Brain training: free games to work your mind

Memory, attention, logic, mental arithmetic, reflexes: each of the 87 procstd games puts one or two specific abilities to the test. Free and with no ads at all, games last from a few seconds to a few minutes, your score is measured, and a daily challenge lets you compare yourself with every player on the same puzzle.

Working memory

Working memory is the ability to keep information in mind for a few seconds while using it: remembering a code long enough to type it, following a multi-step instruction, calculating in your head. It is limited — a few items at a time — and that is exactly what makes these games interesting.

• Sequence
• Pairs
• Flash Memory
• Anagrams
• Longest Word
• Route Memory

Attention and focus

Selective attention means picking out what matters while ignoring the rest: finding a word in a text, an error in a table, a face in a crowd. Concentration is keeping it up over time without getting distracted.

• Number Rush
• Mirror
• 6 or 9
• Zero or O
• Smile
• Word Search

Logical reasoning

Logical reasoning means drawing certain conclusions from rules: “if this cell is 3, then that one cannot be 3”. It is the heart of single-solution puzzles, where you progress by deduction rather than trial and error.

• Number Series
• Lights Out
• Secret Code
• Mini Sudoku
• Sudoku
• Crowns

Mental arithmetic

Mental arithmetic draws on memorised number facts (times tables, number bonds), strategies (splitting, rounding) and working memory to hold intermediate results. Speed comes with practice.

• Math Rush
• True or False
• Put in Order
• Target Sum
• Target Number
• Pyramid

Processing speed and reflexes

Processing speed is the time it takes to perceive information and respond to it. Reflexes are its simplest form: reacting to a signal. It varies with tiredness, the time of day and practice.

• Moving Target
• Reflex
• Lightning Reflex
• Number Rush
• Color Trap
• True or False

Visuospatial perception

Visuospatial perception, or spatial orientation, lets you picture shapes and where they are: rotating an object in your head, reading a map, finding your way, estimating a quantity at a glance. It is what you use to park a car or assemble furniture.

• Mirror or Turn
• How Many Dots?
• Maze
• What Time Is It?
• Rectangles
• Mahjong

Planning and strategy

Planning means anticipating the consequences of your choices several moves ahead and organising a sequence of actions towards a goal. You need it whenever a plan beats a reflex.

• Slide Puzzle
• Snake
• 2048
• Flood
• FreeCell
• Thread

Inhibition and flexibility

Inhibition is the ability to resist an automatic response to give the right one; flexibility is switching rules or points of view. The classic example is the Stroop effect: naming the ink colour of a word that names another colour.

• Color Trap
• Mirror
• Reflex
• Lightning Reflex
• Mirror or Turn
• What Time Is It?

No ads

No ad ever interrupts a game or breaks your focus: no banners, no forced videos, no ad trackers. That is also what makes times comparable from one player to another.

What to expect

These games are first and foremost entertainment: they draw on these abilities, but they are not a medical device, and progress in a game does not guarantee progress elsewhere. What they offer: a few minutes of active focus, measured, that you can compare from one day to the next and with your friends.