectively. Also, all of the death matches have been played before and are now chosen by lottery with contestants able to veto those they don't wish to play.

!!Tropes found in the Genius include

[[quoteright:315: Rule Breaker [[note]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a9ad504a81855ae41102a03fc5a6e03d.jpg[[/note]] ]]
[[caption-width-right:315:[[note]] [- Rows from top left: Lim Yoon-sun, Lim Yo-hwan, Hong Jin-ho, Yoo Jung-hyun,Eun Ji-won, Noh Hong-Chul, Lee Sang-min, Kim Jae-kyung, Lee Eun-kyul, Jo Yoo-young, Nam Hwee-jong, Lee Da-hye, Lee Doo-hee-] [[/note]] ]]

[[quoteright:315: Black Garnet [[note]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/04cec109232a679378c06b955439725b.jpg[[/note]] ]]
[[caption-width-right:315:[[note]] [- Clockwise from bottom middle: Jang Dong-min, Kim Jung-hoon, Choi Yeon-seung, Yoo Soo-jin, Kim Yoo-hyun, Kim Kyung-hoon, Lee Jong-bum, Shin Ah-young, Oh Hyun-min, Kwon Ju-ri, Kang Yong-suk, Ha Yeon-joo, Nam Hwee-Jong-] [[/note]] ]]

[[quoteright:315: Grand Final [[note]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1cc6485a66d7906ea78154dfc6bec250.jpg [[/note]] ]]
[[caption-width-right:315: [[note]] [- Rows from top left: Lee Jun-seok, Kim Kyung-hoon, Lim Yo-whan, Yoo Jung-hyun, Choi Yeon-seung, Kim Yoo-hyun, Oh Hyun-min, Choi Jung-moon, Kim Kyung-ran, Lim Yoon-sun, Jang Dong-min, Hong Jin-ho, Lee Sang-min [[/note]] ]]

* WaistcoatOfStyle: Dongmin.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: One of the first striking cultural differences Western viewers see watching this show is how often male contestants dye their hair in all kinds of colours only to revert back to their natural hair just a week later.

* ManipulativeEditing: Used in conjunction with OnceMoreWithClarity. Episodes often show us a specific story or perspective and after the ShockingSwerve rewind to show us how the events came to be.

* AlwaysSecondBest: Jinho's [[VideoGame/StarcraftMultiplayer professional Starcraft career]] has been this trope. Other contestants never miss a chance to tease Jinho about it.

* TheRival: Continuing from their respective [[VideoGame/StarcraftMultiplayer Starcraft pro careers]], Jinho ([=YellOw=]) vs. Yoh-wan ([=BoxeR=]) in Season 2.

** [[KoreanHonorifics Korean terms of address]] might confuse the viewer because the same person will be referred to by different titles depending on the relative age, gender and even profession of the speaker.

** Arguably, the finals in Season 4 ([[spoiler: Dongmin vs. Kyunghoon]]) can also be considered this. [[spoiler: Kyunghoon's troll tactics that usually work on other people don't work on Dongmin. In the first game (Number Janggi), Kyunghoon keeps moving one his pieces back and forth to confuse Dongmin. The latter, instead of getting flustered, immediately executes his plan to reveal as many of the former's pieces with as few pieces as possible. In the second game (Mystery Sign), Kyunghoon uses an insanely high
number, 897,687,543,217 as a hint for the equation. Even with the long number, Dongmin still manages to get the mystery sign and answers it correctly.]]

** Arguably, the finals in Season 4 ([[spoiler: Dongmin vs. Kyunghoon]]) can also be considered this. [[spoiler: Kyunghoon's troll tactics that usually work on other people don't work on Dongmin. In the first game (Number Janggi), Kyunghoon keeps moving one his pieces back and forth to confuse Dongmin. The latter, instead of getting flustered, immediately executes his plan to reveal as many of the former's pieces with as few pieces as possible. In the second game (Mystery Sign), Kyunghoon uses [[http://abload.de/img/finalroundmath42osn.jpg an insanely high
number, 897,687,543,217]] as a hint for the equation. Even with the long number, Dongmin still manages to get the mystery sign and answers it correctly.]]

* WhamEpisode: [[BaseBreaker Depending on who you are]], [[Recap/TheGeniusS2E6MonopolyGame Monopoly Game]] is either the best episode of The Genius or the worst, but either way it is an episode with big repercussions not only for the rest of a season but for the rest of the series.

The Genius brings together 13 contestants from various areas to compete for the top spot in rounds involving various games. Every episode, a contestant is eliminated following a main match and a death match. The winner of the main match will gain a token of life as assurance to proceed to the next round, and in some cases, receives an additional token of life to give to another player as well as a predetermined number of garnets. The worst performer in the main match is automatically sent to the death match, and is allowed to choose anyone without a token of life as their opponent. The winner of the death match gains their opponents garnets (only applies for the first 2 seasons) and the right to stay in the game.

S2: A token of life was added to the game, with clues given to main match winners [[spoiler: It was eventually found by Sangmin]].

S3: The winners of the death match are given a black garnet, which when three are presented a black mission can be attempted which would save the player from the death match if completed [[spoiler: However they become a non-factor as none of the missions are completed successfully and the remaining black garnets are traded for normal garnets at the beginning of the tenth episode]]. The loser's garnets are also taken out of the game.

The show has become popular enough to have several podcasts dedicated to recapping and discussing it. They are:

Alternatively, you can also read [[Recap/TheGenius recap page]] here.

* BackForTheFinale: For the final, all the eliminated contestants are each given an item to give to the player of their choice. Along with 3 items for each of the specific games, there's always the First Game Pick item (discontinued starting in Season 3), the Copy item, and the Cancel item.
* BandagedFace: the announcer [[RuleOfCool for some reason]] wears bandages over his face.

** More generally when a player survives at the expense of eliminating a close ally. For example, [[spoiler: Kyungran in S1 E3 loses Jimmy Cha who secured her victory in that round]].
** [[spoiler: Jinho seems pretty [[ImmuneToFlinching resistant]] to this, unaffected to lose Junseok and Poong in S1, Doohee in S2, and Kyungran in S4.]]
* BrainlessBeauty: Sunggyu of boy-band Music/{{INFINITE}}. He claims he didn't even understand the rules of the first few main matches and becomes an easy target of manipulations for Kyungran and Sangmin. [[spoiler: At least ''some'' of it must be an act, considering how far into Season 1 he goes.]]
* BrandishmentBluff: in "Swords and Shields", players can bluff that they have a sword or a shield and it will work exactly as real stuff, unless challenged.
* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler: Hweejong ironically for a math teacher failing the basic math of predator/prey relationship and thinking that he has won the game by drawing lion]] in Food Chain (S2 E1).

** Arguably, [[spoiler: Kyunghoon]] in Season 4. [[spoiler: He starts the series with low status in the eyes of all the other contestants, and just survives in some moments, but went on to ace the second half of the series and reach the final.]]

* CatFight: In one of the pre-match banters in season 4, [[spoiler: Kyungran and lawyer Yoonsun]] are having an argument. Because both are intimidating female players, [[spoiler: Sangmin]] yells: "All men, duck!" and producers jokingly add lazers effects between two women.

* ChekhovsGun: The Token of life [[spoiler: Twice]] In Season 2 [[spoiler: Once when Sangmin gives Doohee the fake token of life after the monopoly game]] and [[spoiler: When he uses the token to save Yowhan from the F4 Death Match.]]

** [[spoiler: Dongmin's ability to differentiate weight of objects, which is exploited in S3 E5 and S4 E2]]. In S4 E2 (Horror Race), the producers never expected anyone to be able to [[spoiler: differentiate the coins based on the metal weight in it (with only a difference of 0,1 gram!).]] This prompted the producers to [[spoiler: make the coins only differ in size in Horror Race 2.]]

* {{Corpsing}}: players often mess with dealers trying to make them react.

* CrazyPrepared: Deathmatches often repeat. Thus one can practice and/or study previous Deathmatch games and this can save you if you end up an elimination candidate. This became especially important for Grand Finale where every single deathmatch game was known in advance and all of them were repeats. Both [[spoiler: Kynghyun and Dongmin]] separately did their homework practicing them, which was one of the reasons they both went all the way to the finale.

** [[spoiler: Jinho curb stomps Kyungran in S1's finals. In the first game (Indian Poker), Jinho manages to fool Kyungran into folding while holding a 10, making her flustered for the rest of the game. In the second game (Gyul! Hap!), Jinho managed to get many Haps and Gyuls thanks to Jungmoon and Junseok's help]].

** [[spoiler: Yeonseung with Dongmin as "partner"]] brutalize [[spoiler: Yohwan with Jinho as partner at "Tactical Yutnori" in S4 E2]], to the point where [[spoiler: none of Yohwan's pieces ever got a move]].

** Arguably, the finals in Season 4([[spoiler: Dongmin vs. Kyunghoon]]) can also be considered this. [[spoiler: Kyunghoon's troll tactics that usually work on other people don't work on Dongmin. In the first game (Number Janggi), Kyunghoon keeps moving one his pieces back and forth to confuse Dongmin. The latter, instead of getting flustered, immediately executes his plan to reveal as many of the former's pieces with as few pieces as possible. In the second game (Mystery Sign), Kyunghoon uses [[http://abload.de/img/finalroundmath42osn.jpg insane 897,687,543,217 number]] as a hint for the equation. Even with the long number, Dongmin still manages to get the mystery sign and answers it right.]]

* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: happens all the time especially if [[spoiler: Sangmin]] is around.
* EliminatedFromTheRace: Using the Death Match.
* FakinMacGuffin: In S1 E4 Zombie game, [[spoiler: Changyeop drank his zombie cure, but kept the bottle and filled it with water and his saliva creating the illusion that it wasn't used. He then trades that concoction to Sangmin who proceeds to drink it and immediately figures that something's wrong by the taste and freaks out because he is going to become a zombie unless he finds the real cure in 10 minutes]].
** Season 2, when [[spoiler: Sangmin himself pulls this on Doohee when he gives him token of immortality, which turns up to be a fake]].
* FixingTheGame: Props like dice or cards are often "rigged" on purpose, so that observant players could abuse it. Same how some games are designed to be broken with some strategy. However, players often find ways to break games in ways producers didn't see coming.
** The first obvious example is in [[spoiler: S1 E4 (Zombie Game). Changyeop asked Jungmoon whether she is a human or a person. He is asking this for the exact wording on human card. If you draw zombie card you would never see how human card looks like.]] In later games producers fix this exploit by [[spoiler: showing how all cards look like on the wall]].
** Jinho has a knack for "breaking" games so hard, it becomes impossible to play these games ever again, like he did with [[spoiler: "Open, Pass" and "5:5 Game"]].
** The other example is in [[spoiler: S4 E2 (Horror Race). Dongmin managed to differentiate the coins by its weight and vibration, instead of the intended magnetism property. The producers later discarded the magnetism property and only made the coins different by its size in Horror Race 2.]].

* GoodWithNumbers: Jungmoon, Hyunmin and Kyunghoon all have exceptional math skills at the expense of weaker social play. The former can even remember [[spoiler: many digits of Pi, which is used in one of the games]].

* HardModeFiller: Many of the main matches are Harder Versions of previous main matches.
** Confined Scamming Horse Race in Season 1
** Layoff in Season 2
** Middle Race 2 in Season 3
** Fish Shop, Horror Race 2, and Minus Auction 2 in Season 4.

** [[spoiler: Sangmin is 3rd eliminated in Season 4]]
** [[spoiler: Jinho again is taken out in 4th place in All-stars]]

** [[KoreanHonorifics Korean terms of address]] might confuse the viewer because the same person will be referred to by different titles depending on relative age, gender and even profession of the speaker.

* {{Leitmotif}}: because of [[spoiler: Junghyun]]'s general clueless tendency in games, producers gave him a special theme emphasizing his "bumbling old man" personality. It always plays when he aimlessly roams the mansion alone, because other players didn't include him in their plans. This is twice as funny because he obviously plays this up himself and even notices his own leitmotif in one of the episodes.

* LockedInARoom: In [[spoiler: "Loyalist and Rebels"]] (S4 E5), [[spoiler: Dongmin]] severely limits Rebels' options by forcing everyone to stay in one room so that they can't communicate with each other without revealing themselves.
** "Confined Scamming Horse Race" in Season 1 is the same as previously played "Scamming Horse Race" but now players are locked alone in their rooms and have to rely on partners who can move freely to relay information.

* LovableTraitor: [[spoiler: Sangmin]]. Even after countless number of betrayals (especially apparent during the course of [[spoiler: Rule Breaker]], people still managed to include him into a team.

* MimingTheCues: used many times by various moles who disclose information about team strategy to other team.
** In season 2, [[spoiler: Sangmin used hilarious and exaggerated cues to tell the other team about his team's choices: it was either patting himself on a head for one outcome or dancing for the other. By the end of the game he was completely exhausted from dancing and his head hurt after hitting it all the time. His team never picked up on it though, even if it was really obvious in retrospect]].
** As a counter-point in season 4, [[spoiler: Jungmoon used much subtler hand gestures for signals and it backfired when the other team misinterpreted her casual pose for a signal]].

* MistakenForAnImposter: when in S1 E6 [[spoiler: (Catch the Thief) Sunggyu comes clean about being a thief, Sangmin doesn't believe him and bluntly shooes him away]]. He comes to regret this error dearly because thief's cooperation in this match basically decides the outcome.
* MouthfulOfPi: Sequence of Pi was used in [[spoiler: Season 4's "Loyalists and Rebels"]] game to give advantage to a person who memorized digits of Pi([[spoiler: Jungmoon]]).
* MyGreatestFailure: Constellation Game for [[spoiler: Dongmin/Hyunmin where everyone turns on them.]] Later even gets reduced to tears.
* MyGreatestSecondChance: All of the non-winners, so far played straightest with [[spoiler: Lee Junseok (eliminated first in S1)]] and [[spoiler: Kim Kyunghoon (eliminated second in S3)]] in Season 4.

* MysteriousEmployer: Bandage Man
* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: [[spoiler: Dongmin throughout most of Black Garnet. As long as you're in his team and content with basically being his pawn, he will bend over backwards to keep you safe]].
* ObviousRulePatch: "Garnet Match" mechanic is a trap to block Yohwan's "keep low profile" style of play from season 2 -- where he basically ignored main matches and didn't care to get garnets. Now, comes garnet match and the player with the least garnets goes to the Death Match immediately. [[spoiler: Appropriately, Yohwan is the first victim of this rule.]]

* OnceMoreWithClarity: Frequently used, often to help clear up a GambitPileup.
* OutOfCharacterAlert: the way how many politically savvy players (Sangmin, Dongmin) spot "criminals" types in role games:
** [[spoiler: Gura, who is otherwise a very active participant in early main match discussions suddenly goes silent after getting his role in "Zombie game". Sangmin correctly deduces that he must be a zombie]].
** in "Loyalists and Rebels", [[spoiler: Kyungran who is usually all about building big alliance strategies is more interested in possible strategies for rebels. Dongmin figures she must be a rebel]].
* PickedLast: Happens to Junghyun in Blackout game, much to his annoyance. Nobody wants him on their team (despite that he won every single game up to that point in the season).

* PowerOfTrust: Building strong alliances is a big part of the game. But to create interesting television and breed conflict rules are designed to favor spies and moles who would betray their teammates for bigger personal gain. With this in mind, all the more impressive are "joint wins" when big alliance wins and each member receives the same amount of points. To pull this off all of them need to have unshakable trust that none of them will betray their team.
* ProfessionalGambler: many contestants are professional players in poker, pool, Go, and even Starcraft.

* RivalsTeamUp: Retroactively S3 E5 was one of the most important episodes in Season 3, because it marked the start of [[spoiler: Dongmin/Hyunmin partnership. Combination of Hyunmin's fast, calculative mind and Dongmin's domineering social play and adaptability created an unbeatable alliance that steamrolled the rest of season 3 and a part of season 4]].
* RulesSpiel: Complete with neat animations.

** Continuing the previous point, [[spoiler: Dongmin]] continued teasing Dealer Hong because he said it becomes a jinx for him, which would make him eliminated if he doesn't do it.

* SempaiKohai: Korean variant of the same relationship type (sunbae, hoobae) becomes the basis of several two-man alliances like Sangmin/Sung-Gyu and Dongmin/Hyunmin

* ShipTease: Happens several times, often accompanied by hearts special effects added by producers. It never comes to fruition at best (due to somewhat more uptight and professional atmosphere on the set compared to other Reality TV). At worst: alleged pair face each other in deathmatch:

* SitcomArchNemesis: Eunji to Sunggyu, because she keeps accidentally ruining his play like [[spoiler: feeding him wrong hint in "Scamming Horse Race"]] and [[spoiler: exposing his differently coloured decks in "Open, Pass"]].

** Sunggyu gained "icon of betrayal" status through his sly moves on the show.
** Yooyoung's announcer career tanked after the hate she got online for [[spoiler: the infamous incident on Season 2]].

* StopCopyingMe: "Repeating your opponent's move" is a legitimate strategy in a number of 1 vs. 1 games where you open obscured board turn after turn. If you grabbed a lead, you can deny your opponent of new information by repeating his last move.
** [[spoiler: In season 2, after taking initial lead, Junghyun pretends to be sclerotic and keeps opening the same pieces on a board]].
** [[spoiler: In season 3, Yeonjoo used this strategy to force Yoohyun to tread the path for her in Memory Maze and convincingly beat him, even after he aced that challenge just a week ago]].
* StunnedSilence: Majority alliance's reaction to [[spoiler: Gura's resignation in Election game]], complete with a [[IdiotCrows crow leaving dots as it flies by]].

* TallPoppySyndrome: Inverted. On The Genius, when a contestant stands out with his/her game skills, others gang up ''around'' that player, instead of against, like it happens in other Reality TV shows.

* TheTeaser: Each episode starts with a few minutes long banter between surviving players discussing events of the last week and planning their next move. Then intro music starts and it flows into the opening clip.

* ThirtyFiveMinutesAgo: [[spoiler: Kim Gura in S1 E2 (Election Game). During preparation time, when all other contestants are hurriedly forming fractions and determine who they will appoint to be their fraction leader to vote for, Gura sits all by himself and ignores all and everyone. That's because he has already won by forming a secret fraction thirty minutes earlier, while all others were still casually chatting and intermingling]].

* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: Jinho]] during "Open, Pass" [[spoiler: uses a single colored pack of cards [[note]] The buyable packs have different colored backs [[/note]] and using only the cards design, getting the highest score winning the main match]]

* ViewersAreGeniuses: It's in the name. In stark contrast with other reality shows (or even most game shows) The Genius uses complicated rules, game theory, and math. Explaining rules takes a significant part of each episode.

* WhamEpisode: depending on who you are [[Recap/TheGeniusS2E6MonopolyGame Monopoly Game]] is either the best episode of The Genius or the worst, but either way it is an episode with big repercussions not only for the rest of a season but for the rest of the series.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: one of the first striking cultural differences you see watching this show is how often male contestants dye their hair in all kinds of colours only to revert back to their natural hair just a week later.