BRAIN GAMES
The Right Brain Games Enhance Cognition
- Decrease brain age & Increase Focus
- Enhance social bonds & build community
- Have fun!
BRAIN GAMES
Project Healthspan Brain Games Enhance Cognition
- Decrease brain age & Increase Focus
- Enhance social bonds & build community
- Have fun!
Play as Medicine
Play is one of humanity’s oldest medicines — and one of the most underrated. It reduces stress, builds competence, and keeps us genuinely engaged with the world, and with each other. In a time when more things than ever compete for our attention, focus is crucial — and the right kinds of games strengthen it. Most importantly, a focused brain is a more present brain: better able to be fully “where they are,” whether that means focus at work or being present with friends and family.
Try a Brain Game: Beetle Match!
Beetle Match
Beetle Match is a powerful working memory[4b.01] exercise disguised as something fun. It strengthens attention, recall, and pattern recognition[4c.02]. That's exactly the kind of multi-domain engagement[4c.07] the research points to as most beneficial. Beetle Match is just one example of the types of games being developed by Project Healthspan.
Dragonfly Drift
Dragonfly Drift is a multiple object tracking exercise built around one of the most well-validated attention tasks in cognitive science. Watch as a set of glowing target dragonflies are highlighted — then all the dragonflies begin to move and mix. Your job is to keep track of yours. It sharpens sustained attention[4c.06], spatial awareness, and processing speed[4a.04] — the kind of fluid focus that matters most in everyday life. Research shows measurable gains[4c.04] in working memory and executive function, and speed-of-processing training is linked to lower long-term risk of dementia[4a.01].
Landing Pad
This game is under development.
What Types of Games Actually Help?
Project Healthspan professionals go deep on the research before recommending anything — games included. There's a lot of hype out there, and countless apps competing for your attention, time, and money. The core issue is the difference between near transfer and far transfer. Near transfer means you get better at the specific task you practice. Far transfer means those gains carry over into real life — better memory at the grocery store, sharper focus in a conversation. Most games only deliver the former. The programs with the strongest clinical evidence target multiple cognitive domains at once — memory, processing speed, attention, and executive function together — rather than drilling a single isolated skill.
How Can Games Help?
These aren't just "mental skills" — they're distinct neurological systems, each with its own circuitry, trainable in different ways.
Memory & Recall
Centered in the prefrontal cortex. Strengthened by tasks that ask you to hold, manipulate, and retrieve information under pressure.
Processing Speed
Governed by the brain's white matter pathways — the neural highways connecting regions. Faster processing underpins nearly every other cognitive ability.
Attention & Focus
A network spanning the frontal and parietal lobes. Trained by games requiring sustained concentration and the ability to filter out distraction.
Pattern Recognition
Draws on visual cortex and associative areas. Sharpened by strategy games and visual puzzles that ask you to spot sequences and relationships.
Cognitive Reserve
The buffer built by regular mental challenge. The landmark ACTIVE Trial followed 2,800 adults (link to be added) for ten years and found that cognitive training gains were still measurable a decade later.