How to train your brain with puzzles? Habits you actually practise

If you train your brain with puzzles, you’ll most likely get better at those particular puzzles and at tasks that are similar to them. A large 2016 review of research into “brain training” programmes found strong evidence of improvement on the tasks people practised, weaker evidence on closely related tasks, and little evidence that the benefits carry over to distant skills or to everyday life. So instead of hunting for one exercise that does it all, it’s better to solve different types of puzzles, pay attention to how you reach an answer, and check your ideas with other people.

This article is about puzzles and riddles. If you’re worried about your memory or concentration for health reasons, talk to a doctor. Solving sudoku is no substitute for a diagnosis.

Practise different ways of reaching an answer

Sudoku teaches you to work within a specific set of constraints. A crossword calls for a different kind of association, and a Rubik’s Cube for yet another way of thinking through your next moves. Solve whatever interests you, but don’t treat being good at one game as a guarantee that any other puzzle will be easy.

Instead of only checking the result, take a moment to look at how you thought it through. What let you rule out the wrong answer? Did you use all the information? At what point did you add an assumption that wasn’t in the instructions?

A small exercise in incomplete information

Try a simple example: the number you’re looking for is greater than four, less than nine and even. Can you give one answer? No. Both six and eight fit. You need another clue.

This is a mini puzzle we wrote for this article. It shows a habit that helps when you’re solving problems: telling a possible answer apart from the only answer. In an escape room, the same mistake might mean treating your first association as a sure-fire code.

If you’re playing with someone, ask them to check your reasoning. The point isn’t to catch you out. A second perspective can reveal an assumption you haven’t noticed yourself.

Creativity needs checking too

Reading, drawing and question-based games can be enjoyable and give you a chance to look for connections. Within a puzzle, though, every association has to be tested against its rules. The most original theory isn’t always the solution.

A good habit is to name your idea briefly and then test it. If it doesn’t work, go back to the clues. Repeating the same attempt over and over doesn’t make it any more convincing.

Where to exercise your mind in Krakow

The habits in this article are easiest to practise in different settings: at a table, out and about, and with phenomena whose outcome is hard to predict. In Krakow, you can do it like this:

• Board games from the library. Biblioteka Kraków (in Polish), the city library, lends board games at ten branches for 31 days, and you can reserve them through the online catalogue. You can borrow one game at a time from any one branch. The library also runs on-site gaming meet-ups, listed in its events as rozGRYwki. It’s an easy way to try out a new type of puzzle before you buy your own copy.
• Stanisław Lem Experimental Garden. In Park Lotników Polskich at al. Pokoju 68 there are around 110 installations demonstrating phenomena from mechanics, optics, hydrostatics, magnetism and acoustics. According to Kraków Travel, the garden is open in the summer season, from April to October. It’s a branch of the Museum of Engineering and Technology. It’s a great place to practise the habit of testing your ideas: first predict what will happen, then check, and name the point where your assumption went wrong. Check the current season on the museum’s website.
• A city game. Krakow Legends is an app-based game with logic and story puzzles that unlock at successive points around the city centre. There’s no time limit, so you can stop at a task and calmly check your reasoning instead of guessing under pressure.
• An escape room. If you want to practise sharing information as a team, pick a Gamescape escape room with a theme that interests you. Here you mainly practise saying out loud what you can see and passing on clues.

Each of these places trains something slightly different. There’s no need to pick one “best” workout.

What solving puzzles doesn’t promise

Getting good at a practised task isn’t the same as a general improvement in intelligence, memory or health. A 2021 meta-analysis of 43 studies of commercial training programmes in older adults found small effects on tasks close to the ones practised. The authors concluded that such programmes can serve as entertainment, but there’s no evidence that they improve memory, overall cognitive function or everyday functioning. Nor can these results be automatically applied to a visit to an escape room.

You don’t need a medical reason to enjoy a bit of fun. You can take breaks, choose a time that suits you and play without pressure to perform. If you’re feeling tired, you don’t have to take on another round of puzzles.

One question after every game

After a puzzle, a board game or a team game, talk about one habit that helped and one that’s worth changing. For example: “We were too quick to treat the first number as the code” or “It helped that someone read the clues out loud”. That’s a more concrete plan for your next game than a promise to become a master of everything.