Remember when you first got a Nintendo NES or Sega Master System? If you do, you are old! As a gamer, that means you’re likely to be pwned by 11-year-old noobs on CoD, forcing you to switch your genre and even turn to cozy games! But what if there was a way to take the kids to the cleaners? With gamified puzzles, you can give your aging mind a little workout, kind of like a Rocky montage for the brain. From hand-eye coordination to focus, here are some benefits.
Faster Information Processing
Action-based games require some quick thinking and the ability to process what’s going on around you. For team-based games, especially, you don’t want to be the reason the team loses. Gamified puzzles, such as word search with timers, have been shown to improve how well the brain processes information. Because there is a limit, you are forced to make better decisions faster than you normally would, allowing you to act quicker during a crisis within a video game.
Boost Your Gaming Reflexes with Hand-Eye Coordination
There are billions of gamers in the world today, and roughly 46% are over 40 years old. That means your hand-eye coordination and other necessary skills are not as good as they once were. However, gamified puzzles can help improve precise and rapid movement:
- Visual stimuli such as matching colors can help improve hand speed and accuracy.
- This helps develop faster control in games while keeping aim as accurate as possible.
- Visual-motor integration helps the brain calculate positioning before the hand moves.
Improved Pattern Recognition
Some games require advanced skills, such as predicting enemy movements instead of reacting to action. Playing video games can help you develop these skills, but they can decline if you don’t keep your brain sharp. Puzzle games can help you recognize patterns much faster, which is useful for games that require stealth movements, such as Metal Gear or Assassin’s Creed. In turn, you can develop a proactive solution to a gaming moment rather than wasting time.
Enhanced Visual Tracking Skills
Some games are more involved than others, and you may be required to quickly scan an environment. Scanning and taking in information quickly is a required gamer trait for many genres, such as team-based gaming, but even some single-player titles, too. With puzzles that require scanning for small details, you can train your brain to pick up on smaller visual cues that can be the difference between victory and rage quitting and never returning to the game!
Boost Your Gaming Reflexes for Memory
A survey of older gamers aged between 55 and 64 found that 75% play video games for mental stimulation. Of course, adults and kids enjoy video games no matter the age, and the benefits can help anyone. However, memory improvement is one of the best-documented benefits.
Working memory and attention
Puzzles that require things like matching sequences actively work the brain and help you hold things in short-term memory; this is useful for holding real-time game objective information.
Strengthened brain connections
Mental speed is everything for fast-paced games like FPS games, team-based MMOs, or hero shooters. Puzzles that require remembering colors, shapes, and patterns help boost this.
Preventing cognitive decline
It has been well-documented that puzzles, even jigsaws, can help with issues like dementia. Puzzle-solving keeps the mind engaged, so your gaming reflexes stay sharp as an older gamer.
The brain goes through many changes as you age, but most experts agree that it is like a muscle. If you exercise it with puzzles, which is what video games are anyway, then it can stay sharp even as you turn gray, and this can translate to improved reflexes in your sessions.
Better Awareness of Space
Games have come a long way since the Space War. Today, they are very complex and set in 2D, 2D and VR environments. Because of this, it is vital that you have excellent spatial reasoning to successfully complete challenging objectives within certain video games. Puzzle games such as Tetris are excellent for working out the brain to improve this skill, which can be applied to other video games, resulting in faster navigation of tricky in-game environments.
Increased Cognitive Flexibility
When playing video today, it isn’t uncommon to have to switch between tasks quickly on the fly. MOBA games are a good example where things can change very quickly, and you will lose if you can’t keep up with them. Puzzle games can help give you a little boost, as they can help strengthen your brain’s ability to adapt to new information quickly. As a result, you might experience an improvement in split-second decision-making when things change quickly.
Boost Your Gaming Reflexes with Focus
Studies have shown that 20 minutes of puzzles per day is enough to see a significant boost to mental focus and clarity. By engaging in puzzles such as Sudoku, crosswords, and even Scrabble, you can increase how well your brain focuses; an obvious gaming advantage:
- Puzzles that require you to ignore distractions will help control inhibitions when gaming.
- Impulsive actions can be reduced, allowing you to maintain focus during a session.
- This helps you avoid wasting and increase accuracy during tense gaming moments.
Staying Calm Under Pressure
There are some games that challenge your resolve by applying pressure to really see what you are made of. Just think of Oggdo Bogdo on the Grand Master setting, and you get the idea. The key to beating bosses like this is staying calm under pressure. Gamified puzzles are excellent for practicing gaming under stressful conditions, and can help you identify how to get into your flow state. When this happens, you can stay calm and react better, just like a real-life Jedi!
Summary
Processing information faster in real-time is one of the best advantages of puzzles that can help boost your gaming reflexes. Of course, puzzles are well known to help with memory as you age. But modern gaming also relies on staying calm under pressure, and puzzles can help with that.
