Brain Age Game

A young brain is better than an old brain. At least that is what the makers of this Nintendo-DS game think. I picked up a DS-Lite just to play Brain Age. I heard about the game on several podcasts. Everyone had good things to say about it.

The premise is simple. A younger brain (age 20 is idea) things faster and can concentrate better. This game measures how fast you can complete fairly simple tasks. It can understand your writing and your speaking. You start out with only a few games: arithmetic, color identification, reading, etc. You are suppose to play these games every day so that your brain starts to work more efficiently. Every few days another activity is added until you have about a dozen available. The additional games are geared toward concentration and short-term memorization. You can train as much as you like and the DS keeps track of your progress. When you are ready, you can enter the Brain Age mode. The DS selects several activities and based on your overall performance gives your brain an “age”. I started out at 70. Learning how the games worked help get my score down to the mid-forties in only a couple of days. Within a week I did achieve the ultimate – a twenty year-old brain.

I have been playing as many of the games as I can each day for more than a month. It only takes 10-15 minutes. My brain age is hovering in the low twenties (keeping it at 20 is impossible). I think it has helped my concentration and the speed at which I can recall things I know. It is also fun competition for everyone in the family.

It also comes with Sudoku.

http://www.nintendo.com/gamemini?gameid=Y9QLGBWxkmRRzsQEQtvqGqZ63_CjS_9F