is a component of the Japanese
variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...
''
The Tunnels' Thanks to Everyone''. Video clips from the show proliferated on video-sharing websites and the concept was eventually adopted by several other countries. It became popularly known to non-Japanese speakers and
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
fans as simply Human Tetris or Hole in the Wall, named for its involvement of the physical body and a supposed close resemblance to the rules of the video game ''
Tetris
''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...
''.
Game rules
The rules of the game are the same, and how points are awarded varies from country to country.
* Contestants wearing helmets and elbow and knee pads and a silver (or gold in some countries) spandex unitard stand on the "Play Area". A
Styrofoam
Styrofoam is a brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), manufactured to provide continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and as a water barrier. This material is light blue in ...
wall, wide by tall, consisting of cut-outs resembling Tetris blocks, is revealed and moves towards the contestants in a path. They have to make use of their wits in seconds to assume the position that will allow them to fit through the opening(s). Later episodes involve the use of more complicated shapes, such as words,
gymnastic positions, shapes from popular culture, and even above-ground-level shapes. Contestants usually have to twist and bend their bodies with
agility
Agility or nimbleness is an ability to change the body's position quickly and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength, and endurance. More specifically, it ...
and
dexterity
Fine motor skill (or dexterity) is the coordination of small muscles in movement with the eyes, hands and fingers. The complex levels of manual dexterity that humans exhibit can be related to the nervous system. Fine motor skills aid in the growt ...
to fit through the hole in the wall.
* If contestants fail to fit through the hole, they are pushed by the wall into a pool of water that is deep behind them and no points are awarded.
* Contestants play in teams and only win points if they are able to fit though the wall. Points are awarded if the contestant(s) in the round are able to successfully cross the Styrofoam wall completely, except in the following situations :
** No points are awarded if any of the contestants fall into the water due to any reason, even if they successfully pass through the wall. (There have been instances where the wall is cleared but contestants find themselves trapped over the water)
** No points are awarded if the contestants crash through the styrofoam wall causing it to break apart.
Fox to remake "Hole in the Wall"
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The first component of the game involves a solo contestant, while later components involve groups of two people or more.
International versions
The production rights to the show outside Japan is owned by Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...
and the program has been produced in over 45 countries.
References
{{Reflist
Japanese game shows
Television series by Fremantle (company)