9 brain teaser puzzles for adults
Do you ever feel like your brain is getting frazzled?
We live in a constant loop of Zoom calls, Netflix binging, and checking our emails.
With so much screen time, it’s easy to think that our brains are working on autopilot. It’s good to take a break and give your brain cells a bit of a shake.
That’s where brain teasers come in. These games are a step up from the crosswords or sudoku puzzles that you might have done as a kid. Brain teasers are entertaining, challenging your mind to think in new ways.
Since Wordle went viral in January 2022, everyone is looking for new brain teasers to play.
We’re sharing 9 of our favorite brain games and why you should make a puzzle game part of your daily routine.
What are brain teaser puzzles?
A brain teaser is a type of puzzle that requires you to think outside the box in new and creative ways. One of the first brain puzzles was created by Archimedes, the famous Greek mathematician, who created logical mathematic puzzles.
Brain teasers come in different shapes and forms – from riddles to reasoning questions and lateral thinking.
The solution isn’t always obvious and requires you to be both creative and logical with your search for the right answer.
These puzzles challenge your mind in ways that boost your cognitive functioning and keep you on your toes.
Benefits of doing brain games
Brain games aren’t just for school kids and elderly grandparents. Spending a few minutes every day playing brain teasers can be the pick-me-up that your mind needs.
It has benefits for players of all ages, and they’re the kind of games you don’t feel guilty about getting addicted to.
This cognitive training can keep your mind active, improve your speech, and lead to better decision-making. Regularly playing brain puzzles helps to boost your memory by developing your recall ability and sharpening your attention to detail. These benefits also help to enhance your short-term memory while improving your decision-making and reaction time.
Research has shown that incorporating brain teasers into your routine reduces your risk of developing Alzheimer’s or Dementia later in life. A 2015 case study found that doing daily puzzles improved verbal and mental learning at every age.
If you find that a lack of concentration or a short attention span is lowering your productivity, puzzle games could be the answer.
They enhance your reaction time and help you get through your to-do list by improving your attention span and concentration. Wave goodbye to getting distracted by your Twitter notifications!
9 Different brain teaser puzzles for adults
Brain games have been around for hundreds of years, developing from the original logic-based mathematical games enjoyed by philosophers.
There’s a puzzle game out there for everyone – whether you fancy yourself a Wordsworth or a quizmaster. We’re rounding up 9 different types of brain puzzles that everyone should try.
1. Word Puzzles (e.g. Wordle)
A word puzzle can come in many different shapes and sizes - from a simple anagram to a crossword. They’re designed to test your language and vocabulary skills.
This type of puzzle game is both educational and entertaining (Wheel of Fortune, anyone?). Typically you are given a small grid of letters to work with or an empty grid with clues for a certain number of letters, as is the case with a crossword puzzle.
Wordle is a recent global hit and one type of word puzzle. The game gives you six attempts to guess the five-letter word for that day. The letters will turn yellow or green with each guess to signify if it’s the right letter or in the correct place. The aim is to get all five letters or guess the word by the fifth attempt. You can play Wordle once per day through the New York Times. If you’re a fan of crosswords, no doubt you’ll want to give Wordle a try!
Another type of word puzzle is to unscramble letters to find a word, or to re-arrange words to find a saying or quote. These types of puzzles you can find in our Unpuzzled game series, available for 100 Point Challenge members.
2. Ciphers (e.g. The Trip)
A cipher is a message laid out in secret. These types of puzzles have been around for a very long time, but were forced into popular culture via the book (and then movie) The Da Vinci Code.
The oldest known cipher is from a Sumerian text written in cuneiform (wedge shaped markings carved in soft clay tables), which dates back to around 2500 BCE. That text is an example of cryptography, which is also a popular genre of puzzle!
Although not exclusively filled with ciphers, The Trip utilises ciphers and word puzzles together. Unlike many other brain games, it’s a team game and has a travel theme, taking you to another world while solving a series of different word, image and number puzzles along the way.
It’s easy to think that brain puzzles are games you can only play by yourself, as many are built that way, but we think that teamwork takes puzzle games to the next level.
3. Maths and number problems (e.g. Big Brain)
You don’t need to know the square root of pie to enjoy maths puzzles. These brain games will help you identify problems, test your analytical skills, and get better at problem-solving.
There are lots of different types of number puzzles, from number pattern recognition, to guess the number games based on a series of computational instructions.
Big Brain is a popular app that offers 25 different maths-based brain puzzles. The platform describes itself as “yoga for your brain” with puzzles that offer total mental training.
4. Riddles (e.g. The Riddle)
One of the oldest known puzzles is the Riddle of the Sphinx. In Greek mythology, the Sphinx was a monster with the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of a bird.
Lying on a rock, it stopped all those entering the city of Thebes by asking them a riddle. Those who failed to answer correctly were killed on the spot! If anyone got the answer, the Sphinx offered to kill itself. Luckily, Oedipus solved the riddle and was crowned King.
Are you a bookworm who loves a metaphor? Riddles are probably your favorite type of puzzle. They require you to figure out the double meaning behind the statement to find the answer.
Our game ‘The Riddle’ is framed around one long riddle, and includes 10 puzzles to solve with your friends or co-workers to unlock the answer to the master riddle.
It’s a race against the clock to see who gets the answers first.
5. Logic puzzles (e.g. Sudoku)
One type of brain puzzle that everyone knows is logic puzzles. They’re the ones that require you to follow a formula or find the solution through deductive reasoning.
Sudoku is one of the most popular types of brain games – requiring local thinking and problem-solving.
Did you know that the number of possible sudoku puzzles that can be made with the first nine digits is calculated to be 6,670,903,752,021,072,936,960!! That’s a whole lot of puzzles.
6. Lateral thinking puzzles (e.g. The Ascent)
Lateral thinking puzzles sharpen the brain by getting you to think outside the box. Typically there is a solution hidden under what seems either obvious or impossible at first glance.
A classic example is “How can it be that someone can fall from the window of a 50-story building and still survive?” The answer being that they fell from the ground floor of course.
The Ascent involves lateral thinking in teams as you try and solve what initially seems quite straightforward… who ascended what?
7. Board games (e.g. Chess)
You could also argue that board games like chess are brain teasers - it certainly tests your ability to reason and think ahead.
Chess is an important element in Blade Runner, suggesting that the game is a gauge of creativity and intelligence.
Other board games often combine different types of brain games with elements of strategic thinking, which is also a fun way to keep your mind active as an adult.
8. Trivia (e.g. Jeopardy)
Memory recall is one of the funniest types of brain puzzles. Trivia games require you to rack your brain in search of the answer to general knowledge questions.
You can play trivia games alone to improve your memory recall and knowledge or get competitive by playing against others.
Jeopardy is a brain puzzle app based on a game show of the same name. It trains your brain and helps boost your IQ by testing you on general knowledge and niche topics.
9. Memory games (e.g. Elevate)
Memory games are visual brain teasers that put your recall ability to the test. They help to boost your short-term memory and make you more alert.
Elevate is a brain training game that incorporates memory brain teasers to boost your productivity. This app also tests your attention and mental maths, along with memory skills.
If you like using your brain then you’ve come to the right place!
Our team problem solving games utilise all different types of puzzles and brain teasers
We have 30 different puzzle games for you to explore and can even build you something custom to suit your needs.