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My favourite number is 13. In my mind, it’s bright and yellow and shiny. I don’t know why my brain ascribes colours to numbers. And it makes even less sense when my favourite colour is actually grey! But the mind is a marvellous thing, and on 13 October we can celebrate with games to play on Train Your Brain Day!
So get those synapses sizzling with the below suggestions from us here at the Zatu Team!
CORTEX CHALLENGE: Favouritefoe
Was it moss? Is it a peach? Do I need to touch my nose with my right hand or left hand? How any birds are there??? CORTEX CHALLENGE may come in a wee box, but there are a ton of mental challenges inside! Hand eye co-ordination, memory, pattern recognition, sensory perception and more – there is a bit of everything inside with 8 different categories. Which is great for activating and stretching each of your mind muscles! And definitely something I need to do more it seems (if my dismal performance is anything to go by!).
The rules are simple – turn over a challenge card, flip the timer, and race to be first to complete the challenge correctly. If you pip others to the post, you’ll gain the card and a segment of brain. And if you get it wrong, your brain will be benched for the next round! But you need to diversify and win two challenges of each type to get a brain bit. The game ends when one player has completed their mini mind.
FRIENDS TRIVIAL PURSUIT: David Ireland
The One that takes you on a massive trip down memory lane. Oh. My. God. Friends Trivial Pursuit is spectacular! I am no fan of regular Trivial Pursuit. That’s not the positive start you may want when reading this. I also do not offer a huge amount to a pub quiz team. However, if you are a fan of the beloved sitcom and were in your teens/early 20’s when the show was at its height spending too many hours watching reruns on telly, this game is great fun and really tests your knowledge.
You have your typical trivial pursuit cards with 6 categories which essentially groups the TV-series for your game categories. Roll the dice for a colour and the following question. If you answer correctly, you get another question. If you answer wrong, then play passes on. You need to get the 2nd question correct to collect the “wedge” (a card). Every 2nd correct answer gives you a “wedge”. First to collect 6 “wedges” wins the game. The questions really do get quite niche and if you are playing with a group of your own friends it really does get competitive. Plus, it’s so much fun remembering those classic episodes and comedy moments from one of (perhaps the best but that may be for a different blog) sitcoms of all time. I was 18 years old when Friends ended and watched countless reruns afterwards. You don’t forget those side splittingly funny moments and this game perfectly brings so many of those moments rushing back. Could I be making a better pitch to give this game a try!?
CODENAMES: Peter Bartlam
Most modern boardgames today are so-called “thinky” games that help to train your brain. I’m retired and run a senior’s boardgame group where we’re all trying to keep our brains active and keep Alzheimers at bay. Indeed one of our group is recovering from a stroke and finds learning and playing new, interesting games a big help towards memory recovery. So what’s a good suggestion to start this braintraining?
Codenames. This fantastic game from CGE designer Vlaada Chvatil won the 2016 Spiel des Jahres and is hailed as one of the best gateway games. It’s a team game in which you must get your side to identify their agents by their one word Codename whilst not uncovering enemy agents or the dreaded assassin in the minimum number of turns. So, how is this done? A 5 x 5 tableau of random word cards are laid out and each team elects 1 member to be the Spymaster. A Key card will reveal which of the cards conceal a Red agent and which a Blue agent plus a number of Beige innocent bystanders and the one deadly assassin. Only the two Spymasters see this Key card oriented in one of its 4 directions and stood in its stand.
Spymasters take turns to give a one word clue to identify as many of their agents as possible and this is where the brain strain comes in. In the example pictured above the Blue Spymaster might say “Innoculation 2” to suggest Needle and Hospital. The team may also guess “Lab” which would be alright but the danger is they might go for “Ambulance” and reveal the black Assassin and end their whole game!The thrill is to get as many words safely linked as possible and uncover your agents before the other team. Apparently the best ever is 8 in one go with: Film, Force, Space, Knight, Princess, Cloak, Star and War all being linked by “Jedi”. If you can beat that then truly your Force is strong!
COLOUR BRAIN: Favouritefoe
Red and yellow and pink and green…….you know the song. But do you know the colour of everything? This game gives you the answers, so that should be easy, right? Afterall, you’ve got all eleven potentials in your had right there. Wrong! It could be one colour, or it could be a combination of colours. And you think you know the answer. After all, you see the Google logo every day. And you have probably eaten at Burger King or at least seen the sign many times. But put on the spot, can you remember what colour that whizzy wheel or the wording screaming out the name of that bastion of burgers is? Second guessing yourself becomes the norm in a furiously fun way. A hit with our kiddo at home, and playable in teams or individually, the first to get 10 points wins. I now find myself paying more attention to the hues and shades around me thanks to COLOUR BRAIN.
CDSK: Favouritefoe
First Test: what does CDSK stand for? Curious Delightful Seasoned Knowledge! Did you figure it out? Of course you did! Well, even if you didn’t, don’t worry, because you will be an expert in something. And this game will reward you for all those facts and figures you know. Sometimes…..The key here is predicting correctly how much of a pro you are in a specific subject. And that’s because you’ll be moving your piece according to how confident you feel. Set the bar too high and you’ll get pushed further from victory than before. But only volunteer basic answers and you won’t move along at a winning pace! With a box that unrolls to be the board, and 2500+ questions, it’s chock full of trivia that you can test yourself over!
We hope these suggestions will help you get your brain firing on all cylinders in celebration of Train Your Brain Day - tell us your thoughts over on our social media here!
