Have you ever been in a situation where it is mathematically tricky to park your car? Sure, such incidents occur every day where you need to be smarter than usual in everyday life. Whether it is remembering the password of your device and calculating the bills with taxes, all of it requires the brain to be active.
It is significant to continuously treat your brain with something that stimulates it to think differently and find solutions to certain problems. Brain teasers are a helpful way to incorporate logical reasoning, pattern recognition, and vocabulary enhancement to better function in different situations. Hence, brain teasers can also act as games and activities for pattern recognition and vocabulary building.
As adults, it can be challenging to invest your time in finding ways to keep your mind alert. So, here’s your guide to some of the best brain-teasing games, riddles, and math problems that trigger you to rethink the question, all over again. Check these exercises to later challenge your relatives and colleagues for an intelligent conversation.
Engaging online brain teasers for adults
Brain teasers also help develop cognitive abilities hence, they play an important role in everyday functioning. The below-mentioned brain-teasing exercises are a combination of memory building, pattern recognition, and controlling impulses.
1. Brain Test: Tricky Puzzles
Brain teasers are the ones that test your thinking and logical abilities in a fun manner. This engaging brain teaser is all about answering different questions but in a unique style. The game is filled with tricky questions apt for adults. Also, there is an option for hints to go ahead if you are not able to clear one of them.
The easy user interface is good for a knowledgeable time as it involves a different set of questions from logic, math, and vocabulary perspectives. With every next question, the level of difficulty increases making it really intriguing to find answers.
2. Mahjong
You cannot deny the intricacy of the Mahjong games that test your brain at all levels. This game is a brain teaser as it offers an opportunity to develop memory, and concentration and stay alert. It also tests your skills with the identification of different patterns and then differentiating them accurately.
As you begin, you need to select the type of Mahjong you wish to play. The interface then changes the Mahjong cards into different shapes and the play begins. A face is already given there to help you with hints. If the move is not correct, you may choose to undo the move and start with the play.
3. The Word Search
Word search puzzles are pretty interesting as you might be seeing the word right next to your eye but unable to spot it. This brain teaser game helps you analyze different words in jumbled letters. Interestingly, the game allows you to choose the theme of the search depending on your preferred genre including television shows, movies, animals, or general.
As the game begins, different words are mentioned at the top. To search them, you need to drag your finger towards the word, and the game colors it entirely. The words can be found horizontally, diagonally, or even vertically. Hence, this can also be a word recognition game for adults.
4. 247 Sudoku
Sudoku is a classic brain teaser as it develops mental math abilities. In order to complete a Sudoku puzzle, a 9×9 grid must be filled with numbers so that each row, column, and 3×3 square contains all digits from 1 to 9.
Sudoku is a great mental exercise as a logic game. It is easy to play as you need to select the right numbers to fill in the grids. Also, it gives extra seconds depending on how well you play the game.
5. Slide
Brain teaser games and exercises are the ones that trigger the mind to look for solutions and understand patterns. The slide is one of the games that enhance focus and helps you find ways. All you need to do is connect the two ends that are jumbled within the blocks.
Certain blocks are immovable so you need to adjust the movable blocks to form the pipeline that connects two ends. With each level, the difficulty increases and the count of the blocks also rises with it.
6. Tronix II
The online game Tronix II is specifically built to improve memory and also understand patterns. The game looks easy however, it is complicated and trains the brain to think extraordinarily to get solutions. As you start the game, different structures with endpoints are given.
These geometric structures have intercrossing segments and the task is to detangle them. You can move to the next level only when all segments are straightway without intercrossing any other segment. Hence, all segments should be straight lines without any other line in between.
7. Where is the Ball
Memory games have a long-lasting effect on everyday life as you tend to be more alert and assertive. This brain teaser is mostly common among adults however, it tests your concentration skills. The game has 3 different cups and a ball hidden beneath them.
You need to stay focused to see where the cup has the ball as the cups keep moving. With every level, the difficulty level increases, and the speed of cup movement gradually becomes super quick. Such a game tests observation skills and enhances focus.
8. Love Dots
Certain brain teasers trigger the brain to think out of the box and find answers. This online game is also one that tests your thinking abilities. The game has two different colored dots positioned in different layouts. These dots have to be connected by drawing lines and other elements.
As the level increases, it becomes difficult to connect them hence making it challenging for you. It is a simple exercise of connecting two dots but it teases your brain as you might immerse yourself in figuring out the right way to do so.
9. Crossword Puzzles Online
Brain teasers also help you learn vocabulary and grammar in a creative way. Crossword is a significant game format used to enhance knowledge about different words and their context. You can find different crossword puzzles and their clues below the table. The clues are well-drafted and all you need to do is think.
Once you click on a certain number, the interface allows you to type or even erase. While some look easy, others are pretty tricky and improve vocabulary skills.
10. Free The Key
Any brain teaser that helps find solutions in a complicated situation helps with better pattern recognition and analysis of spacing. The online game is a theme-based exercise where you need to free the amidst different blocks. The blocks lock the key and you need to move the blocks to free the entire way of the key.
The challenge here is to analyze different spaces, sizes, and movements of the blocks to finally make the way for the key. As the level increases, the difficulty also increases with more blocks and different sizes.
Interesting brain-teasing math problems
1. One brother remarks about his younger sibling, “I was three times his age two years ago. I will be twice as old as my brother in three years. What year are they currently?
Answer:- The use of even numbers is one method for resolving this math puzzle: In three years, the older brother will be twice as old as the younger one. Since the older brother can no longer be 8, 11, or 14, he must be 17, and the younger brother must be 7. They were 15 and 5 years old two years ago, and 20 and 10 years old, respectively, in three years.
2. Shane was 25 years old the day before yesterday. He’ll be 28 the following year. Only one day a year is this true. When does Shane turn a year old?
Answer:- The date is December 31
3. Max has six sons. Each son proudly says, “I have a very intelligent sister.” How many children does Max have?
Answer:- Max has a total of seven kids. The same sister is mentioned by all the lads.
4. If you add up all the numbers on the dialing pad, what is the result?
Answer:- Zero. The telephone’s number pad has the numbers 0 through 9. Hence, adding them all together results in 0 because 0 is the result of any multiplication.
5. How many handshakes were there overall if there are 20 people in the room, each of whom shakes the other’s hand just once?
Answer:- 190 handshakes (19+18+17+16+…+3+2+1=190)
6. I was only 8 years old when my dad passed at the age of 31. He is now twice as old as I am. What age am I right now?
Answer:- The answer is 23 years, as you can see from the calculation of the age gap. Thus, you must be 23 years old at this point.
7. Attempting to scale a coconut tree is a monkey. He moves forward three steps and then retreats two steps. Each step is 30 cm in front of you and 40 cm behind you. A 100-centimeter tree can be climbed in how many steps?
Answer:- 50 steps
8. A one-foot-diameter empty basket is available. How many eggs can you fit in this basket, given that it is empty?
Answer:- Only one egg, then! The basket is no longer empty once you add an egg to it.
9. Two fathers, two sons, and a grandfather went to the movies together and purchased one ticket each. The total for the $7 movie tickets was $21.00. How?
Answer:- Three tickets were bought. Both the father and the grandfather are also parents.
10. A minor portion of a full deck of cards has been lost. Three cards remain after dealing to four individuals. Two persons are left after dealing with three. I have two cards left after dealing with five individuals. What number of cards are there?
Answer:- There are 47 cards, to be exact. A whole deck contains 52 cards. Five cards were misplaced.
11. How do you multiply eight 8s to make 1,000?
Answer:- 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 equals 1,000
12. Paul and Jason each weigh half as much as Tim, yet Tim weighs three times as much as Jason. They weigh 720 pounds in total. Can you determine each man’s specific weight?
Answer:- Tin weighs 120 pounds, Paul 240 pounds, and Jason 360 pounds.
13. A wall is built by 12 guys over the course of 12 hours. How long will it take six guys to build the same wall, then?
Answer:- There is no need to construct it again, but it would probably take 24 hours. The work is finished!
14. Athletes can jump indefinitely. She only jumps twice as high as she did the last time, though. She jumps for the first time and gains half a foot. She jumps again and gains another quarter of a foot. How much time will it take her to move a foot from where she started?
Answer:- Because the distance keeps getting cut in half, the woman will never move a full foot.
15. It will take half as long to reach midnight if it is two hours later than if it is an hour later. When is it now?
Answer:- 9:00 PM
Brain teasing riddles for adults
1. There are three switches in the room where you are and the door is closed. On the other side of the door, three light bulbs are controlled by the switches. You might never again touch the switches after you’ve opened the door. How can you tell for sure which switch is attached to each lightbulb?
Answer:- Activate the first two switches. Five minutes should pass with them on. Turn off the second switch after five minutes, leaving the first one on. Go into the door now. The first switch is linked to the light that is still on. The second switch is connected to whichever of the other two feels warm to the touch. The switch that was attached to the cold bulb was never turned on.
2. A man and his dog are both standing on opposite sides of a river. The man summons his dog, who promptly uses the bridge or a boat instead of a bridge to cross the river without getting wet. What was the dog’s secret?
Answer:- The river was frozen, to be precise
3. What makes the number 8,549,176,320 special?
Answer:- Right here, from 0 to 9, each number is listed alphabetically.
4. I am the beginning of sorrow and the end of sickness. You cannot express happiness without me yet I am in the midst of crosses. I am always at risk yet never in danger. You may find me in the sun, but I am never out of the darkness.
Answer:- The letter S
5. What contains towns without homes, woods without trees, and water without fish?
Answer :- A map
6. How far into the woods can a squirrel run?
Answer:- The halfway point. He then sprints back out of the forest.
7. Although I have locks, I do not. I have room, but not enough. You are permitted to enter but not to exit. So who am I?
Answer:- A computer keyboard
8. What vanishes as soon as its name is spoken?
Answer:- Silence
9. What has a bed but never sleeps, a mouth but never speaks, a head but never weeps, and runs but never walks?
Answer:- A river
10. Two boys are left behind by a deceased old guy. The son with the slower horse will receive his fortune, according to a directive in his will that he makes to his sons. The two boys are competing, but because they are both holding back their horses, they go to a wise man and ask him for advice. The brothers then engage in another race, this time at top speed. What advice did the old guy give them?
Answer:- Because they still technically own the losing (i.e., slower) horse after they transfer horses, whoever wins the race will receive the inheritance.
11. You’re in a pitch-black space with a gas lamp, a wood stove, and candles. What do you start by lighting first if you just have one matchstick?
Answer:- A matchstick
12. A tunnel is what one family wishes to pass through. Dad can get there in one minute, mom in two, son in four, and daughter in five. Just two people at a time, going at the slower person’s pace, are allowed to pass through the tunnel simultaneously. With a torch that only lasts 12 minutes and a fear of the dark, can they all make it to the other side?
Answer:- Mom and dad come first, 2 minutes. Dad returns in three minutes, and the kids go to mom at eight. After waiting 10 minutes for mom to visit dad, it takes them both 12 minutes to reach their kids.
13. Even if the ball doesn’t bounce off anything, how can you toss it as far as you can and expect it to return back to you? It is not tied to anything, and nobody else catches it or returns it to you.
Answer:- Throw it up in the air
14. What call for assistance reads the same upside down, sideways, and in capital letters?
Answer:- SOS
15. Each of the six girls that Mr. and Mrs. Fernandez has a brother. How many members of the Fernandez family are there?
Answer:- There are nine Fernandez’ in the family, to be precise. There are six girls, one boy, Mr. and Mrs. Fernandez, and one brother for each daughter.
Wrapping up
Brain teasers can be found in various forms including online games and everyday exercises like Sudoku or puzzles. As adults, you should actively involve yourself in activities that help you think logically. The above-mentioned brain teasers are a great way to foster observational skills and enhance memory, hence, working as a working memory game for adults too. It is significant to know that certain brain teasers can be super fun while others may take a good time to be solved. So, make sure you give it enough time and learn the art before it becomes too common!
I am Shweta Sharma. I am a final year Masters student of Clinical Psychology and have been working closely in the field of psycho-education and child development. I have served in various organisations and NGOs with the purpose of helping children with disabilities learn and adapt better to both, academic and social challenges. I am keen on writing about learning difficulties, the science behind them and potential strategies to deal with them. My areas of expertise include putting forward the cognitive and behavioural aspects of disabilities for better awareness, as well as efficient intervention. Follow me on LinkedIn