Just like we all need work to earn money and fulfill our wishes, our brain also needs to perform demanding tasks from time to time to remain at a decent level. Apps and games meant for keeping our minds busy are everywhere over the online realm these days, and they have the potential of keeping us glued to our screens even for hours. Many mind games are addictive and even free of charge.
Health experts believe that there are certain benefits when it comes to playing video games. Development of problem-solving skills, stimulating the brain in a healthy way, and stress relief represent only a small part of those benefits. Our selection of apps and games meant for keeping our brains busy has twelve names, and we believe that each of them is worth mentioning:
Clockwork Brain
This is a series of challenging activities that aim to test cognitive skills. Millions of people worldwide are playing this game, one that involves adaptive difficulty and fast-paced levels. Clockwork Brain is also a memory and attention game.
Rubik’s Cube
Now here’s one from the heavy artillery of mind games: Rubik’s Cube. Although it started as a physical cube that has many rotating parts, Rubik’s Cube can also be found easily on the online realm. The rules are the same everywhere: rotate those parts of the cube until you get the same color on all sides. It’s indeed insanely harder than it sounds! You can solve Rubik’s Cube in 20 moves, but it took over three decades for anyone to figure it out! There’s no wonder why, as the number of possible combinations is mind-boggling: 43 252 003 274 489!
Eidetic
Need another game that puts your memory at work? Do you want to prove to others how good you are with numbers and remembering them? Eidetic is great for such purposes, as it uses a ‘spaced repetition’ technique.
TED
The concept of TED is simple: it provides the user access to a huge amount of free talks: over 3,000 in more than 20 languages. We all have favorite topics in life, and keeping ourselves informed is a sure way of keeping our brains busy.
Scrabble
Scrabble Solver is a hugely-popular word game with a history of almost a century since Alfred Mosher Butts invented it in 1931. His aim was to create a word game that combines anagrams and crosswords, which also involves luck and a great deal of skill. It’s estimated that a Scrabble set exists in about one-third of American and half of British homes.
Words with Friends
If you like Scrabble, the chances are huge that you’ll love Words with Friends. The rules are similar, and Words with Friends offers the player the chance to build words in crossword-puzzle style and in a similar manner to Scrabble. Players have been known notoriously using Words with Friends Cheat to win the game with ease.
Chess
Chess is considered the godfather of mind games by some people. Having its roots way back in the 8th century of India, Chess stimulates a lot of mental processes of the players. In this game, you can apply a huge amount of strategies or even come up with your own. There’s no wonder why Chess is considered an abstract strategy game!
Braingle
Do you also like riddles? Well, who doesn’t? Braingle will offer you a lot of them so that you can put your mind at work and compete with your friends and family to see who comes with the correct answer first.
Happify
You’ll surely remember the name of this app, whether you’ll like the software or not. As you’ve already guessed, Happify will try to make you happy. It’s supposed to do that by its numerous quizzes, polls, and gratitude journals.
Lumosity
Lumosity can also be found online easily, and it aims to improve attention, flexibility, memory, processing speed, as well as problem-solving for those who play it.
Personal Zen
While many people say that you need a personal God in your life, the developers of this app would say that you need a personal Zen. As the moniker suggests, this game is meant to reduce anxiety and make you focus on positive aspects.
Brain Trainer Special
Brain Trainer Special is another one of those apps that aim to improve the memory of its users. It does so by providing phone numbers, sequences, and more to get your memory tested. Perhaps each of us needs a better memory, which means that you should definitely give Brain Trainer Special a try!
Relying on technology to maintain a healthy brain cannot be a mistake as long as we choose the right challenges.
Henry Lares is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including Tech Crunch and the Huffington Post. In regards to academics, Henry earned an engineering degree from Apex Technical School. Henry has a passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.