Brain games give your mind a serious workout — exactly what you need to help keep it sharp. Here are our favorites.

Keeping your mind sharp is important, especially as we age. Despite this, many of us still aren’t getting the daily stimulation we need to keep our brains in tip-top shape.

To help keep your brain challenged, experts recommend playing games at home, which essentially gives the brain a regular workout.

According to Rebecca Marcus, LCSW, a licensed psychotherapist in New York who specializes in mindfulness, brain games are important for several reasons:

  • They can help increase focus, concentration, and memory.
  • They can help us to be more present in day-to-day activities.
  • While it doesn’t appear that brain games can prevent age-related cognitive decline and dementia, growing research indicates that they may slow or delay them.

“We are more likely to feel scattered, have trouble focusing, or experience forgetfulness if we don’t do things to exercise and keep our minds sharp,” said Marcus. “Just like we wouldn’t expect to go to the gym for 3 months and then forever have muscles and strength without continuing to exercise, the same applies to exercising our mind.”

One important note: Whatever game you choose should constantly increase in difficulty and variety, according to Marcus. “If [you’re] playing the same thing over and over again, the mind isn’t challenged anymore and begins to run on autopilot,” she said.

In addition to brain games, another way to challenge your brain is simply by varying your regular routines or tasks. For example, if you take your dog for a walk on the same route every day, try going in a different direction one day. (See? Easy!)

Look for games that lean into different skills. Games like Sudoku and puzzles are great for challenging the more analytical parts of your brain, but you’ll want to flex your empathic and creative brain muscles, too. “Keep your emotional intelligence sharp by engaging in conversations where you evoke and attune to the emotions of others,” said Sarah Schewitz, PsyD, a licensed psychologist in Los Angeles.

Creative hobbies help. Try things like:

  • painting
  • photography
  • creative writing
  • playing music or learning to play an instrument

We considered various criteria when making our list. Some key features include:

  • Opinions of experts in the field: We spoke with two psychology experts for their input on what to look for when choosing a game.
  • User reviews and customer feedback: We considered user reviews and customer feedback from various websites that sell the products.

On top of bringing out the competitive spirit in every age group, this classic word game works to enrich your vocabulary and train your mind to focus on a single task. With an entire dictionary of words to choose from, every round is different, and you’ll never tire of playing this game. It’s been around since 1948, after all.

Sagrada is a dice placement game that lives halfway between a competitive board game and a brain teaser. The goal is to carefully construct a stained glass window by placing dice according to the color and shade while following many restrictions. Users say they had so much fun playing Sagrada that they dreamed of glass dice at night.

This easy-to-learn, fast-moving game combines both luck and strategy. Players take turns placing numbered tiles in runs and groups, rummy style. As the board changes, players constantly adjust their tiles until every tile on their rack is gone. Rummikub may help sharpen your sequencing, pattern recognition, and planning skills.

Jigsaw puzzles are great because they exercise both the left and right sides of your brain at once. Puzzles require both logic, intuition, and creativity, and it’s easy to get lost for hours working on them. Bonus: There are so many new puzzle brands out there that feature gorgeous artwork from new artists from around the globe — we love Ordinary Habit, Piecework, and Whiled.

The Rubik’s Cube is the world’s bestselling and most famous puzzle. With over 43 quintillion possible moves, this portable game is perfect for stimulating the brain during idle time. Rather than scrolling through social media or watching a show when you’re sitting in a waiting room, try solving the cube. (But be warned: It’s harder than it looks.)

Azul is a tile placement game in which players compete for the highest score by claiming tiles and arranging them on their boards to score points. It’s a great game to play with the family.

Sudoku is a number puzzle where you fill a grid with numbers 1 through 9, with each number appearing only once in a row, column, or box. This classic game makes you think critically and helps improve concentration skills. While many mobile options are available nowadays, nothing hits harder than playing with pen and paper.

“It’s also important to keep your emotional intelligence sharp. Take time to have a meaningful conversation with a loved one and improve your emotional intelligence by observing and asking how they feel during the conversation,” said Schewitz.

This card pack is full of stimulating questions like, “What’s something that you’ll never try again?” or “What have you lost since childhood that you’d like to regain?”

Research from 2022 indicates that crossword puzzles help with knowledge retention. This brain activity helps you improve your verbal skills and forces you to think deeply.

If “The Queen’s Gambit” wasn’t inspirational enough, playing chess results in better brain function, improved memory and cognitive abilities, strategic thinking, and increased attention spans. In this 2019 research review, scientists found that the cognitive benefits of chess could help protect older adults from dementia.

Games are an excellent vehicle to learn something new and stimulate your brain. These options are incredibly fun, accessible, and work to keep your mind sharp in the long term.

Iman Balagam is a writer based in Houston, Texas. When she’s not laughing at her own jokes or buying overpriced chia pudding, she can be found reading fiction novels, catching a cycling class, doomscrolling through TikTok, or waiting for her delayed Spirit flight to board. You can see more of Iman’s work on her website.