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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Brain Train Games: Apps that test your mind
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Brain Train Games: Apps that test your mind

Mind stimulation games may actually prove useful in the long run, and these will work on your smartphone

Brain training games are often mathematical in nature or involve a higher level of reasoningPremium
Brain training games are often mathematical in nature or involve a higher level of reasoning

Puzzle games for smartphones now have a new genre that focuses more on training the brain aspect. Games such as Elevate have been downloaded over 1 million times on Android itself. The difference is that brain training games are slightly different from the usual puzzle games, and they are often mathematical in nature or involve a higher level of reasoning. The direct benefit is they provide regular exercise for the brain, increase cognitive skills, improve IQ level and also enhance the ability to concentrate. And since your smartphone is with you all the time, why not use it for potentially sharpening your brain?

Here are some of the recent brain training apps that you can download on your Android smartphone.

Brain Dots

Price: Free (In-app purchases of 61 to 311)

Download from: Google Play store, Apple App store

This unique game is a mix of simple physics and creativity. It involves connecting two randomly placed dots with a virtual pen on the screen. The user has to devise a method that would push the dots towards each other. It can be done by drawing a line, a circle or loop that would basically work as a lever. Graphics are immensely simple, but as you progress they improve. You get more colourful pens, for example, which makes the entire thing look better. It sounds simple enough, but it isn’t. As you get to the later stages, the tasks become even more challenging.

HexaChroma

Price: Free

Download from: Google Play store

A bit like Cut the Rope in some respects, HexaChroma is a colour-filled game where the objective is to combine multiple hexagons by connecting their nodes with each other. Just look for nodes of the same colour. The hexagon rotates in circular motion only, and that makes the connections even more challenging to make. As you link pairs of hexagons, more are added into the mix which complicates matters. Someone who has played Cut The Rope will find this a level up in toughness. Though the game has simple missions, it is not completely lacking in visual effects. Tilt the phone, and you can see the shadows twirling behind the hexagons.

Hook

Price: 50

Download from: Google Play store, Apple App store

This is a unique brain tester that baffles from the outset. There is no tutorial which leaves one completely clueless about where actually to begin.There are several lines connected to each other at some point. At the end of every line is black circle. Tapping on the circle activates the lines and they eventually disappear in the circle itself. The objective is to clear the screen of the lines before identifying which line to activate first. Tapping the wrong circle restarts the game. The game is beautiful despite its simplicity and is ideal for someone looking to increase concentration power.

Brainwell Brain Training

Price: Free (In-app purchases of 126 to 6,366)

Download from: Google Play store, Apple App store

Brainwell is essentially a memory trainer that allows the player to customise the game as they want. The game itself is designed to stimulate certain parts of the brain that controls memory, ability to remember names, faces, places, multi-task, and attention to detail. It uses language, visuals, numbers. For instance it will ask you to spot a pattern through colour or numbers, in order to enhance your powers of observation and memory. Every mission is time-bound which makes it even more challenging but play along and it may improve your concentration.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhijit Ahaskar
Abhijit writes on tech policy, gaming, security, AI, robotics, electronics and startups. He has been in the media industry for over 12 years.
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Published: 30 Nov 2015, 04:53 PM IST
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