We could all be doing a little more to keep our brain in the best condition that we can, especially as we get a little older and it’s not quite as agile as it used to be. There are a lot of ways to go about it, and one such way is with the right games. Games have proven to be remarkable and help to work out your brain in a variety of ways. It has a host of cognitive benefits, including improving your ability to process information, enhancing your memory, and unlocking creative power. If you’re looking for the game for you, then you might want to take a closer look at those that are designed to help you make better use of your brain. Here are some of the top examples.
Sudoku
Let’s start off with one of the biggest trends in puzzle games as of late. Sudoku is a lot more engaging and interesting than the empty grid of squares might initially look like. The aim of the game is simple, you have a grid of squares, columns, and rows. Each square, column, and row must have the numbers 1 to 9 in them, and no number can appear in a given square, column, or row more than once. As such, it’s not a game about math, or luck, as it might first appear, but rather about pattern recognition, noticing where you can’t put certain numbers, and using deduction to narrow it down to the only option it can be. There are many different types of Sudoku, as well, to appeal to players of all levels and ages.
Solitaire
Also known as patience, Solitaire is the quintessential single-player card game. The game is, basically, about arranging cards in lines of alternating colors with the eventual aim of moving them into a pile for each suit. Although it might initially seem like a time-waster, the deeper that you get into it, the more you realize that it involves different calculations, including pattern recognition and memorization of the cards you see, as well as risk calculation when it comes to making decisions on which cards to move where. There are plenty of Solitaire games that you can find online, whether they’re opting for some of the alternative rulesets or just bringing a glitzy new aesthetic to the experience. It’s a great way to give the mind a workout and a game rarely takes very long to beat so you can fit it in a lunch break, while waiting for an appointment, on a train or bus, or otherwise.
Chess
Truly one of the absolute classics of brain-teasing games, chess has always been the tactician’s choice of games. Learning the various moves that each piece can take is only the beginning. From there, it’s all about being able to remember and carry out strategies, while reacting to changes in the opponent’s game, and trying to read what their moves going to be. Not only can chess improve your strategic thinking and general cognitive skills, but it’s also thought to help prevent dementia in adults as they get older. You don’t have to be a grandmaster to enjoy the benefits of chess, either, there are plenty of online games that make it easy to find lobbies of players who are of a similar skill level to you.
Wordle
It was all the rage two years ago when it was first unveiled to the world by Josh Wardle. Since then, Wordle has been a daily fixture in the New York Times and has been played by millions of people. A big part of the fun appeal is sharing your results with your friends, and seeing who is able to manage their streak for the longest. The premise is simple, you’re given a word to decipher, and you have to choose which letters you think make up the word. Even if you get it wrong, any correct letters will be highlighted to help you arrange them into the word that it might be, but you have only a few limited guesses to get it right. A test of your vocabulary, as well as your ability to recall words using certain letters in certain places, can definitely be a workout for the language processing part of the brain.
Scrabble
A game that is, similar to Wordle, a great benefit when it comes to expanding or reinforcing your vocabulary, Scrabble is also great at helping with pattern recognition as, unlike with Worlde, you don’t have every letter in the dictionary to play with, you’re given a limited and random selection of letter tiles, and you have to try and make the best out of them, while placing them on a board based on words that have previously been played, always keeping high-scoring words in mind. If it was just a game about vocabulary recall and being able to arrange the letters in the right place alone, that would be enough of a brain workout, enough, but add the level of strategy expected on top of that and it’s a much deeper game than you might realize. Nowadays, you can easily play Scrabble-like games on your phone, too, so you can get into friendly competition with people around the world, no matter where you are.
Luminosity
If you’re looking for a little variety in your brain training, and if you were a fan of Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training for the Nintendo DS back in the day, then you might want to take a closer look at Luminosity. This is an app that prepares a range of new brain teasers for you each and every day and customizes the games it offers based on the specific cognitive skills that you might be trying to build up. While you can play a free trial of the app that offers access to some of the most popular games, the full thing requires a subscription to play. However, if you want to take training your brain seriously, some people would say that it’s worth the asking price.
The Layton series of games
Now, moving into one of the branded games that’s specifically good for your brain, we’re going to take a look at the series of games based on the adventures of Professor Layton, made by Level-5. Not a single puzzle or type of brain teaser, these games can be thought of as a series of riddles and puzzles that test all manner of cognitive abilities, as well as improve your creative thinking by often encouraging you to go outside the box with your solutions to their puzzles. Add to that the utterly charming visuals, fun music, and storylines that see the main characters solving a bigger central mystery, and it’s not too difficult to see why so many people are fond of the Layton games. While originally released on the Nintendo DS, a lot of them have since been ported onto smartphones, where they can be much more easily enjoyed by a wider range of people than ever.
Whether you’re looking for something relaxing you can do in your own time, a competitive way to get your neurons firing, or something that offers a little variety, there are plenty of brain games to tickle that puzzle-solving and cognitive reasoning urge of yours. While not a muscle, your brain does work like one in some regards. If you want to keep the various parts of the brain agile and strong, then you need to work them out with some mental exercise. Aside from being able to improve your mental abilities, these puzzles and brain teasers can play a serious role in improving mental health, too.
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