15 games that might make you smarter just by playing them

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Here at Insider Picks, we're always looking for ways to optimize your (and our) time and purchases to get the most out of the deal.

One area of optimization that I've been particularly drawn to has been games that challenge you to develop your mental skills in a fun and engaging way.

Plus, it only took a summer vacation for me to feel totally out of sync on the first day back in elementary school, and as an adult, it can feel like your skills and expertise are constantly narrowing and thinning; you flex the same mental muscles at work and get better and better at a specialized job, but you stop finding new hurdles to jump over and new puzzles to solve creatively.

Games that challenge you to think differently, imagine, and solve ever-changing problems that don't allow you to get used to them and fly on autopilot are a particularly valuable use of your time: They make you happy and provide enjoyment at the same time that they sharpen your mental abilities.

Whether it's fiddling with a Rubik's cube or filling out Sudoku on the subway while you're stalled, it's a nice to constantly be improving yourself in a way that doesn't feel tedious. If you can have fun and become more mentally dexterous, why would you not?

Below are 15 games that rely on your strategic, critical-thinking, and imaginative abilities.

Lumosity Brain-Training App, free to download

Itunes

Lumosity is a well-known name in the 'brain-training' game. It's used by over 85 million people worldwide and offers 30+ brain games to give your mind a workout. You can track your scores to see improvement over time and compare your own against the scores of other people. The ease of the app is supposed to make building a brain training habit easy.

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Chinese Mahjong set with compact wooden case, $72.99

Amazon

It's been observed that mahjong, regardless of the frequency of playing, produces positive improvements in cognitive performance in persons with dementia. The study found that Mahjong is a viable option for treating dementia. If it's good that far down the line, it's very unlikely to do you any harm by playing earlier.

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Hasbro Scrabble Crossword Game, $16.99

Amazon

If you want to increase your confidence with words, quickness of thought, or just want to expand your vocabulary, the well-loved board game Scrabble is a shoe-in for the job. The ever-changing mix of words available to you in addition to those made by your opponent can sharpen your thinking and turn you into the sort of wordsmith who doesn't need to check the dictionary to see if they really did just play a real word or not.

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Sudoku: 400+ Sudoku Puzzles (Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard), $6.29

Amazon

Sudoku is one game, like crossword puzzles and riddles, that increase neuroplasticity and make your smarter. With increased neuroplasticity, you are better able to view something from multiple angles and anticipate and understand new patterns.

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Fit Brains Trainer App by Rosetta Stone, free to download

Itunes

Fit Brains Trainer has been ranked the #1 education app in over 90 countries. Rosetta Stone has created a wide selection of games that are meant to stimulate your IQ and EQ (cognitive and emotional intelligence). You can train your brain with science-based games and daily training sessions customized for you, as well as challenge the speed and focus of your memory and stimulate your emotional intelligence.

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Of Course!: The Greatest Collection of Riddles & Brain Teasers For Expanding Your Mind, $9.95

Amazon

Riddles are another great way to increase neuroplasticity and help your brain recognize new possibilities. Thinking creatively and dexterously to solve a word puzzle only helps you keep up with your own creativity.

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Rubik's Cube Game, $7.89

Amazon

Playing with a Rubik's cube is one way to keep your brain active in a productive way. It will improve your concentration, allow your to process your own thoughts faster, and improve your hand-eye coordination at the same time that it helps improve your short-term memory.

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Ultimate Mind Games: With Over 400 Puzzles, $4.90

Amazon

Fun games like puzzles and crosswords are a great way to relieve stress in the moment and mitigate stress inspired by similarly challenging situations when they pop up in real-life, too. Puzzles like these help you develop critical thinking, improve your memory, enhance visual perception and also make you happy.

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Latice Board Game, Deluxe Edition, $34.99

Amazon

Strategy board games like Latice help develop cognitive and spatial recognition, planning, and interpersonal skills.

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Family Classic Chess, $11.82

Amazon

Chess has long been used as a game that can help bolster strategic thought and critical thinking in any age group, keeping the mind deft and nimble for older players and honing young kids to use critical skills with ease. Related or not, chess players tend to score higher on intelligence tests than do non-players.

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Monopoly Board Game, The Classic Edition, $22.15

Amazon

Monopoly is a great host of real-life problems and challenges without any of the real-life stress. Flex your creativity and strategy by buying, selling, and trading across the board in contention with others.

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Ticket to Ride, $34.99

Amazon

Like Monopoly, Ticket to Ride offers you the ability to make real-life applicable decisions without the pressure to ensure creativity and help you develop your mental abilities. The game enacts a cross-country train adventure in seven days with all the challenges that proposes.There are 225 colored train cars and players have to collect cards that allow them to use the different railway routes connecting the cities across the USA. It's a $1 million prize, and it's winner-takes-all.

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Codenames, $14.99

Amazon

Codenames is a challenging social word game. Two Spymasters who alone know their agents' real names give one-word clues to their respective teammates in the hopes that the team will be able to correctly coordinate a list of code names to real names, all while avoiding 'the assassin.'

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Sequence Game, $14.29

Amazon

Sequence is "easy enough for children, challenging for adults!"

Sequence uses, you guessed it, a sequence (creating a row of five poker-like chips on the board) to outsmart opponents. You'll learn to block opponents and employ strategy and luck as well as come up with multiple backup plans throughout the course of the game.

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Snippets - The Fast Paced, Anything Goes Word Game

Amazon

Snippets is a fast-paced word game. Write down as many words as you can come up with in 60 seconds that contain that round's snippet.

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Mara Leighton

Senior Education and Personal Development Reporter, Insider Reviews

Mara Leighton is the senior education and personal development reporter for Insider Reviews. In the spring of 2020, Mara spearheaded Insider Reviews' new education beat. She's reported on Yale's most popular course on happiness as well as essential workforce recovery programs, free instructional courses for non-ICU workers on operating mechanical ventilators, and a Johns Hopkins' contact tracing course designed to fill thousands of remote jobs. She's interviewed Google executives, presidential policy committee members, best-selling authors, leading researchers and professors, and NBC's Chuck Todd in her education coverage. She's most interested in personal development, skill-building, industry shifts, and increased accessibility for learners of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. Previously, Mara covered e-commerce for Business Insider from 2017-2020. She's written thousands of reviews and explainers, profiled emerging and established D2C companies, blogged through major retail events, and forecasted and analyzed industry trends. She also produced the vertical's weekly newsletter. Say hello at mleighton@businessinsider.com or tweet her @maraleighton. Learn more about how our team of experts tests and reviews products at Insider here. Learn more about how we review educational and personal development products.

Read the original article on Insider Picks. Copyright 2017. Follow Insider Picks on Twitter.

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