Many of us remember our mothers screaming at us to stop playing those video games or else "our eyes will turn square" and "our brains will turn to mush." While it's true that we shouldn't waste a lifetime playing video games, there's a growing school of thought that video games might actually do just the opposite of turning brains to mush; they might actually make us smarter. Whether you believe it or not, there are certainly some games that have more intellectual credentials than others and here are the best of them.
Poker
There are many card games that are really enjoyable, but the one that always offers something new to learn is poker. There are many ways to play poker online for free, which means that it is the perfect game for people who want to be able to practice at any time of the day.
If you've never played before, you'll need to memorize your hand rankings before you can move up to the next level. For the first few games, it's certainly not a shame to have them written down in case you need to refer to them, but when you play real games, you'll want to have all this information in mind. This is the first reason why poker can be a brain-boosting game, as it relies heavily on memory. Not only do you have to remember the rankings of your hands, but you also have to remember the reactions of the players when the hole cards are dealt, as well as who has raised the stakes. It's a game of will and skill, perfect for those who want to learn to perform under pressure and maybe even improve their memory as well.
Minecraft
Minecraft is one of the most popular games of the moment and this is largely due to its unparalleled open world format. The worlds you can explore in Minecraft are huge and that means there is endless room for creativity. One of the most often overlooked forms of intelligence is creative intelligence, but it's also one of the most important. Without creativity, we would struggle to think laterally about things, and this way of thinking is almost always what leads to the greatest inventions.
Games like Minecraft encourage creativity and give players complete freedom to build the world they want. This unbridled creativity is useful for winning Minecraft tournaments and creating structures that will impress friends, but it's more than that. The freedom of creativity fosters exactly the kind of thinking we need in the next generation of inventors and problem solvers.
Chess
Mastery of chess has long been an indicator of high intelligence, and that remains true today. Becoming a grandmaster is a huge challenge, requiring reaching an ELO rating of 2500 or higher, or getting two favorable results in a tournament. Chess is a good indicator of intelligence because it is a game of complete information. This means that both players can see all the pieces on the board, which means that from this knowledge, they can know all the possible moves that can be made. The only guesswork in chess is to anticipate what your opponent might do next.
It takes immense logic to win, as well as unerring knowledge of the capabilities of each piece. People spend hours and hours poring over texts on chess strategy, yet there are people who outperform everyone else with relative ease. If you really want to develop your chess skills, finding some opening moves is a good place to start. A solid opening is a really important part of a game and there are endless books and YouTube videos you can watch and read to help you in your studies.