Brain Games for Adults

Brain games are fun to play at gatherings, meetings, kitty parties or on outings. Most of the brain games usually include trick questions and brain teasers, or some very hard riddles.

The Stroop test is a brilliant way to test a person's mental flexibility and concentration. It is easy enough to construct this game at home. To make a Stroop test, all you require is a big piece of colored chart paper and felt pens of four different colors.

In the first two rows of the chart paper, write down the names of the felt pen colors with the felt pens of corresponding colors. For example, write 'green' with a green-colored felt pen, 'red' with a red-colored felt pen and so on.

In the next line, continue the same pattern and write the names of the colors with the ink of that respective color. In the third and fourth line, write the names of the colors in different inks. For example, write 'green' with a red-colored felt pen and so on.

The test includes you reading the words in every row without taking a pause. This might sound easy, but is very difficult to carry through. At times, we end up saying the name of the color instead of the written word. You may also try some variations, like reading the column or just saying the name of the color.

To play this game, you need to select a common topic or theme, say music. The person who starts the game will say a particular word related to music such as 'the Beetles'. The person sitting next to him/her has to say another analogical word like 'John Lennon'.

This game is very easy to play in the initial stages but it gets difficult in the later stages as the choices begin to reduce. You can try out different topics such as food, or business or even history and geography.

How many times do we handle a penny in a single year? Scores and scores of times? In this game then, all you need to do is list out all the features of a penny. Believe it or not, very few can list out the exact features.

Among all the brain games for adults, this one is rather popular. Write all the numbers from 1 to 100 in a reverse order (100, 99, 98... and so on), without taking a single pause. It might sound easy, but it requires high amounts of concentration.

Similarly, you can try other combinations like writing all the letters of the alphabet in reverse order or writing even and odd numbers alternately. To make the game more challenging, try writing only the prime numbers or something extremely complicated such as multiplying all the odd numbers with 2 and writing only the products sequentially, without pause.

If you are in a small group, then it would be appropriate to play some nice math riddles and puzzles. Riddles and tongue twisters also make some interesting brain games. So, the next time you plan a get-together, don't forget to include these challenging games that tease your brain and test it.