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After Hours

Photos: 10 brain buster apps to raise your mental game

By Erin Carson September 1, 2015, 7:53 PM PDT

Image
1
of 10

valley1.jpg
valley1.jpg
Photos: 10 brain buster apps to raise your mental game

1. Monument Valley

1. Monument Valley

If MC Escher designed a mobile game, this would be it. Guide a little princess through a series of buildings with gravity and physics-defying stairways, doorways, and hallways by altering your perspective on the scene. It’s gorgeous, beautifully scored, and racking up awards, like the 2014 iPad Game of the Year, and a 2015 BAFTA, to name a few. $3.99, available for iOS and Android.

blockwise.jpg
blockwise.jpg
Photos: 10 brain buster apps to raise your mental game

2. Blockwick 2

2. Blockwick 2

It works a bit like traffic jam games. You have a limited space to rearrange colored blocks to connect ones of a specific color. It’s relatively new and was recently featured as a download for Starbucks rewards members. Otherwise, it’s $4.99 and available on iOS and Android.

lumosity.jpg
lumosity.jpg
Photos: 10 brain buster apps to raise your mental game

3. Lumosity

3. Lumosity

Lumosity is brain training focusing on memory and attention, with a variety of different tasks and games. It also tracks how you do across time. It’s available for free on iOS and Android.

squarge.jpg
squarge.jpg
Photos: 10 brain buster apps to raise your mental game

4. Squarge

4. Squarge

Similar to Blockwick, Squarge requires the player to rearrange like colored blocks into rows or columns, but it’s more of a match-three game. The user is up against a timer, and the blocks only move right or left, up and down. There’s also the option to shake the phone as a lifeline of sorts. It’s $0.99 and available for Android.

2048.jpg
2048.jpg
Photos: 10 brain buster apps to raise your mental game

5. 2048

5. 2048

There’s also the addictive 2048. Popularity spiked a while ago, but it might still be new to many people. The premise is combining boxes with matching number values (2 and 2 turn into a box of 4) with the goal of creating that one last box of 2048. It’s free and available for iOS and Android.

dots.jpg
dots.jpg
Photos: 10 brain buster apps to raise your mental game

6. Dots

6. Dots

It’s a simple but fun game–connect as many dots as you can within the timeframe. It also has three different modes including timed, endless, and number of moves to keep things interesting. It’s free and available for iOS and Android.

letters.jpg
letters.jpg
Photos: 10 brain buster apps to raise your mental game

7. The Impossible Letter Game

7. The Impossible Letter Game

The Impossible Letter Game requires an eagle eye and a lot of focus. It gives the user a grid of varying sizes made of letters or numbers, like all Zs, or all 5s, but somewhere in there, there’s a confederate. Maybe an F in a grid of hundreds of Es. Sometimes they’re easy to spot, other times… not so much. It’s free and available on iOS and Android.

flow.jpg
flow.jpg
Photos: 10 brain buster apps to raise your mental game

8. Flow Free

8. Flow Free

Connect the colored dots to create pipes, and complete the puzzle by covering the board without breaking any of those pipes. (Pipes break with they cross other colors.) The game gets progressively harder, and has different modes. It’s free and available for iOS and Android.

escape.jpg
escape.jpg
Photos: 10 brain buster apps to raise your mental game

10. Can You Escape

10. Can You Escape

Break out of rooms by solving puzzles and finding objects that will come in handy in the next room you get trapped in. It’s free and available for iOS and Android.

sudoku.jpg
sudoku.jpg
Photos: 10 brain buster apps to raise your mental game

10. Sudoku

10. Sudoku

It’s a classic. But instead of waiting for the Times, or buying a softback compilation of Sudoku puzzles, just snag an app. It’s free and available for iOS and Android.

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By Erin Carson
Erin Carson is a Staff Reporter for CNET and a former Multimedia Editor for TechRepublic.
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