Puzzle-solving and brain teasers date all the way back to 2300 BC. But we’ve come a long way from labyrinth drawings and Chinese puzzle boxes. Now there are loads of great puzzlers available to play using your smartphone!
Practicing puzzle skills improves spatial awareness, short-term memory, and can even boost your IQ. On top of this, completing a puzzle triggers a boost in your dopamine levels, which relieves stress and improves your mood.
Thankfully, now there are even more problem-solving puzzle games available than ever before! Want to know more? Then you’re in the right place.
Read on to find out about 8 of the best games to challenge your brain on the market at the moment.
1. 2048
If numbers are your thing – or even if they aren’t! – 2048 is a great app to get your brain in gear.
This simple game features a grid of numbers that are all multiples of two. Throughout the game, when identical numbers end up side by side you can slide them together. This adds the two numbers together and introduces a new number to the board.
For example, two number 2 tiles add together to create a single number 4 tile.
The aim is to continue adding tiles together until you end up with two 1024 tiles. Then you can add these together to make 2048.
This sounds incredibly simple but trusts us when we say, it’s extremely challenging and highly addictive to play! This game requires planning and awareness of the entire board if you are going to win it.
2. Unblock Me
Unblock Me takes a classic puzzle-solving game and does it well. You might already be familiar with the premise of Unblock Me.
This game involves a square with a single exit. Inside the square are multiple sliding blocks – one of which you need to get out through the exit. In order to do this, you need to rearrange the squares around it in order to clear its path.
The aim is to free the ‘treasure’ block in as few moves as possible. Unblock Me offers different challenge levels depending on your experience and hints if you are struggling. It is one of the best puzzle games for spatial awareness.
3. Flow Free
This highly-addictive problem-solving game appears very simple but takes a lot of concentration.
At the beginning of each game, Flow Free presents you with a grid featuring pairs of colored dots. The aim is the draw a line or ‘pipe’ connecting the same-colored dots together.
However, the challenge of the game is that none of these pipes are allowed to overlap. This means you have to think about how to connect a pair alongside the bigger picture of the grid.
The game starts you off gently with some simpler solutions but gets progressively more challenging over the next 2,500 plus levels!
4. Word Lanes
Word games are a great way to improve your short term memory and Word Lanes offers some of the best challenges yet.
This game combines elements of traditional word searches and the game Boggle. You have to find words by connecting adjacent letters. However, rather than simply being given the word to find, you get a definition of a word.
For example, “Winter Olympic sport involving sliding downhill on planks” would be the clue for “skiing”.
Once you have found a word or ‘lane,’ you cannot reuse any of the letters in it or cross through it. This means that the game becomes more difficult as it goes on.
5. Total Party Kill
If you’re looking for something a little more action-based to train your brain with then look no further! Total Party Kill is a game with one simple goal: to keep all of your team members alive as you try to exit the “party”.
To help you do this you have three helpers:
- The Knight
- The Mage
- The Ranger
Each of these players has a specialist skill that you can use to protect your teammates as you try to escape. However, this requires careful planning. Using the wrong type of help too soon or too late could leave your teammates in danger!
6. Mini Metro
Mini Metro introduces you to the world of problem-solving using the context of underground train lines. Throughout the game, your goal is to create a subway system that serves multiple areas on a map.
Initially, this starts out simple with only a few stations and a single train line to handle. However, as the game progresses you have to manage more lines, stations, and carriages. This means organizing each route to get your passengers where they need to be.
This is a great game to keep you on your toes as the goal-posts keep moving. It tests your puzzle-solving skills and adaptability.
7. Scribblenauts Unlimited
Scribblenauts Unlimited offers you a huge range of puzzle-solving challenges and invites you to get as creative as possible in order to win them!
As you move through the game, Scribblenauts invites you to ask for help from absolutely any object you can imagine. Simply type in what you need and it will appear in your game.
You can even customize what you ask for using different adjectives. While this is a lot of fun, it also encourages you to think specifically about your problem-solving strategy.
8. REBUS’ Absurd Logic Game
If you want to try something completely different then REBUS’ Absurd Logic Game is exactly what you need. This word-guessing game forces you to think in a totally new way.
The game is simple: it presents you with a series of visual clues that you have to use to guess the word. For example, the letter ‘G’ next to a picture of a love heart would be the clue for the word “glove”.
Some clues take a little more thinking about. For example, one picture might feature ten letters Ts stacked together, giving you a clue for the word “Tent”. However, only through counting the number of Ts would you get close to the answer.
This is a great app if you want to challenge yourself to look at things in a new way!
Keep Your Mind Sharp With These Problem-Solving Games
Playing these brilliant problem-solving games will be time well spent! They’ll help to keep you entertained and keep your brain sharp.
For more great tips on keeping yourself organized and on top of your life, keep scrolling.
