Best games to train your mind

When it comes to brain training games, it’s all about the phones and tablets. Whether you choose a book, app or your favorite brain games online, it’s the portable devices where they are played.

One of the first things you should think about is what you want to get out of the games for your brain. The how to train your brain takes a big back seat to the why you are training your brain. Do you want memory, focus, energy? How about the ability to remember names? Or being able to observe more details (really important for ADHD adults)?

Before embarking on your brain training program, look at what you want to accomplish. If there is a list, focus on one of the games for your brain at a time. That way, you develop and start to use the training your brain received.

If you focus on more than one training at a time, your brain will become confused and it will take much longer to learn any particular skill.

Here are the best brain teaser and games for adults:

1. Lumosity

This is the #1 brain training software (at least in their opinion). It definitely ranks on the top of the list for many people. You can use this as both an app and as a PC game. It’s been one of the longest running programs for training, and one of the most well-respected.

On top of all that, Lumosity  also bends to you. It’s customizable and it provides a high level of personal interaction. The game gets to know you. It works in several areas of the brain, so you can pick what you want to work on and how long you need to work on it.

The app is well received. Most of the negative reviews are from people who are unhappy about upgrading to the paid version or want the full PC features on a portable device. Our recommendation is to use the app as your tool and get the reports from your PC.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

2. Brain Café

Do you love science and the Earth? Brain Café is a brain game for adults that teaches you about our planet and about geography. There are thousands of questions for you to review and learn about how our planet comes together. The images in this program are stunning and worth learning the topic just for the pictures (and this is from me who’s a life member of the National Geography Honors Society).

One reviewer stated some of the details in volatile parts of the world are behind. Remember, this is a free app. They aren’t being paid to keep up with day-to-day changes.

One side note: Brain Cafe (no accent marker) is a very similar, very useful psychology game. It’s designed to help psych students get better and be more interactive, rather than introspective. This is a paid app, but we think it’s still good.

Whether you choose Brain Café or Brain Cafe, go start learning!

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

3. Elevate

The app to help you read and comprehend faster. It has a wide variety of training games that will also help you to speak better, process information faster, and increase your math skills. It’s one of Google’s Editor Choice apps for helping people become more productive.

It’s one of our picks because it has the ability to create schedules and calendars of activities for you to do. Regular practice is key for developing your mind. The games are challenging and fun for different age levels.

It has an overwhelming amount of positive reviews and is regularly updated.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

4. Rituals

Taking meditation has been shown to help all areas of the mind and body. The app can be set for short meditation sessions between 5 and 30 minutes long, send you inspirational quotes, help you with Yoga, or even help you unclutter your life.

The basic principle is that we need some time for ourselves and meditation is one of the best ways to achieve that. As you use the app, it helps you increase your meditation times and incorporate other mindful ways of living.

While this isn’t specifically something that will train your mind, it helps you to reduce stress and become happier with a streamlined way of living and thinking. The reduced clutter of your mind allows you to learn better.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

5. Brain Trainer Special

These games help you to develop skills to improve your memory. Many of the games in this app are math based, which help you to become more spatially aware.

You have the ability to run hundreds of different games to expand your ability to connect numbers.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

6. Happify

I love this app because it really helps you to keep positive. Happy people are nearly 3 times as likely to remember important data, be healthy, and be productive. Unfortunately, in our society, negative thinking is predominant. This causes many problems in life.

With tiny games and reminders for being well, this app provides fast changes in your thinking. It’s not a miracle, it may take a few weeks to truly see results. But, it’s cheaper than therapy.

It’s not a highly rated app. Many people are unhappy with the monthly fees. We find it ironic that an app designed to provide positive thoughts has so many negative reviews. We wonder if those people actually used the app.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

7. Positive Activity Jackpot

Originally designed for soldiers coming back from difficult tours of duty, it really helps with post-traumatic stress disorder. The concept works on augmented reality and shows what is happening in the nearby area. For people who are uncomfortable in crowds or stressful situations, having a little warning can make a huge difference.

This app uses a behavioral therapy called pleasant event scheduling (PES). It’s designed to improve resilience to negative thoughts and depression. It has a feature that you can allow the app to make a choice for a better activity for you with the jackpot feature.

This is good for anyone who becomes overwhelmed with too much going on. Rather than getting lost on your phone, you can use your phone as a tool to help you become better adjusted to reality.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

8. Power Vocab

In the past 50 years, people have lost over 2000 words from their vocabulary, based on a report for the Pediatrics Association. Including less popular words helps you and your friends and family become better acquainted with the richness of a full vocabulary.

While designed for teenagers, this app is good for anyone who wants to improve their vocabulary. It has over 350 more challenging words in dozens of games. It also adapts as you learn your words. It also has an audible feature that pronounces words for you, which is good for auditory learners.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

9. Eidedic

This app uses something called space repetition to help you memorize things like facts, numbers and words. It can help you create a photographic memory.

It has 4 Brainteasers with 5 seconds to memorize them. Then, you need to recall the information. Repeated use of these helps you to develop the skills to embrace and recall information quickly. On top of those, there are over 100 different other games used to help build memory using various levels of difficulty.

Cost: Free - no upgrades

10. ADHD Adult Trainer

This app was designed to help people with adult ADHD. It’s designed to help bring your focus and awareness back to where it should be. You are to use it daily and it works to help improve all areas of your mind.

Since so much of ADHD training is based on completion and so few of ADHD sufferers complete tasks, this game was designed with that in mind. It’s highly entertaining and encourages the player to return, while at the same time, not allowing too much play to happen. Then, it focuses on the core issues with ADHD and helps to overcome those obstacles.

• This is the only paid app on the list. We feel it’s better than related free apps.

Cost: 3.99$

11. UnBlock Me

One of my favorite games, you need to slide blocks in a certain order to be able to complete a puzzle. It enhances your ability to think critically and see new ways of conquering a problem.

It’s one of the most extensive free games we’ve seen with over 14,500 different games with various different difficulty levels. You are also able to link this game with other users, so you can create challenges and competition. It’s well received with over 390,000 reviews showing this is a 5-star game (the highest rank).

While this is a simple game, it works deep in your mind to create new ways of thinking. You will be able to create new options in life and that is better than any game to simply remember facts.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

12. Mind Games

Based in part on principles of cognitive psychology, this app helps you develop multiple different skills in various areas. It really helps you to retain skills you already have, and develop skills you want. Designed as an adult mind-brain builder, it works more subtly than a child’s game. It knows your skills are more difficult to learn and it automatically adjusts.

There are over 20 different skill sets and the app can help you figure out where your strengths and weaknesses lie. You can chart your progress and with the upgrade, understand how your progress is in relation to what is considered normal for your age group.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

13. Brain Age Test

What to know how your brain is doing today? These simple mind teaser games can show you how your mind is working today. You can watch as your brain de-ages as you play the game. The greatest achievement is knowing you are retaining more information and becoming better at learning new information.

The age changes as you go through your day, so you’ll want to play often. It’s a fast game, that can get addicting quick. A side note, as one reviewed found, is you can figure out when your brain is working best during the day and match your work schedule to it. You can get more done better when you know this.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

14. Reversi

Based on the strategy game most popularly known as Othello, this app allows you to develop the strategy to win against the computer. The goal is to surround your opponent and change all of their disks to your color. It takes a little bit to learn the rules and figure out how to play the game, but the game is a challenge once you do.

Once you know what to expect, you can progressively make the game more difficult and really challenge your skills. It helps you develop the critical thinking necessary for so many occupations.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

15. MatchUp: Exercise Your Memory

Like the child’s game of Memory, you flip cards to build yours. The app was designed as a 2 player app, although you can play as a single player.

This game helps you develop the short term memory you need. It allows you to remember pictures, numbers, words, and objects in the short term. Some of the themes used can be more challenging as differences are more difficult to discern.

We like this so much because it reminds us of the childhood games we miss.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

16. The Moron Test

There are dozens of this game available and we included it in our review based on the name alone. Then, we discovered it actually works!

Through seemingly simple puzzles, this game develops your memory and adaption skills. You find out these simple puzzles aren’t so simple. As you complete the puzzles, your brain starts working in new ways to help solve problems in real life.

If you work through one of the apps, there are nearly a dozen others with the same name you can try.

Cost: Free w/paid upgrade

17. Math Genius Brain Trainer

Honestly, this game is for kids. The problem with adults today is that most of them have less than a 9^thgrade level of math skills. So really, this game is for everyone.

It’s highly animated and interactive so you learn math without really putting in the effort to learn. It can be played individually or with others (it is designed for parents working with kids).

It’s rather new, so we’re not sure if or when it will be updated. Some problems exist, but overall it’s a great app if you have problems with numbers.

Cost: Free with no upgrade

There are also hundreds of versions of math and vocab games. Sudoku, Scrabble, Upwords, and all the other games are great for keeping you fit and active. Even the old-times ones of crosswords and seek-the-word build your brain as you train it to recognize patterns.

So, don’t waste your time or energies on pointless games like Farmville or Bubble Shooter. Choose something that will be fun and help you improve your mind at the same time!