One of the oldest and most popular mind games: chess.
Games like Super Mario Brothers and Quake Tournament may put the reflexes to the test, but they are hardly intellectually stimulating. If you are a player who prefers a more reflective kind of game, these mind games may be for you.
Sudoku
Solve a sudoku puzzle.
Sudoku is a puzzle game from Japan that has rapidly gained popularity in North America in recent years. The game is played like a crossword puzzle with numbers. The board is arranged in a 9x9 grid, sub-divided into 3x3 squares, so that each contains nine boxes. The players goal is to place numerals from one to nine so that each horizontal and vertical row, as well as each 3x3 square, contains each digit from one to nine only once. Depending on your skill and the difficulty of the individual puzzle, a sudoku can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to complete.
Core War
Write fake computer viruses in Core War.
Core War is a computer game available for all major operating systems in which players compete by writing computer viruses in an assembly-like language known as Redcode. The viruses are loaded into an imaginary memory space and take turns running exactly one instruction each. The goal is to trick the other players' viruses into executing illegal instructions and crashing. The winner is the last virus still executing in the machine. Players have no control over their viruses once the game begins, so it's all about who can implement the best strategy with the fastest, most efficient code. Some universities have even used Core War as an introduction to assembly programming, so you will learn a valuable skill as you learn to play the game. Of course, these are pseudo-viruses, not real computer viruses, and are harmless outside the context of the game.
Chess
A life-sized chess board.
This classic board game has been around for centuries and has long been considered a great way to work the mental muscles. The game is played on a checkered board and each player plays with identical pieces: one set black and another set white. Each piece moves and captures other pieces according to its own rules, with the simple pawn being the weakest and the queen the most powerful. The goal of the game is to put the enemy king in a position where possible move by the opponent can save it. This is called "checkmate."
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