Wonderlic, Schmunderlick

Bob Colayco nailed a perfect Brain Age score of 20 on his first attempt, and hasn't touched the game since. Call him a filthy cheater at bob@gamespot.com.

Those of us who follow college and professional football know that the NFL Draft is fast approaching. Aside from measuring height, weight, 40-yard dash times, the number of reps a player can bench-press 225 pounds, and other athletic feats, NFL teams administer an intelligence exam to all potential draftees called the Wonderlic test.

The value of the test is often called into question, since the requirement to answer 50 logic and math problems in under 12 minutes seems to actually measure one's ability to take tests as much as anything else. But controversy notwithstanding, teams like to use the Wonderlic as a rough measure of a player's aptitude.

For certain positions, like running back or defensive line, a "high score" isn't that important. But for more cerebral positions like quarterback or offensive line, NFL general managers place a higher premium on a high Wonderlic score. Texas superstar quarterback Vince Young, who after winning the national championship may have gone as high as the first overall pick, now sees his draft stock dropping like a rock because he reportedly scored a paltry six out of 50 on his first Wonderlic test. To put that in perspective, a score of 20 is considered average intelligence and roughly equivalent to an IQ of 100.

But is this fair? Lots of players who bombed on the Wonderlic have gone on to productive careers. Philadelphia Eagles star QB Donovan McNabb only managed a 12. Hall of Fame QB Dan Marino got a very pedestrian 16. Conversely, many players who scored very high on the test haven't panned out. San Francisco 49ers QB Alex Smith is a recent example, likely to join the infamous list of colossal first-round busts despite an impressive score of 40.

After seeing a sample Wonderlic exam on ESPN, I'm really starting to wonder: Does it really make sense to test players with an exam that looks as antiquated as the triple-wing offense? And why are you reading an article about the Wonderlic and the NFL draft on GameSpot anyway?

Well, what if the NFL ditched the written exam and used video games instead? Any college football player these days has grown up with a controller in his hands. This is the PlayStation era after all--so shouldn't video games be used to test player aptitude? And what better game to do it than one developed by a neuroscientist? Imagine the hulking, 300-pound brutes at the NFL Combine all being handed a Nintendo DS and a copy of Brain Age, instead of a pencil and a Wonderlic packet.

Well you can stop wondering now, as we gave a few NFL players and potential Draft picks a copy of Brain Age and got their comments as they played the game.

OK, we didn't actually ask them. But this is what they'd probably say.

Texas Longhorns QB Vince Young, on this mini-game: "Wow drawing squiggly lines from letters to numbers is just like juking all those USC linebackers out of their shoes! It's way easier than those tough arithmetic problems on the Wonderlic. Thanks Brain Age!"

Dallas Cowboys WR Terrell Owens, on the calculations mini-game: "I love the Brain Age math tests. Doing math comes naturally to me because all I think about are the numbers in my contract."

Baltimore Ravens TE Todd Heap, on word games: "It's nice to finally get some recognition in a video game, especially with that stiff Kyle Boller holding my career back. Can I get on the cover of Madden next?"

Ravens RB Jamal Lewis, on sudoku: "Get this Sudoku crap outta my face! I've had enough of seeing bars in front of my face, you feel me?"

San Francisco 49ers QB Alex Smith, on learning of his brain age: "Hey cool, my Brain Age is higher than my quarterback rating. That's good, right?"

[Editor's Note: With E3 2006 fast approaching, Freeplay will be going on hiatus. Stay tuned to GameSpot for more feature stories.]