Here are the top five memory and brain games.
Sudoku
Sudoku is a number puzzle game that is consistently ranked highly in almost every game list you’ll find for adults. Sudoku isn’t so much about memory, as it is engaging various parts of your brain to plan and map out the puzzle through strategy. It has beginner to expert level puzzles and offers many of the same cognitive challenges and benefits of chess, but for a single-player. It’s fun, addicting and you can find free printables online, buy small travel booklets or even download apps, making it something you can play on or offline.
Classic Crosswords
Crossword puzzles are excellent memory games because they test your recall ability across a wide variety of topics. Solving these puzzles not only tests your breadth of knowledge, but also your ability to decipher clues.
Scrabble
This multiplayer word game may not seem like something that would benefit your memory, however, the requirement for vocabulary recall, the ability to create anagrams, and discover areas to play words on existing words all while missing letters, has proven that expert Scrabble players use and access parts of their brains that most people do not use. You can read the 2016 study on it here.
Memory – Card Game
This is an excellent game to sharpen your working memory, which is the ability to recall something from the short-term memory for a limited amount of time. Many of us use this memory function daily when we try to remember a short shopping list or pull our to-do list for the day from memory without jotting it down. This classic card game has you attempt to find a card pair by randomly turning face-down cards, face-up, two at a time. Recalling where you saw a card on your previous turn can help you score points on your next turn if you find its matching card on your next flip. This is a simple game that is a great tool for children who struggle with focus and short-term recall.
Mensa Brain Training
Mensa is a well-known organization that test IQ and challenges people through puzzles and problem-solving challenges. You can find their mobile game in the app store. Their exercises aim to improve memory, reasoning, concentration, and perception, among other things.
Remember, memory is more complicated than simply recalling a person’s name or remembering what you went to the basement for. There are different types and levels to our memory and exercising a variety of cognitive functions through games that require strategy, recall and creativity is a great way to keep sharp! Playing cognitive or memory games is not about getting smarter, it’s about sharpening your existing skills through practice, so don’t worry if it takes you a while to see improvement in your game play.
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