Five Games to Learn if You Want to Give Your Brain a Workout
Most of us could do with getting down to the gym more often, but even more of us than that could do with working out our brains a little harder. Many of us get those moments: forgetting passwords, spacing on names, or just feeling mentally sluggish.
But here’s some good news – sharpening your mind doesn’t have to feel like homework. There are tons of games out there that challenge you in sneaky ways, boosting your cognitive skills while still being fun. Here are five games that’ll whip your grey matter into shape – no Sudoku puzzles or crosswords in sight.
Chess: A Classic for a Reason
Chess might seem intimidating at first glance – those endless strategies, obscure terms, and the serious faces of Grandmasters. But peel back that reputation, and you’ll find a game that’s brilliantly accessible and fiercely replayable. Chess is a pure brain workout, requiring pattern recognition skills and exceptional memory recall. If you’re worrying that you don’t have those skills yet then don’t let that put you off. You’re going to learn them! Your mind begins to think multiple steps ahead, always planning your next move (and the one after that). After a while, you’ll spot patterns everywhere – useful for life, not just pawns and knights. Better still, we’ve got a strong chess culture in Malawi, with record-breaking chess teams and local clubs, too. It’s one of those rare games where you genuinely feel smarter with each session.
Sharpen Up with Scrabble
Scrabble sounds gentle, cosy, even slightly wholesome. But beneath those friendly letter tiles lies a battlefield. If you’ve not watched a Scrabble world final, I urge you to do so. It gets heated. You might have noticed it playing against your Aunty at Christmas time one year! You need linguistic agility to whip up words quickly and problem-solving skills to adapt your strategy when your opponent takes your perfect spot. A dose of patience doesn’t hurt either. The other big bonus is that your vocabulary will improve tenfold. Each strange noun you find has got to be used in a sentence.
Poker: The Ultimate Mind Game
Some games are just plain brilliant at forcing you to think critically, assess situations quickly, and even read the room. Poker is a prime example, as it requires you to read situations, calculate odds, and make decisions under pressure. Those looking to learn poker will find that mastering the game sharpens memory, enhances logical thinking, and builds resilience – making it a great addition to your game rotation.
The beauty of poker is in the human element. You’re constantly interpreting subtle signals from opponents: tiny changes in facial expressions, hesitations in bets, that slight tremor in their hands. Even online, you’re assessing odds, managing bankrolls, and keeping a calm head under pressure. Your mind juggles multiple skills simultaneously – and every win feels deeply satisfying. You might even walk away richer (or at least wiser).
Go: Simple Rules, Deep Strategy
Go has been around for thousands of years, yet it still feels fresh. On the surface, it seems simple: capture territory by placing black or white stones on a board. But underneath? There’s surprising complexity. Go really pushes your pattern recognition skills. You’ve got to be constantly thinking about territory control, but whirring away in the background are your skills of adaptation and recalculation. Basically, if you’re not a whizz when it comes to multitasking, you’ll struggle in the short term, but you’ll make fast progress.
Catan: Problem Solving With Sheep and Wheat
Ever heard the phrase “I’ll trade you two sheep for one brick”? If you have, you’ve already
dabbled in Settlers of Catan. This board game is built around negotiation, strategy, and resource management – all things your brain secretly loves, you just might not know it yet. As you trade, build roads, and carefully expand your settlements, you’re strengthening cognitive skills like problem-solving, adaptability, and long-term strategic thinking. The tactile satisfaction of placing roads and settlements – little wooden blocks that tap gently on the board – is part of the charm too. Plus, winning feels genuinely rewarding, especially when you’ve convinced your friend to trade away the last sheep you need.
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There are a lot of things in this story that don’t add up, and hereby explain:
1) why is the judge and everybody else involved in this case doubting the deceased call to her mother ‘affirming that she had in fact been bitten by a snake’.
2) everywhere in the world, one can only remain in custody up to 48 hours, unless proven otherwise. Why are these innocent people (yes innocent) in custody?
3) who is responsible at the hospital for having out of date meds!? Is this hospital director not guilty too!!! This out of date meds ended up doing no good to the deseased snake bite. She died because she didn’t have any medical support.
4) when the desead arrived in hospital, she was walking on her two feet, although supported by her friends and the deceased rang up her mother.
5) the deceased closed friends were always by her side. Why were they jailed!! For supporting their friend!!
6) nobody can be remanded in jail until it is proven otherwise.
Let these poor innocent people out, all they did was support their deceased friend right through. The hospital must be charged for not having up to date appropriate medication.
You are talking sense now! Can these other people claiming there was no snake bite respond to these questions please???
Mr Gwede. please investigate a few things. Firstly what medicine and treatment was given to her at the private clinic. Secondly why did the deceased call her mother and say that she was bitten by a snake. ( was she a part of her own murder?). Why did Dzamalala not proceed to test for snake venom especially that the deceased herself had told her parents that she was in hospital because she had been bitten by a snake.
This Mr gwede might provide interesting reading.
I read Dr Dzamalalas report on the death of the girl in question. If my memory is right he concluded that there were no snake bite wounds to colerate and coraborate the story. I find it rather disturbing that another pathologist is challenging this finding. In any snake bite, it’s true that the fungs are left and embedded inside the fresh at the bite site but there will always be bite marks and because of poison the bleeding at the bite site doesn’t immediately stop. The fact that there was not bite mark and and that there was no wound proves otherwise. If necessary Dr Kamiza should ask the court for the exhauming the body of the girl and that of the snake so that he could prove that’s the fungs were imbedded in the girls fresh and that the snake had lost them. Ndalama yavuta pa Malawi.
My thoughts as well. Thanks Neil
Educate yourself on snake bites before you comment.
So are you saying that Kotanna was involved in her own “murder” as she called her mum to tell her she was bitten by a snake??
Get yourself educated first before you write nonsense. Go read more about snake bite and how they have different bites where some leave no marks.
In a case like this one, the suspects’ gadgets should have been collected and kept ( in line with forensic procedures ) for further investigations. These are the gadgets which they might have used to plot the whole crime…if at all.
What horrible writing. They are ALLEGED criminals. They have not been convicted of ANY crimes. Writing “their crimes” is blatantly misleading and incorrect. Please. Are you people real journalists or just hobby writers?!
Forget the legal terms, just look at the grammar and structure – its pitiful…more comedy than news
Complete and utter lies being reported as “news” while nobody wants to report anything about the EXPIRED medication that was administered to Kotanna without proper equipment. Wow Nyasatimes. Well done!
za anthu andalama izi simungazivetse
“Despite the seriousness of their crimes…” sorry, what crimes exactly? Have these people been found guilty of murder? Innocent until proven guilty
Challenge the other facts. Enjoying is relative as well. We all know in Malawi prisons prisoners are not accorded the luxury of having and using cellphones and computers. If true, why are these prisoners so special
Kodi nde kutinso munthu atakupeza red handed ndi innocent until proven guilty nso
Walankhulatu ngati sumapita nawo ku ma demo a Jane Assah kuti atule udindo chifukwa chosokoneza chisankho pamene nkhani inali ku court.
Instead of writing about stupid things that are not true why not actually say how these people are murderers? Stop talking nonsense about innocent people who are locked up for nothing. You clearly have nothing else to talk about
I understand you are aware that you’ll be held liable for what you write because you are supposed to conduct investigative journalism not reporting mabodza basi. It is already a traumatizing experience to be suffering in jail for the crime they didn’t commit and you come here and say they’re enjoying??? Since when has a Malawi jail ever been comfortable to anyone???? Trust me, this time you are going to explain to the judge and provide evidence of such. The families of the the suspects have seen this and are going to react accordingly.
It’s amazing how emotional people can get when defending their friends/accomplices/relatives. Tell me the last time you saw justice being delivered in Malawi on a crime like this! This article purports to inform the general public that the suspects are being accorded VIP treatment in jail which is not standard practice. As far as i’m concerned, the journalist has managed to convey this message and every well meaning Malawian must be worried about this.
Some of the comments here are very suggestive. No sane person can make them unless they were involved in the crime in one way or another.
Olo Mpinganjira amakhala mu ofesi mwa apolisi.
To challenge the autopsy it’s the same influential people they trying to subvert justice. There is more to this story… you need to beat these suspects like you did with the albino suspect that died on you for the truth to come out but don’t kill them like u silenced the albino ones.
Never thought we had such stupid people in this country like you, you are an idiot of all idiots.. You think beating people does anything, do you know what enitional trauma these ppl are going through, chimapweka chimakala kwa nzako.. Kuno ndikunja uzaziwona.. Penapake kunakala ndi umuntu
Kundende nkwa osauka basi.
…and laws are meant to be broken. i suppose it is only procedure that can not be substituted if you want to have a required product.
RIP to the innocent soul lost and let the court of law take its course,,,, after all God is there for ever!!