Games are one of the greatest developments humanity has ever made and perhaps one of the first forms of entertainment in our history. People have always wanted to spend their free time having fun; thus, in today’s world, we have a gaming industry that is extremely diverse and can amaze everyone, from the youngest to the oldest. It includes table games, gambling, computer games, VR games, sports, and so on.
Despite the fact that games were created to bring joy to our lives, at some point, people discovered that playing isn’t about fun only—it can also be useful for developing some cognitive skills or improving existing ones. Any game requires you to have specific skills, and to be on the list of the best players, you have to get those skills as improved as possible. In some games, it is also about physical abilities, but even in football or basketball, intelligence comes first.
For some games, the development of your cognitive skills is the main priority—and these are called brain training games. But when did they appear, and how did they evolve? Let’s find it out.
The Origin of Brain Training Games
The history of brain training games is very long, almost as long as the history of the civilized world. We can’t say it 100%, but there is a high possibility that such games existed even in Babylon, yet no real proofs are available right now.
The first brain training game that we can even reconstruct and play today is Senet, an ancient Egyptian game that dates back to 3500 BCE. Considered an ancestor of board games, players moved pieces of wood through a grid of 30 sectors, and the one who reached the end first was the winner. Nowadays, Senet games are hardly similar to those in ancient Egypt, yet the game is still popular among fans of Egyptian culture.
In ancient Rome, dice games were popular, and one of such games even had rules that were familiar to modern poker. Another strategic game is also well-known in Europe, and it is called Nine Men’s Morris, which is a strategic board game.
One of the world’s most popular board games, chess, has its history started in the early 7th century in India, where it was called chaturanga. After the spread of the game to Persia and the Arab world, it came to Europe, where the game was adopted and evolved into the modern version of chess in the 19th century. What’s also interesting is that the two great Eastern cultures, Japan and China, had their own versions of chess, which were called shogi and xiangqi.
The Evolution of Brain Training Games in the Modern Era
Brain training games started to develop quickly in the 19th century—the period of the biggest spread of games, such as chess, crosswords, and puzzles. In fact, most modern games of this kind are designed based on these three classics. The popularity of such games started in Europe and shortly reached other continents, including Australia, North and South America, and Asia. For instance, chess became one of the world’s most popular and respected games and even an entire sports discipline. In some periods of our history, main chess grandmasters were world-class celebrities, and children in the entire world dreamed of being like them. Even now, chess is one of the most important board games in the world in terms of popularity, impact on culture, and prestige.
Crosswords are also popular even now, especially in online forms. Another classic, Sudoku, which is often falsely considered to have Japanese origin, was first released in the French magazine Le Siècle in the 19th century and was called the Number Place. Its Japanese version was released only in 1984, but that’s the version we all know as the original one.
Puzzles are believed to have originated in China in the 5th century BCE, but classic puzzles we all know were invented by British sailor and explorer John Spilsbury. Modern puzzles are classified into numerous categories, including lateral thinking puzzles, mathematical puzzles, mechanical puzzles, metapuzzles, paper-and-pencil puzzles, word puzzles, and online puzzle games. Even a classic game like the Rubik’s Cube, created by Hungarian inventor Erno Rubik, which has millions of fans all around the world, is considered a puzzle game.
The Current Status of Brain Training Games
We are living in a digital era, so it is no surprise that even classic games are going digital. In the case of brain training games, the development of digital gaming platforms opened new opportunities, which boosted the pace of industry growth.
One well-known game is Wordle, which was developed in 2021. In just three years, it has evolved from a single game into a successful product purchased by The New York Times, generating an entire universe of games. Numerous games use the logic of Wordle to create experiences on different topics for diverse audiences, including games that focus on discovering words from specific spheres, such as music, movies, history, economics, and geography.
In addition to Wordle, many other brain training games are now accessible for PC and mobile users. The industry has become highly adaptable, which means developers do their best to not only make their games more fun and interactive but also more effective in terms of developing cognitive skills.
