Everybody over 30 needs Brain Age!
More specifically I’m referring to Brain Age 2 (haven’t played 1) for the Nintendo DS. Brain Age isn’t really a game. It’s a set of mental exercises which are designed to make your mind “younger.” You do things like word scrambles, making change, playing the piano, and other “mini-games” on a daily basis. Each day you compare your current efforts with your past and are able to tell your progress.
When you first fire up the software it takes you through a (for me at least) humbling mini-game to determine your current “Brain Age.” This gives you a base line to compare your progress over the weeks and months to come. The first Brain Age test has you playing a game of Rock, Paper Scissors in which the game tells you whether to win or lose. The first time I did this I got confused with whether the symbol on the screen represented me or my opponent. I ended up with a Brain Age of 80! Oops.
You start with just 3 mini-game activities and as you do them each day, you unlock more and more of these. My worst one is the word scramble - sometimes even simple 5 letter scrambles are beyond me. My best games are Piano playing in which you have to play a piano along with sheet music, and Memory Sprint in which you concentrate on a little dude running a race and you have to say how he placed at the finish line.
I’m definitely making progress. After playing for almost a week I retested my Brain Age. This time in addition to the Rock, Paper Scissors game there were two other activities. This time I tested out at a 48 year-old brain. Still pretty sad considering I’m 39! Still, I think there’s a definite benefit to playing these activities.
Brain Age 2 also comes with around 100 sudoku puzzles. I haven’t ever been a huge sudoku fan, but I’m having a blast playing these. I think maybe because you instantly know whether or not you make a mistake and you’re able to compare your time to finish puzzles with your previous efforts.
Finally, in Brain Age 2 you unlock a tetris-like mini-game after several days. This game is designed to relax you and you aren’t really graded or racing against a clock.
Lindsay and I are thinking about buying a DS and giving it to both our sets of parents. I know that my mom and dad play some simple computer games right now to keep their minds healthy, but Brain Age might be an even better option.