A small section for short sittings
This is the smallest section on the site, and its rounds are short. Most of these games give you something to keep in mind for a little while: where a card was, the order the lights came in, which squares were lit a moment ago. We make no claims about what any of this does for your brain. They are games, and a pleasant way to spend ten minutes.
Holding on and looking closely
Holding on. Memory Match is the old game of turning cards over two at a time, on a board of 6, 8 or 15 pairs. Memory Matrix lights a pattern of tiles, takes it away and asks for it back, adding tiles as you go, and three misses end the run. Tone Trail plays a sequence of lights and notes that grows by one each round. Leave the sound on if you can, since a short tune is easier to carry than a list of colours.
Looking closely. Spot the Difference sets two scenes side by side, a garden or a kitchen perhaps, with five changes to find before the clock runs out. Three-Card Find deals cards that vary in four ways and asks for three that are, on each feature, all alike or all different. Number Rush has you tap the numbers in order with your gaze held on the middle of the grid. Colour Clash is the Stroop test, used by psychologists since 1935: a colour name printed in ink that may not match it, and less time to answer as the game goes on.
Which to try first
For something restful, begin with Memory Match on Easy, or with Three-Card Find, which has no clock at all. Memory Matrix and Tone Trail come next: neither hurries you, but each keeps adding to what you have to hold. Colour Clash and Number Rush are all about speed, so save them for when you are properly awake.
Elsewhere on the site: logic games, word games, card games, board games.