Puzzles are engaging and creative games that provide a fun way for adults and kids to exercise their brain. They have proven to improve people’s cognitive abilities like visual and spatial skills, logical thinking and reasoning, and problem-solving skills. From complex mathematical puzzles to simple brain teasers, regularly solving them can challenge one’s thinking and strengthen one’s overall mental prowess. Here are some common puzzles that can sharpen one’s mind.

Best puzzles for adults
Adults can benefit from solving puzzles that require analytical as well as creative thinking. Listed below are some popular ones that can be solved individually or in a group:

Crossword puzzles
It is a type of game that challenges one’s problem-solving skills and vocabulary. One can find daily crosswords in newspapers, puzzle books, apps, magazines, or even online.

Sudoku
This number-based puzzle game popular among math enthusiasts can help boost one’s logical and methodical thinking.

Brain teasers
Brain teasers can be in the form of creative and tricky riddles as well as visual puzzles that compel one to think laterally.

Jigsaw puzzles
These visual-spatial puzzles can be tackled through a process of trial and error. They challenge one’s attention to detail and problem-solving skills and are available in a variety of sizes and themes.

Rubik’s cube
Puzzle enthusiasts have enjoyed solving a Rubik’s cube, one of the most popular puzzles, for ages. Suitable for both adults and kids, a Rubik’s cube can sharpen one’s memorization and logical skills.

Trivia
A popular socializing game, trivia involves asking questions to the players related to different topics including sports, entertainment, science, history, and more. It can be an excellent way to test and improve one’s knowledge base and learn new facts.

Escape rooms
Escape rooms involve unlocking clues to get out of the entrapment. They are an excellent way for a group to work together and solve a series of challenges and puzzles in a limited time, which is usually about an hour. Escape rooms provide an immersive experience and test people’s teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills. Additionally, they can have varying difficulty levels and distinct themes, from a haunted house theme to a space station.

Cryptograms
They are word puzzles that require a player to decode a message that consists of short, encrypted phrases or quotes. The encryption can be in the form of shifted letters or substitutions with numbers or symbols. Caesar shift cipher is a popular type of cryptogram. These puzzles improve one’s code-breaking skills and ability to recognize patterns.

Best puzzles for kids
Puzzles can also engage kids, beat their boredom, and build their cognitive skills from a young age. Apart from the ones mentioned above, these are a few more types commonly designed for kids.

Matching games
This simple puzzle that involves matching different colors, animals, or shapes can help kids to recognize patterns and identify similarities. These can also work their memory and improve their attention to details.

Spot the differences
Such puzzles challenge a child’s observation skills. They involve finding the differences between two seemingly identical pictures.

Popular interview puzzles
Interviewers, at times, can pose questions in the form of puzzles or quizzes to assess a candidate’s problem-solving skills, presence of mind, and ability to work under pressure and think logically. These qualities are especially important for leadership roles, and can provide value to the organization. Here are some common examples of interview puzzles:

Crossing the bridge
A popular puzzle asked in various top companies, Crossing the Bridge is a puzzle that requires creative thinking and strategizing. The solver has to help a group of people cross a bridge in a limited amount of time and in minimal attempts.

The twelve-coin problem
This game involves giving a dozen coins to a candidate and asking them to identify the counterfeit or fake coin using a balance beam scale. The puzzle requires the solver to test a variety of combinations of the coins and use the elimination method to narrow down the options. The twelve-coin problem tests the logical and systematic thinking of the solver.

Einstein’s riddle
Also known as the zebra puzzle, this logic-based puzzle is believed to be created by the young Albert Einstein. It’s a relatively complex puzzle that includes a set of clues about five different people, their houses, their pets, their beverages, and their nationalities. The goal is to use these clues to determine who owns what. Employers often use this puzzle as an interview question since it requires the candidate to approach problems from a different perspective.

Tips for solving puzzles
Puzzles can be solved effectively through multiple approaches. For longer, complex puzzles, one can start with collecting and analyzing the given information, then working on one section at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Many puzzles have patterns, so looking for the similarities can help identify the answer. Lastly, remember that each type of puzzle requires a different set of skills, so it’s best to engage in different challenging puzzles daily to boost one’s brainpower.