About this season
A reality series pitting people identified with "genius traits" against one another in social games of strategy, logic, and negotiation skills. Each episode consists of a main match and a death match. The main match decides the winner and elimination candidate for the day. The winner receives a token of life, which grants immunity from the death match, and potentially garnets, a game currency worth ₩1,000,000 each. Garnets can be used to improve a player's chances of winning a game, as well as be traded with other players to gain favor. The elimination candidate chooses a player without a token of life to take part in a 1v1 game called the death match. The player who loses the death match is eliminated, and the winner of the death match gains their garnets. The last remaining player is the champion, and the total garnets held by the champion will be the final prize.
Episodes (12)
1. ID Exchange
8.5Aired 27 June 2015 • 80 min
Players trade ID cards to gain points while avoiding being left with an undesirable card.
2. Horror Race
8.0Aired 4 July 2015 • 80 min
Players support characters to win a race to obtain garnets.
3. Today's Menu
7.0Aired 11 July 2015 • 80 min
Players guess how many other contestants have placed the same menu order by putting their card box on the appropriate section of the game table.
4. Fish Shop
8.5Aired 18 July 2015 • 80 min
Fish Shop is a 'price war' that consists of four rounds of players selling the same fish, and whoever earns the most will win.
5. Loyalists and Rebels
7.0Aired 25 July 2015 • 80 min
Players are randomly divided into secret teams with opposing goals to either prevent or promote achieving the number 1,000.
6. Garnet Thief
7.0Aired 1 August 2015 • 80 min
Players choose between four characters attempting to win a limited number of garnets each round based on which characters were chosen.
7. Seed Poker
6.0Aired 8 August 2015 • 80 min
Players strategically receive hole cards or add to the table's seed cards. The seed card will be given to the player with the lowest numbered hole card, with players attempting to achieve the highest score from their combined cards.
8. Minus Auction II
7.0Aired 15 August 2015 • 80 min
An iteration on the game from Season 2 but with new mechanics to alter player strategies for acquiring cubes to achieve the lowest negative total.
9. Horror Race II
7.0Aired 22 August 2015 • 80 min
An iteration on the same game from earlier this season, this version includes two new rules that will alter player strategies.
10. Cooperative Hold'em
Aired 29 August 2015 • 80 min
11. How Much
Aired 5 September 2015 • 80 min
Players must deduce the price that guests offered for a product by questioning, and the player who guessed the highest price without going over will score points.
12. Final Match
Aired 12 September 2015 • 80 min
Whichever contestant is the first to win 2 of 3 games will be the winner of The Genius Season 4.