Think Fast

One of several Game Shows produced by Nickelodeon following the success of their original offering, Double Dare. Teams competed in head-to-head stunts (known as "events") to earn money and eventually the right to enter the Locker Room at the end of the show. The show was hosted by Michael Carrington in the first season, taped in Philadelphia^note , who was replaced by Skip Lackey when the show moved to Orlando and Universal Studios.

As the title suggests, unlike Double Dare and Finders Keepers, Think Fast had less to do with physical activities and more to do with brain teasers and other memory challenges, like dumping colored slime on your teammate in a certain pattern a la Simon.

Each show consisted of five events (worth $50 for the first three, $100 for the other two), after which the winning team would win money and a chance to solve the "Think Fast Brain Bender", usually a picture or a rebus covered by puzzle pieces. One would be uncovered after each event. Solving the Brain Bender was worth $200. The team with the most money won the game and advanced to the Locker Room.

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This version provides examples of:

• The Announcer: James Eopollo for the Carrington era, Henry J. for Lackey's; he would then announce Get the Picture shortly thereafter.
• Bonus Round: In the Locker Room, the contestants had to match the contents of 15 large lockers, each of which contained either a silly character, a prop or series of props, or a "booby trap" of some sort (the Carrington episodes had props, puppets^note , and some people dressed as crazy characters while the Lackey episodes had people dressed as crazy characters and props). One at a time, a locker would open, and then the player had to find its match by hitting the buttons in front of the lockers to open them. Each successful match won money or a prize. All but one of the lockers contained something that matched with another locker's contents; the remaining locker contained a gimmick meant to throw off or hinder the players' progress:
  • Carrington Era: The first contestant had 30 seconds to make as many matches as possible before the second went. The unpaired locker contained a "Time Bomb", which would "go off" after 20 seconds if not revealed. If the first contestant found the Time Bomb in time, the second got the full 30 seconds to make matches; however, if the Time Bomb went off, the second player only received 20 seconds (in very early episodes, finding the Time Bomb also added 10 seconds to the second player's time, for a total of 40 seconds; likely changed due to too many winners). Each match won a prize of increasing value, finding six of the seven pairs in time won the grand prize.
  • Lackey Era: Players alternated making matches for 60 seconds. The odd locker contained the "Red Herring", an item or character with no match. When it was opened as the match to be made - which it would at some point during the round - the only way to proceed was to pull on a special "Herring Handle" at home base. $100 per match for the first four, two prizes of increasing value for five and six, finding all seven won the grand prize.
• Colour Coded Armies: The Gold (yellow) Team vs. the Blue Team.
• Double the Dollars: Round 1 events were worth $50, Round 2 events were worth $100.
• Excited Kids' Show Host: Lackey, in the "over sixes" variety. "LOCK IT UP LOCK IT UP LOCK IT UP LOCK IT UP!!!!!"
• Foregone Conclusion: Following the conclusion of the fifth event, if the difference in score was at least $250 and the Brain Bender had not yet been solved, it was already known which team won, since the Brain Bender was worth $200. Regardless, the Brain Bender was always played.
• Game Show Host: Michael Carrington hosted the first season, then Skip Lackey took over for the second season.
• Golden Snitch:
  • The Brain Bender, worth $200 compared to the events' $50 and $100. If a Brain Bender was solved in Round 1, another Brain Bender was played during Round 2 (except for one Carrington episode).
  • At least one Carrington episode added a sixth event worth $200.
• Luck-Based Mission:
  • I've Created a Monster, where the contestants had to throw three switches up or down until finding the correct combination to wake up Frankenstein's monster.
  • Plumber's Blackjack, in which the contestants had to fill a container with randomly-sized beakers of water that corresponded to numbers on cards. The first team to go over lost.
• Obvious Rule Patch:
  • In Season 1, the various "Simon" games often ended very quickly due to contestants forgetting to add one to the chain. In Season 2, contestants were no longer penalized for this; the game would not continue until they added one, and Skip would remind them to do so throughout the game.
  • In Season 1 playings of Memory Match, any incorrectly-chosen answers remained revealed for the rest of the game, which sometimes resulted in that answer being correct for a later question, meaning all the contestant had to do was call the number next to it. In Season 2, incorrect answers were closed back up immediately.
  • In early playings of Household Chores, the chores were always done in the exact order Michael read them. Likely because this was too easy and straightforward, later playings had the host read them out of order, such as reading the second chore first, so that the contestants had to remember the correct order.
  • In early Season 1 episodes, finding the Time Bomb in the Locker Room gave the second player 40 seconds, adding 10 to the base 30. Since this made the second part too easy, it was soon changed to only give 30 seconds.
• Product Placement: Converse All-Stars. Inverted in some of the games with grocery items, as at least parts of the brand names were usually covered with tape.
• Red Herring: Played straight in the Lackey-era Locker Room, as outlined above. Also, pulling the Herring Handle released a bunch of red plastic fish onto said character or item.
• Show the Folks at Home:
  • In most playings of the Frankenstein game, the correct combination of switches was shown to the home audience before the game began.
  • The identity of the "Red Herring" in the Lackey era.
• "Simon Says" Mini-Game: A number of games were based on this, including punching in numbers on a large telephone, throwing four colors of paint-filled balloons at one's partner, or burping the "three gross uncles".
• Songs in the Key of Panic: "Hurry" variant in the Locker Room; all variants of the music except for the Carrington version's standard 30-second cue doubled in tempo and added a drumroll with around 10 seconds left.
• Speed Round: If both teams did not guess the Brain Bender after the 5th (and final) event, they go to the Speed Up Brain Bender before advancing to the locker room.
• Take That!: Double Dare was not the only Nickelodeon game show to take jabs at FunHouse. In one episode, a contestant incorrectly guessed "fun house" for a rebus Brain Bender that was only showing an "N". Michael commented, "That terrible show."
• The Teaser:
  • During the original era, Carrington would open each episode by saying "Hey you....think fast!" Sometimes, he'd use a prop from one of the day's events or locker contents to do so.
  • During the first half of the Skip Lackey era, Locker room characters would chat as the announcer says "We are here inside the Think Fast Locker room, where you can find the matching pairs, but look out for the evil Red Herring today on...." And the locker room character would then shout "THINK FAST!"
  • During the second half of the Skip Lackey era, the announcer would say "Today inside the Think Fast locker room, if you can find the matching pairs, then you've got what it takes to win cash and prizes worth over $X,X00. But watch out, because somewhere inside lurks the ever-smelly Red Herring!"
• Time Bomb: Played straight in Carrington-era Locker Room, albeit with no actual destruction except to the second player's time limit.
• Timed Mission: The Locker Room, both in finding the matches and the Time Bomb.
• Trash the Set: In Season 1, the buzzers were very cheaply constructed. They resembled lids from plastic soup containers on top of a small light bulb. On at least two occasions, a contestant hit their buzzer so hard that it fell apart.

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