Brain games

We know that mental gymnastics are a great way to keep your brain active and ensure you have the mental energy you need. Here we have tracked down some great online games or websites that will help you stay sharp.

Riddles

Challenge your friends or family to see who can solve these riddles the fastest. We’ve given you links to the answers but no cheating!

Saturday and Sunday, I am big.
Tuesday through Thursday, I am small.
Monday and Friday, I am non-existent.
What am I?

See the answer here

A word I know,
six letters it contains
subtract just one,
and twelve is what remains.

See the answer here

What sort of story begins with a limb and ends with a finish?

See the answer here

A precipitation of weather comes your way,
the solution - add a "d" and it will run away.

See the answer here

The more you have of it, the less you see.
What is it?

See the answer here

If you enjoyed those riddles, you can find hundreds more at braingle.com

Or check out lumosity.com, another brain training app that can help you improve your memory, increase your focus and feel sharper.

Crosswords

People have been doing crosswords for more than 100 years and they are still one of our most popular word games. If you prefer the old-fashioned pen and paper method, many magazines and newspapers still offer crosswords or you can buy a book of puzzles from your local bookshop.

But there are also loads of websites that offer free online crosswords. Check out Lovatts Crosswords and Puzzles for a daily universal crossword for English speakers. Another good site is Dictionary.com which also has a daily crossword and some tools to help you solve it. The Guardian newspaper site offers both quick crosswords and cryptic crosswords if you really want to test your word skills.

Sudoku

If you prefer numbers to words, keep your brain active with Sudoku, which involves placing individual numbers into empty spots on a 9 x 9 grid. The history of Sudoku dates back to an 18th Century Swiss mathematician’s game called “Latin Squares”. The game first appeared in Japan in 1984 where it was given the name Sudoku, and quickly became very popular. The Japanese language doesn’t work very well for crosswords so a number puzzle was more successful.

If you want to play online, check out sudoku.com or websudoku.com, where you can choose which difficulty level you wish to play at. Or try sudoku.game which also offers popular card-based games such as Solitaire

Jigsaws

You can ditch the words and numbers and keep your grey matter stimulated with pictures by doing jigsaws. If you haven’t got room at home to have a 1000-piece puzzle set up for days on end, try the online variety.

Go local with online jigsaws using taonga (treasures) from Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand. They have jigsaws featuring tapa cloth, a green turtle from the Kermadec Islands, historic scenes from around New Zealand and famous artworks.

Or take a look at puzzlegarage.com or thejigsawpuzzles.com for other options.

Kids love puzzles too and if you want to get yours off their devices, check out Squoodles – this is a fab Kiwi brand that has a great range of educational puzzles.

Games

Board games and card games are another great way to keep up the mental gymnastics. Cardgames.io is a great source of all your old faves and a few you may not have played before. Or check out Boardgamearena.com.

Or if you want to try out a new game in the real world, take a look at The Getting Lost Game. Another Kiwi invention, it’s a great way to see more of the country (or even just your own backyard). Each card has directions (like turn left or right) or activities, depending on which pack you choose, so the game can be played anywhere in the world.