Brain Power Games

There's fun and frolic, and good times involved when games are spoken of. A general merriment in the air and such and such. But that's not all that games should be about.

While games that involve a lot of physical activity help one to bond with a group or teach one the importance of team work, there are those brain power games that help you to tweak your thinking, analytical and planning powers, help you to become better thinkers, and improve your concentration.

You exercise to keep your body fit, correct? Look at brain games as doing the same for your brain. They help to provide brain exercises for it to remain active. Think back to the time when there were no cell phones and you remembered all the numbers.

Can you think of doing that now? Very few might, but most won't. That's because the brain has slackened and to let it do what it is capable of doing, you need to make it think. That is why such types of brain power games are important and should be stressed upon. In the following article, we shall look into some such games to increase brain power.

Why kids? Because you tap them young and it ensures that you set a trend. While you encourage the kids of today to discard their computers for the cause of playing outside, make sure that you get them to play these brain games as well.

This is a famous game played in the Eastern countries. This has a game board that has a stipulated number of marbles on it and works on similar lines as Chinese checkers.

The objective of the game is to be left with the fewest marbles on the board. Ideally, there should be only one left in the center of the board. To play, you simply carry a marble over the other and discard the marble that was passed over. Can be played by one person at one time.

This one is a real addiction for people who love numbers. But that's just initially―once you get the knack of going about it, you'll be craving for more. That much I can assure you. This helps in improving your problem-solving skills and makes you think and analyze.

Even if they are simple puzzles like joining the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together (make this one fairly difficult so that it poses a challenge), they still work. Also, try those puzzles that have metallic bands or rings conjoined which need to be separated. Then there are scores of books that have difficult puzzles that focus more on the psychology, like finding a picture within a picture.

Makes the brain work. And both hemispheres, mind you. Analyzing what your next move should be, anticipating your opponent's move, and thinking ahead of what should be where, and all the while trying to save your pawns―Great exercise for the brain.

Makes you learn new words? Maybe. But that's definitely not all that it does. It helps you understand and analyze and formulate beforehand how and when to construct the correct word―how to get the maximum out of it.

Now there's no age bracket that you cannot play the above-mentioned games after a certain age. Certainly not. But here are a few others that you should be looking into as well:

• Card games
• Board games like Life, Monopoly and the like
• Learning a new language. Helps in memory improvement like no other.

Once you start out on these games, you'll realize the amount of fun you can have with these. They literally make you feel good about yourself. Try them and see. I'm sure you'll be an addict in no time. Add to that the favor you're doing to your brain and... do I need to convince you more?