Games to Train Senior Brains
October 13th is National Train Your Brain Day! As one’s age increases, it becomes more difficult for one to remember things, be it short-term memory, long-term memory, or something else. After retirement age, one’s dementia risk doubles roughly every five years. To reduce those risks, the human brain needs a constant workout to maintain good memory and decision-making skills. One of the best ways to have such a mental workout is to actively play mind games. Brain games can have a host of benefits for seniors. As many seniors want to maintain as much of their independence as possible, various brain games help develop a sense of independence and independent working ability. In addition, some brain games can help improve an understanding of reality and general knowledge. Here are a few of the Caregogi team’s favorite brain games that can be found free-to-play on the internet.
Lightning Library
In this online game, the player is Lydia, the librarian. Kids walk up to the desk requesting books of different topics, and the librarian has to select the correct book based on the subject. The selection must be done quickly though, as the kids at the desk get upset the longer they wait! This game can take practice when it comes to memorizing the book themes, as there are fifteen different book themes to memorize where each is located.
This is a great game for memorization and strategy. One can use strategies to associate the themes of the books with the book colors they are placed with.
Tetris
This game almost needs no introduction. First created in the 1980s, this popular puzzle game can be found on the internet, on game consoles, and even non-gaming machines. This game works by placing blocks of different shapes on a bottom later, then trying to clear the line with other blocks of different shapes. This game is said to improve one’s reasoning and thinking skills. Playing this game simply requires four arrow keys. There are many versions of this game on the internet; for this post we found a version that is easy to play on almost any device. The shapes in this version do not necessarily stay together, so if the player accidentally places a shape at a bad spot (that would make it difficult/impossible to place more blocks below), it would then allow the individual blocks to fall below, improving the ease of play.
Tetris is said to require many cognitive skills. Further research indicated that Tetris improved parts of brain matter. Specifically, the areas of the brain improved were parts related to coordination, critical thinking, language, and thinking. Continued play of the game means the brain does not have to work as hard, increasing one’s mental efficiency.
Glitter Memory
This game is a version of the “Concentration” memory game. The player gets 35 seconds to memorize the patterns of 20 cards. Once all the cards flip over, the player must flip over the cards to match the ones with identical patterns. While this game is very similar to other memorization card games, the glittery graphics add an extra layer of fun.
Millionaire TV Show Game
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? is one of the most iconic TV game shows of all time. This popular trivia game had fun, tricky questions, high stakes, and good cash prizes. While this online game is not the actual Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, it provides much of the fun without the cash prizes (or the stresses associated with the potential of cash prizes).
USA Geography Game
They say that kids these days do not know their geography. This is your chance to prove that you know your geography by playing a geography game! In this game, the player is to select the state on the map that is named above the map and on the plane. If you are already good at your geography, try to complete the game as quick as you can! This game could put your long-term memory to the test.
Trivial Pursuit
Another fun trivia game on this list is a free Trivial Pursuit game, named after the popular board game. This game has different sets of random trivia questions, with topics including food, animals, places, landmarks, and more. As an added twist, the player has limited incorrect guesses, and each question has a fifteen second time limit.
Some of the games mentioned earlier were good for helping train the brain to think in a more efficient manner. Such efficient thinking works well here, as this game requires very quick recalling of facts. Also, reasoning abilities are great to have, as the player may encounter questions where one may not immediately know the answer.
While brain games can help the elderly, they can also help people of all ages. These games can provide improvements in short-term memory, reasoning abilities, and even just simply fun! Caregogi is not endorsed by any of the games mentioned here; we just picked games based on their interesting factor and their ease of startup. At Caregogi, we can match a senior up with a caretaker who will have fun with such brain games. Be sure to check out Caregogi and the blog at http://www.caregogi.com/content.