Red Dwarf - Beat the Geek was an interactive DVD game based on Red Dwarf.
The game could be played by one or two players, and there were three different game modes:
- Viewer (for casual fans)
- Geek (for hardcore Dwarfers)
- General Knowledge (which was aimed at those unfamiliar with Red Dwarf but able to observe clips and photos)
The player(s) had to choose which of the modes to select and then to choose a host for the game. Holly was the question master and players could select either Holly's male or female versions. Each Holly dressed in different costumes, either ones that they had worn onscreen or new ones.
Some of Male Holly's costumes
These included High and Low versions, various hats and disguises.
The player then entered an "Artificial Reality" suite and was transported to a different part of Red Dwarf for 8 rounds of 6 questions each. The different rounds were as follows:
Some of Female Holly's costumes
- Starbug
- Drive Room
- Original sleeping quarters
- Science lab
- The Tank
- Officer's quarters
- Observation Dome
- Captain's office
The questions were of many different types, selected at random.
- Clips - A short excerpt from either an episode or Smeg Up followed by a question about it
- Music - A music cue for which the player had to identify the episode
- Picture - Identify the distorted character or episode from which the picture had come
- Scene order - The player is shown four screenshots from an episode and asked to place them in the correct order
- Multiple choice - Standard questions with four possible answers
After each question Holly tells the player if they were right or wrong. He or she has as many different responses as costumes.
If the player scored a perfect 6 for rounds 1, 3, 5, or 7 they would be given a four-digit code that could be used to unlock four different mini-games in the main menu. If a Geek player got all 48 questions right they were asked an additional two questions for a potential score of 50. If this was acheived then another mini-game was unlocked.
Behind the Scenes[]
The game was made by 2 Entertain and Grant Naylor Productions and released as a BBC DVD. The questions were written by Thequizbiz interactive Ltd. It was released in 2006 and featured questions and material from the first eight series.
Norman Lovett and Hattie Hayridge reprised their roles as Holly, recording all new material. This was the first time that they had worked together on-screen as Holly, with Hattie having played Hilly when they appeared together in Series 2.
Also included in the DVD case was a leaflet that led the buyer to an online competition called Geek Chase. This was a series of websites that left clues for players to follow to win a prize.