When there’s a lot to do and not a whole lot of time in a single day to get it all done, it’s not always easy to keep your mind sharp. You might do a lot of thinking and problem solving at work, but after awhile, doing the same thing day in and day out starts to exercise your brain less and less as time goes on.
Luckily, the internet is full of fun and challenging brain training games, even for adults, so they can test and refine their cognitive abilities without feeling like they’re doing more work outside of work.
Here is a list of the top five brain training games for adults, so you can spend a larger portion of your free time playing games that might actually be able to help you keep your mind as sharp as you can over time.
1. Brain Metrix Memory Improvement Game
As an adult and a rising professional in your field, being able to put names with faces and remember them is a crucial part of building relationships. Nothing is more embarrassing than being reunited with a co-worker, supervisor or client only to completely blank out on their name.
Memory acquisition is all about making associations between two things, in this case, associating names with faces and names with characteristics of that particular person whose name you need to be able to remember. Brain Metrix offers a simple yet effective (and free) online game to exercise your memory acquisition and simultaneously help improve your memory.
You can find the game here. It’s simple: all you need to do is match the pairs in the grid as quickly as you can using trial and error and exercising your ability to remember which object is located in which square. Have fun, and see if you can find all the matches in the grid before the timer hits a minute and thirty seconds.
2. 3D Logic Puzzle
Being able to use logic to visualize how to solve problems within a specific space, before you actually begin to solve them physically, is an important mental skill to have and to exercise continuously as an adult.
Memory Improvement Tips offers a link to a logic puzzle that will test your ability to visualize how to make the best use of a particular space using colors and the simple click of your computer mouse. 3D Logic Puzzle only asks you to do one thing: connect like squares using matching colors.
Try the game out by following this link. All you will need to do is connect two blocks of the same color by clicking a “trail” of blocks in that color across several sides of a virtual cube on your screen. You will have to do this with multiple colors at once, and the further you get in the game, the more challenging this becomes. Good luck!
3. Mahjong Online
We’ve showed you a game that tests your memory and one that tests your ability to think logically and visualize the outcome of future actions. The next game our list is a combination of both, testing your ability to scan something laid out in front of you and think critically at the same time.
Mahjong is s simple, and complex, as a game can be. The “board” features a collection of tiles, some stacked on top of one another, arranged randomly. You must match each tile with its pair in both number and color, but you can only match with the topmost or outermost tiles on the board, which is where the challenge comes in.
You will find the game right here. Try to see how fast you can remove all the tiles, and how long you can go without using the ‘hint’ button. Each time you use another hint, your score goes down, and if you run out of moves before all the tiles are cleared, you will have to start over from the beginning.
4. Word Scramble
Testing your word recognition and vocabulary skills, and how quickly you can arrange letters to form certain words, is important more and more the longer it has been since you were in a formal education program. Over time, we start using simpler and simpler vocabulary without paying any mind to the words themselves.
Word Scramble forces you to look at a group of scrambled up letters and use critical thinking and word recognition to arrange those letters to form the appropriate word. You are given a time limit, and each session is fairly short, so it’s easy to play on your browser for a few minutes while you take a quick break.
Find the game here. Rearrange the letters by clicking and dragging your mouse to form valid words and earn points. If you take too long to form a word, the timer runs out and you will have to try again.
5. Difference
Attention to detail. You have probably seen that characteristic listed on job boards a hundred times before, but how well are you able to pay attention to detail? How well can you differentiate between what is on a screen in front of you and what should actually be in its place?
Even if you think your attention to detail is as good as it will ever get, it never hurts to sharpen your mind a little. Difference is a game you can play on your browser that helps you test and exercise your ability to pay very close attention to small details.
Try the game here and test out how well, and quickly, you can spot the differences between the two side by side pictures put in front of you. The faster you spot and click on the differences in the second photo, the higher your score will be when – and if – you manage to spot all the differences.
These games are just simple yet challenging enough to keep you entertained while doing your brain a lot of favors. These are the perfect games to play while you’re watching reruns of your favorite T.V. show or waiting for dinner to finish cooking. Your brain will thank you.
