Protmušis is a team quiz-type game (where the teams play against each other) that takes place in Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

. The organisers and participants of Protmušis are mainly students of various universities of Vilnius. As of now, all major universities of Vilnius are represented in Protmušis (including all the faculties of Vilnius University, some faculties of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University

Vilnius Gediminas Technical University

Vilnius Gediminas Technical University is a state higher academic school which has the rights of legal entity. The University is a non-profit institution, which was established by the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania....

, Mykolas Romeris University

Mykolas Romeris University

Mykolas Romeris University is a university in the capital city of Vilnius, Lithuania, bearing the name of the Lithuanian legal scholar, judge and father of Lithuania's Constitutional Law Mykolas Römeris. Established in 2004, it is a state-funded institution....

, Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts, ISM University of Management and Economics

ISM University of Management and Economics

ISM University of Management and Economics is an institution of undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate education in business, management and economics...

 and the Vilnius Pedagogical University

Vilnius Pedagogical University

Vilnius Pedagogical University is a university in Vilnius, Lithuania, which specializes in preparing school teachers and other educators. As of 2007 it had approximately 12,500 students.-History:...

) as well as the Kaunas University of Technology

Kaunas University of Technology

- KTU :Kaunas University of Technology is one of the largest technical universities in the Baltic States.In Webometrics Ranking of World Universities 2010 KTU took the highest ratings among Lithuanian higher education institutions as having the web of best presence, visibility and accessibility...

 and Vytautas Magnus University

Vytautas Magnus University

Vytautas Magnus University ) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university...

 of Kaunas

Kaunas

Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...

 and the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga

Stockholm School of Economics in Riga

The Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, is a business school in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 1993 as a subsidiary of the Stockholm School of Economics with a mission to provide a state-of-the-art education in business and economics that contributes to the economic and social development of...

; in addition, some people who had already graduated and those who are not yet studying in universities take or were taking part in the competition as well. Protmušis was organized for the first time in 1997. About 250 people (38 teams) have chosen to participate in the twelfth season of Protmušis, which started in March 2009.

In primarily unofficial sources the game is sometimes called Protmūšis (literally meaning Mindbattle).

Rules

Traditionally in every match of Protmušis two teams play against each other. At any given moment no less than three and not more than five people could play for a single team (although it is permitted to register up to eight team members in which case different team members could play at different matches). During the match ten pre-prepared questions are shown on the large screen in the front of the hall (the questions are of such a style that in order to answer them one needs both general knowledge and the ability to think logically). After the host reads each question, the one-minute timer is started. During that one minute players are permitted to discuss the possible answers with the fellow members of their team and to think. Once one of the teams believes that it already knows the correct answer, the team presses a button to stop the timer and calls out the answer. If the host and/or the referee accepts the answer as correct, the full answer is shown on the screen and the team is awarded a point. If not, the one-minute timer is restarted and the other team is permitted to continue searching for the answer and to tell their attempt to answer the question. The team that has more points after all ten questions are read is declared the winner. If both teams have an equal amount of points at that time, the match ends in a draw. A draw is only possible in the regular season; if such a situation occurs during the playoffs, an overtime

Overtime (sports)

Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw. In most sports, this extra period is only played if the game is required to have a clear winner, as in single-elimination...

 is played: additional questions are presented to the teams until the first correct answer is given - at that point the team which answered correctly is declared to be the winner.

In the semi-finals 12 questions are presented in each game rather than 10. In the finals there are 15 questions.

In various unofficial matches of Protmušis the rules may differ slightly.

System of the championship

Every year two championships (seasons) are held, each one lasting for approximately four months (one in the winter and spring and one in the autumn and winter; the seasons are separated by the winter and summer holidays and the student exams).

Each season consists of the regular season and the playoffs. In the regular season all the participating teams are put into groups. All teams in the same group has to play against each other. During these games, the winning team is given two points, and both teams are given one point each for a draw. The number of groups and the number of teams in each group as well as the number of teams advancing to playoffs depend on how many teams participate in Protmušis that particular season, therefore, the system varies somewhat from season to season. In some seasons some matches are played by three teams rather than two.
In addition to the main championship, various smaller games are being held: when neither of the playing teams answer the question correctly the spectators of Protmušis are permitted to give a try (the spectators who answered the most questions are being listed in the official website), the best questions are voted for and the spectators and players who had created the most questions are named, all the players and spectators are asked additional questions where it is possible to win special prizes.

At present Protmušis is held each Thursday at 18:30 (Vilnius time) in the great hall of the Faculty of the Natural Sciences of Vilnius University. Anybody (including non-players and non-students) is permitted to come and watch the games, try their luck in answering the questions that teams are unable to answer or to support the teams of their faculty or institute

Institute

An institute is a permanent organizational body created for a certain purpose. Often it is a research organization created to do research on specific topics...

. Each Wednesday four matches are played (whole event of four matches lasts for approximately two hours). All the questions and answers during the game are presented in the Lithuanian language

Lithuanian language

Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...

.

Questions

The questions that are presented in the Protmušis games requires both general knowledge and the ability to think logically. They might be related to various fields (such as history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, geography

Geography

Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

, arts

ARts

aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

, physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

, biology

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

 and so on), but may not require a very specific knowledge in those fields. Usually, the questions are about more or less minor topics that are not known to most people, but after thinking logically it is possible to guess the answer based on one's general knowledge about various similar more important subjects. The goal of a good Protmušis question is to make it so that nobody would answer it immediately, but the team members would need to discuss among themselves and only after each member said his/her suggestions or thoughts regarding the question it would be possible to find the best answer. The amount of questions that are answered correctly by the teams per each match varies greatly (from 10% when the weaker teams play to 90% when the major teams face each other), but usually the teams are able to find the correct answer for approximately 50%-60% of the questions.

Each question as is shown on the screen consists of two slides, one for question and one for answer. The question slide usually includes introduction that is meant both to help find out the answer to the question and to describe the subject more, and the question itself. The answer slide includes a detailed explanation of the answer. The goal of Protmušis is not only to entertain but to expand the knowledge of the players and the spectators as well, therefore, the questions that are related to interesting subjects that are not widely known to the general public, but are worth to be known, are especially valued. Both the question slide and the answer slide are usually illustrated with pictures related to the subject.

Everybody (both players and spectators) is permitted to send in the questions for Protmušis (the questions are not presented during the matches of the team of the player who had created the question).

History

Protmušis was organised for the first time in 1997. The game is based on 1989th-year soviet game "Brain ring" . It is organized regularly, two seasons a year, since 2003. Over the time Protmušis have expanded and improved greatly. The number of participating teams increased and so did the number of universities and faculties represented. The technology have improved (for example, special buttons are now used by the teams to express their will to attempt answer the question; prior to the fifth season lamps were used instead and in the 1997 it was simple hand raising), the number of organisers and the question authors have increased. Protmušis found many sponsors (such as Vaga, one of the biggest publishing houses in Lithuania) and therefore prizes are given now. The official internet website and forums were established and had improved, Protmušis was featured many times in the student press. In the autumn of 2006, Protmušis was also featured in the Sostinė supplement of the leading Lithuanian newspaper Lietuvos Rytas

Lietuvos Rytas

Lietuvos rytas is a Lithuanian daily newspaper, printed in Vilnius and a TV company. Lietuvos rytas sponsors basketball team BC Lietuvos Rytas and the annual Vilnius Marathon.-External links:*...

 and on the Lithuanian national television (LRT

Lithuanian National Radio and Television

Lithuanian National Radio and Television is the national public broadcasting company of Lithuania. The company operates the two national public television channels LTV, LTV2 and LTV World . LRT also broadcasts three national public radio stations...

). In the spring of 2006 the cooperation of Protmušis and the International Quizzing Association started and the Lithuanian branch of the World Quizzing Championships 2006 was organised using the organisational basis of Protmušis. In December 2006 during the European Quizzing Championships

European Quizzing Championships

The European Quizzing Championships are an annual multi-disciplinary quiz event, in which representatives from various countries compete as individuals, teams and pairs. The last championships took place in Bruges, Belgium 4-6 November 2011...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, a demonstration of Protmušis was given, introducing the gameplay to other European nations. In 2008 an article on Protmušis was published in daily newspaper 15 min

15 min

15 min is a free Lithuanian daily newspaper that has been published in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda since 2005. It is published 5 times a week .It is distributed in public buses, streets and some cafés....

.

• In the second season (autumn of 2003) 10 teams participated, all players were students of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Vilnius University or the Faculty of Chemistry of Vilnius University.
• In the third season (spring of 2004) 16 teams participated, representing various faculties of Vilnius University.
• In the fourth season (autumn of 2004) 15 teams participated.
• In the fifth season (spring of 2005) 21 team participated, with some players being students of other universities than Vilnius University
  Vilnius University
  Vilnius University is the oldest university in the Baltic states and one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It is also the largest university in Lithuania....
  
   for the first time.
• In the sixth season (autumn of 2005) 22 teams participated.
• In the seventh season (spring of 2006) 26 teams (representing all the Vilnius-based faculties of Vilnius University and some faculties of the other universities of Vilnius) expressed their will to participate. Due to such a large number of teams the qualification matches had to be organised. After the preliminary games, 20 teams won the right to participate in the main tournament.
• In the eight season (autumn of 2006) 28 teams participated.
• In the ninth season (spring of 2007) 35 teams participated, with universities that are based not in Vilnius represented for the first time.
• In the tenth season (autumn of 2007) 24 teams participated.
• In the eleventh season (spring of 2008) 27 teams participated.
• In the twelfth season (autumn of 2008) 28 teams participated.
• In the thirteenth season (spring of 2009) 38 teams participate.

In addition to the official championships, unofficial matches and mini-tournaments have been held. These included demonstration games and special games (that have been organised as a part of some bigger scientific, educational or entertainment events). The rules and questions might differ slightly during unofficial matches (for example, in matches that are organised as a part of some event the questions might all be set in accordance to the topic of the event).

As of now, each team may consist of five to eight players (no more than five players could play for the team in a match at any given time however). Some teams are participating for many years (there are players who have participated in every season since 1997). Each season at least several new teams registers for participation. Many teams represent some particular faculty or institute, while other teams are mixed.

International versions

Country	Title	Host	Channel	Date premiered	Language
Belarus	Брэйн-ринг	Leonid Kuprido	ONT Obshchenatsional'noe Televidenie Obshchenatsional'noe Televidenie is Belarus's second national television station. It was established on 15 February 2002 by decree of the President of Belarus. In late 2009 ONT was expected to be given the rights to select Belarus entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 after a decision of...	18 September 2010	Russian
Lithuania	Protmušis	Unknown	Unknown	1997	Lithuanian
Russia	Брэйн-ринг	Andrew Kozlov	Channel One, TVCentr and STS	1989 - 4 december 2010	Russian
Ukraine	Брэйн-ринг (Тееп-Лига)	Oleg Buzina	K1(2011-...), Inter Inter (TV channel) Inter is the major TV channel in Ukraine. Based on it later was formed the whole new media group with variety of different other channels. Inter is among the top-rated networks in Ukraine, competing with such as 1+1 and Pershyi Natsionalnyi channels... (2006)	2006	Russian, Ukrainian

External links

• Official website of Protmušis—includes news, articles about the matches, current standings, official rules, history of the teams, questions that were asked in past matches, polls (among other things)
• Presentational film of Protmušis (filmed during the semifinals and finals of the 8th season)
• The information, statistics and the roster of Protmušis teams until 12th season