4Brains is an intellectual game played by multiple teams of 4. In it questions combine quiz-like facts with the structure of riddles and logical test problems. Consequently playing 4Brains is not just about remembering facts, but is also akin to brainstorming and riddle-solving.

BATTLES
4Brains battles are held within tournaments. Each tournament has a corresponding set of questions. The number of questions in a tournament can vary from as few as 8 to as many as 80. Whenever teams participate in a tournament at a given location, that constitutes a separate battle.

FORMAT
The teams are given 60 seconds to discuss a question and submit an answer to the battle hosts through the application. The answers which coincide precisely with the ones provided by the tournament authors are automatically counted as correct. The rest of the answers are judged to be right or wrong by the battle hosts. In cases of disagreement with the battle hosts, the teams may appeal to the tournament organizers.

WINNERS
Tournament results are primarily determined by the total number of questions taken by each team. In case of equal numbers of correct answers, the next criteria considered are the question complexity (how many teams gave a correct answer) and response time (at which second of the discussion did the team submit its final answer).

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
4Brains questions and answers are intentionally limited in length, to encourage laconic, fast-paced style, emphasize logic over memorisation, and make submitting answers easier. Thematically, 4Brains questions are not limited. The relevant knowledge may range from ancient mythology to modern arts and technology. Compared to most pub quizes, there's normally less of an emphasis on the particular areas of pop culture, such as hollywood movie quotes and rock lyrics. However, major themes may vary between authors and tournaments.

HISTORY
4Brains is inspired by a Soviet game still widely played in the post-Soviet countries, called "What? Where? When?". The author of the 4Brains, Sandro Tarkhan-Mouravi, modified the What? Where? When? format based on multi-year first-hand experience of playing the game and analyzing its key strengths and inconveniences, devising the application as the solution for many of the latter.