All the games

Brain Games — all 87 of them, a line each

All 87 of them, in order, with a line each saying what it is. Follow a name for the full page on that game — what it is, how it is played and where it came from — or follow play to go straight to it. Nothing here is locked, nothing needs an account, and all of them work with no internet once open.

• Alien Puzzle
  One of the crowd is not one of them. play Alien
• Backgammon Board
  Ten opponents, from beginner to master. Doubling cube and game analysis. play Backgammon
• Bake Puzzle
  Cupcakes to order: fill the cup, take it out of the oven when it is golden, pipe the right frosting and add exactly the toppings on the ticket. Every step scored by how close you get. play Bake
• Bauble the puzzle Arcade
  Shoot balls at the wall. Three of a colour burst — and whatever is left hanging from nothing falls. play Bauble the puzzle
• Blast Arcade
  Drop a bomb and run. The blast stops at the first wall — so a wall really does shelter you, and you can count the squares before you press. play Blast
• Bond Puzzle
  Two columns of emoji, and every one on the left belongs with one on the right: the bee with the honey, the rain with the umbrella. play Bond
• Bounce Arcade
  A bat, a ball, a wall of bricks. Where you catch it decides where it goes. play Bounce
• Boxes Board
  Draw a line, close a square, draw again. The obvious move is usually the wrong one — sometimes you have to leave two squares behind. play Boxes
• Bridge Arcade
  A race up a bridge you build yourself. Run over the red bricks to stack them on your back, then climb: every brick is one more step. The other runners are doing the same. play Bridge
• Briscola Cards
  The Italian trick-taking classic. Forty cards, one trump suit, sixty points to win. play Briscola
• Buzz Puzzle
  A dog, a beehive and one line of ink. Draw a wall with your finger, then let the bees out: for ten seconds they look for every gap you left. play Buzz
• Cascade Arcade
  Columns of three stones fall. Three of a colour in a line and they go — and what drops can start a chain. play Cascade
• Case Puzzle
  Copy the sample onto a blank phone case: pick the colour, spray it on with your finger until it is all covered, and stick every sticker exactly where it sits on the sample. play Case
• Checkers Board
  Eight by eight, four levels. Captures are compulsory, as they should be. play Checkers
• Chess Board
  A full engine, move-by-move analysis and boards worth collecting. play Chess
• Coil Arcade
  You are a snake that never stops, in a ring full of other snakes. play Coil
• Crates Puzzle
  Push every crate onto a mark. You can only push, never pull — and a crate in a corner is lost. play Crates
• Crown Arcade
  She walks the runway, you pick the side: lipstick, heels and diamonds make her shine, mud and banana peels do not. From scruffy to queen in one walk. play Crown
• Dash Board
  Four pieces round the track. Land on his and he starts again. play Dash
• Delve Arcade
  The rocks are held up by the earth you are digging away, so the game is a question you ask before every step: what is above me, and is there earth still holding it? play Delve
• Dice Board
  Five dice, three rolls, thirteen boxes. Beat the target. play Dice
• Domino Board
  Seven tiles each. Match a number, or draw until you can. play Domino
• Drift Arcade
  A rock you hit does not vanish, it splits in two smaller and faster ones, so each big rock is seven targets and the last ones are the hard part. play Drift
• Dusk Puzzle
  Press a light and it flips, with its four neighbours. Turn them all off — the fewest presses it takes is shown. play Dusk
• Echo Puzzle
  It plays a colour, you play it back, and the sequence grows by one every time you get it right. play Echo
• Faces Board
  Twenty-four faces, one secret. Ask, narrow down, and say who it is. play Faces
• Flip Board
  Trap a line of his discs between two of yours and they all turn. The corners can never be turned back. play Flip
• Flume Arcade
  A race down a zigzag water slide on a swim ring. Lean into the bends or they throw you in the pool, and on the straights jump off on purpose to land further down. play Flume
• Fork Arcade
  A sausage, a fork and a row of plates. Hold to wind the fork up, let go, and the sausage has to come down on the next plate flat — land it on its nose and it rolls straight off. play Fork
• Four in a Row Board
  Four in a row against the computer, in three strengths. play Four in a Row
• Fuse Puzzle
  Swipe and the whole grid slides. Two equal tiles that meet become one of double the value. play Fuse
• Glow Puzzle
  Three tools, and each one does one thing. play Glow
• Grow Arcade
  You run and never stop. Green gates add runners to the column behind you, red ones take them away — and a wall only lets through a column tall enough. play Grow
• Gulp Arcade
  A hole in the middle of the city. Swallow cones and people, grow, then cars, buses and houses. One minute to get big enough. play Gulp
• Heaps Board
  This game is solved, and the answer is one line: write the pile sizes in binary, add the columns without carrying, and if every column comes out even then whoever moves next loses. play Heaps
• Hold Cards
  What changes between the levels is not the dealer’s skill — he has none, he draws to seventeen and stops. play Hold
• Hop Arcade
  On the road what moves kills you; on the water the gaps drown you, so you have to be standing on a log, and the log carries you along until it carries you off the edge. play Hop
• Hush Puzzle
  Find every key in the dark house and get to the door. play Hush
• Jam Puzzle
  Slide the cars out of each other’s way until the red one can leave. Nothing turns, nothing reverses. play Jam
• Keys Arcade
  Black tiles slide down four lanes, and each one you tap plays the next note of the tune. Ode to Joy, Für Elise, Jingle Bells: play the whole melody without a wrong note. play Keys
• Lane Arcade
  The car drives itself and all you do is move it across the road. play Lane
• Link Puzzle
  Join the dots of each colour with a pipe. Connecting them all is not enough: every square has to be used. play Link
• Macedonia War Arcade
  Fruit flies up from below and across the screen. Swipe to cut it: the more you take in one stroke, the more it pays. Never touch the bomb — the third one ends the game. play Macedonia War
• Mahjong Puzzle
  Clear the board two tiles at a time. Every deal can be solved. play Mahjong
• Mart Arcade
  A tiny shop, and nobody else to run it. Pick what grows in the garden, fill the shelves, and get to the till before the queue loses patience. play Mart
• Master Code Board
  A hidden row of colours. Ten tries, and every answer narrows it down. play Master Code
• Mill Board
  Nine pieces each. Three in a line takes one of his away. play Mill
• Munch Arcade
  Eat every dot in the maze while four ghosts chase you. The big dots turn the tables. play Munch
• Nest Puzzle
  An empty room and a row of furniture that all has to fit. The bed and the wardrobe go against a wall, nothing blocks the door, and at five stars there is barely a square to spare. play Nest
• Pairs Puzzle
  Every shape is on two cards. Find them in as few turns as you can. play Pairs
• Park Puzzle
  A full car park and one free space. Drive the red car in with your thumb, reversing if you have to, and stop it inside the lines without touching anything. play Park
• Pazit Novo Arcade
  Four-square pieces fall. Fill a row and it disappears. play Pazit Novo
• Peaks Cards
  Every hand here can be won: each one is checked with a solver before it is dealt, so a hand you lose is a hand you lost. play Peaks
• Peek Arcade
  Things pop out of the holes for a moment. Tap the green ones, leave the spiky red ones alone. play Peek
• Pills Arcade
  Two-colour pills fall into a bottle with viruses at the bottom. Four of a colour in a line disappear, viruses included — and what is left over falls, so a line can form on its own. play Pills
• Plumb Arcade
  The water is coming and there is no pipe yet. You lay it, one piece at a time, and you do not get to choose the piece. play Plumb
• Poker Cards
  A table of four: you and three others, a thousand dollars each, and it ends when one player has it all. play Poker
• Pour Puzzle
  Pour the liquid from tube to tube until each one holds a single colour. Always the whole block, never a drop. play Pour
• Pull Puzzle
  Pull a wooden peg and whatever was resting on it falls. play Pull
• Rally Arcade
  Where the ball hits your paddle decides where it goes: the middle sends it straight back, the edges send it away at an angle. play Rally
• Reach Puzzle
  A thief with a very long arm. Draw its path to the diamond with your finger, around walls, laser beams, sleeping dogs and fire, and mind the rope: it only goes so far. play Reach
• Roll Arcade
  A marble on a track hanging over nothing. Steer it sideways over narrow bridges, around barriers and away from the hammers, and do not roll off the edge. play Roll
• Row Board
  Drop a piece down a column and make four in a row — upright, flat or slanted. The middle column is worth more than it looks. play Row
• Rummy Board
  Runs and sets on tiles. Pick what to play, the table rearranges itself. play Rummy
• Scopa Cards
  Match a card or add up to it, and sweep the table clean. play Scopa
• Sculpt Puzzle
  A slab of clay on the wheel and a card with a person in a pose. Carve away everything that is not the statue, and do not cut into it: clay you take never comes back. play Sculpt
• Seeds Board
  Land your last seed in your own store and you play again, so chaining those turns one move into four and that is where the game is won. play Seeds
• Slide Puzzle
  Numbered tiles and one gap. Half of all arrangements cannot be solved — these are shuffled by playing real moves backwards, so every one can. play Slide
• Sneak Puzzle
  Every guard carries a cone of light in front of them. play Sneak
• Solitaire Cards
  The Klondike you know, drawing one card or three, and the difference between those two is the difference between a puzzle and a gamble. play Solitaire
• Span Board
  Join your two sides of the board before the computer joins its own. It cannot end level — that is a theorem, not a house rule — and the computer plays by filling the board at random and counting. play Span
• Spider Cards
  Eight runs from king to ace. One suit, two suits, four — and nothing else changes, because nothing else needs to. play Spider
• Spot Puzzle
  A traffic jam, a football match, a crowded beach, a classroom: two pictures that look the same, and a few things that are not. Tap them on either picture. play Spot
• Sudoku Puzzle
  Grids of 9 and 16, in five levels from easy to diabolical. No limit on games. play Sudoku
• Sums Puzzle
  Digits one to nine. Every run adds up to the number written beside it, and no digit repeats inside a run. play Sums
• Sunsweeper Puzzle
  The numbers say how many suns are next door. Find them all. play Sunsweeper
• Swap Arcade
  Trade two neighbouring gems. Three in a line vanish, what is above falls, and that can vanish too. play Swap
• Swarm Arcade
  Thirty-six creatures come down in steps. One shot at a time, three shelters, three lives. play Swarm
• Tally Puzzle
  The numbers at the edge say how many squares in a row are filled. Work it out, and a picture appears. play Tally
• Ten Ten Puzzle
  Clear the sheet: pair equal digits, or two that add up to ten. play Ten Ten
• Tint Puzzle
  Pick a colour and fill in every piece that carries its number. Nothing to win, no clock, nothing to lose: the sheet is done when it is full. Mandalas, stained glass, flowers and butterflies, a different one every time. play Tint
• Towers Puzzle
  Move the stack one disc at a time, never a bigger disc on a smaller one. Each extra disc doubles the shortest answer. play Towers
• Trail Arcade
  The game is not avoiding walls, it is building them: every turn you make takes space away from the other one too. play Trail
• Twist Puzzle
  The two-by-two cube, unfolded flat. Three faces turn, and that is enough. The stars are a measured distance from solved — four turns, eight, twelve — not a guess. play Twist
• Warship Board
  Five ships hidden on a ten by ten sea. Find them before it finds yours. play Warship
• Worm Arcade
  You do not steer it, you turn it: between one swipe and the next it keeps going on its own, and the faster it moves the further it gets before you can change your mind. play Worm
• Y-Type Arcade
  Five hand-built stages, not five random caves: a shipyard, a battleship hull with a way over and a way under, timed presses, narrow ducts, and the core. play Y-Type