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Brain Workout: 10 Free Mind Games to Exercise Your Brain

2008-06-13来源:
Who doesn’t want to have a sharp mind? Having a sharp mind is something we all want. I recently read a thought-provoking article about it entitled Harvard Business Review . The article talks about how the minds of people like Warren Buffet and Alan Greenspan stay sharp even in their old age.

What is the secret? The secret is brain workout. They exercise their brain continuously and that makes their minds sharp.

One way to exercise your brain is playing:

Play engages the prefrontal cortex, responsible for your highest-level cognitive functions - including self-knowledge, memory, mental imagery, and incentive and reward processing… Activities like bridge, chess, sudoku, role-playing games, and challenging crossword puzzles all provide rigorous neural workouts.

Looking at myself, I must admit that I do not play as much as I should. So I went around the web and searched for places where I can play games to have fun and exercise my brain. What I want are places where I can play for free and - whenever possible - play alone without having to find partners first. This way I can easily exercise my mind whenever I want.

Here I would like to share what I found along with resources to help you play those games better. But, first of all, here are some tips to get the most out of the games:

  1. Set aside time to play
    Though not everyday, you need to allocate time to play. This is not just playing anyway; this is time investment to sharpen your mind.

  2. Start with a game you are familiar with
    If you found it difficult to understand how to play a game, you might not be motivated to play. So start with the games you are familiar with. This way you can soon train your brain without being distracted by the game rules.

  3. Choose a new game later
    After you have played a game quite often, you should try a new game. It gives your brain a different kind of training that enriches it.

  4. Increase the level of difficulty
    Just like you should increase the weight you use in weight training to build your muscles, you should also increase the difficulty of the games you play to build your brain muscles. This way you stretch your mind beyond its current boundary.
With those tips in mind, here are 10 free mind games to exercise your brain:

1. Sudoku

About the game

Sudoku is a logic-based number placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 boxes (also called blocks or regions) contains the digits from 1 to 9, only one time each (that is, exclusively). The puzzle setter provides a partially completed grid.

Where to play

  • Sudoku Daily on Yahoo! games
  • Sudoku - Miniclip games
  • Super Sudoku
  • BrainBashers: Daily Sudoku
  • Brain games: Sudoku
  • Resources

  • List of Sudoku terms and jargon
  • Sudoku Tips: Learn How To Solve Sudoku Faster
  • Killer Sudoku Tips and Strategies
  • Sudoku tips: How to solve Sudoku
  • 2. Chess

    About the game

    Chess is played on a square chequered chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight square. At the start, each player (one controlling the white pieces, the other controlling the black pieces) controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent’s king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in “check”) and there is no way to remove it from attack on the next move.

    Where to play

  • Play Against the computer - Chess.com
  • Chess - games for the Brain
  • Simple Chess
  • Resources

  • Ten Tips to Winning Chess
  • Chess opening
  • 3. Bridge

    About the game

    Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game of skill and chance. It is played by four players who form two partnerships; the partners sit opposite each other at a table. The game consists of the auction (often called bidding) and play, after which the hand is scored.

    Where to play

    These sites require you to log in and play against other human players. I couldn’t find free sites that allow you to play bridge online against computer.

  • Yahoo! Bridge
  • Bridge Base Online
  • Resources

  • Contract Bridge Glossary
  • Bridge Scoring
  • Bridge Strategy
  • 4. Crossword

    About the game

    A crossword is a word puzzle that normally takes the form of a square or rectangular grid of black and white squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answers.

    Where to play

  • Daily Crosswords on Yahoo! games
  • BrainBashers: Crosswords
  • Resources

  • Crossword puzzle solving tips
  • 5. Go

    About the game

    Go is played by two players alternately placing black and white stones on the vacant intersections of a line grid. The objective of the game is to control a larger part of the board than the opponent.

    Where to play

  • computer-Go Online
  • Resources

    healthTop TipsnutritionLovelifestyleHappinessWeight Loss
  • Sensei’s Library: Beginner study Section
  • Seven Steps to Shodan
  • 6. Checkers

    About the game

    Checkers is a form of the draughts board game played on an 8×8 board with 12 pieces on each side that may only move and capture forward.

    Where to play

  • Checkers - Mind Bluff
  • Resources

  • Checkers Strategies
  • Checkers in a Nutshell
  • 7. Reversi

    About the game

    Reversi are names for a board game which involves play by two parties on an eight-by-eight square grid with pieces that have two distinct sides. The object of the game is to make your pieces constitute a majority of the pieces on the board at the end of the game, by turning over as many of your opponent’s pieces as possible.

    Where to play

  • Reversi - games for the Brain
  • Reversi - interJEUX.net
  • Resources

  • Reversi Strategy
  • French Othello Federation Booklet
  • 8. Connect Four

    About the game

    Connect Four is a two-player board game in which the players take turns in dropping alternating colored discs into a seven-column, six-row vertically-suspended grid. The object of the game is to connect four singly-colored discs in a row — vertically, horizontally, or diagonally — before your opponent can do likewise.

    Where to play

  • Brain games: Connect Four
  • Connect 4 - interJEUX.net
  • Resources

  • Connect Four Tips & Tricks
  • Connect Four - Wikibooks
  • 9. Chinese Checkers

    About the game

    Chinese checkers is a board game that can be played by two to six people. The objective of the game is to place one’s pieces in the corner opposite their starting position of a pitted 6-pointed star by single moves or jumps over other pieces.

    Where to play

  • Chinese Checkers | Thinks.com
  • Brain games: Chinese Checkers
  • Resources

  • Chinese Checkers - Wikibooks
  • Chinese checkers: Strategy and tips
  • 10. Mastermind

    About the game

    Mastermind is a simple code-breaking board game for two players .

    Where to play

  • Mastermind - NLVM
  • Super-Mastermind
  • Resource

  • Mastermind Algorithms
  • ***

    The ten games above are enough to improve your brain fitness. But, in case you got bored, there are plenty of other mind games you can find on these sites:

  • Mind Bluff
  • interJEUX.net
  • BrainBashers
  • Brain games - Sheppard software
  • games for the Brain
  • Whatever game you choose, play it and boost your brain’s performance.