My 5 Favorite Challenging Online Games

I love playing games. Always have. I’m 36 now (don’t judge) but still play all the time, whether it is on PS4, mobile or online. It’s my way of escaping stress and worry but not all games are just for fun. Some can really help sharpen and challenge the mind. Ultimately they can be a positive use of time to strengthen some skills.

Recently, I came across this gaming website that has converted several classic offline games to online. After having spent some time exploring the options, here are my top 5 challenging online games.

Card Games – Solitaire

I am not much of a card game player. I just don’t get them.

But Solitaire is one that I have always enjoyed. Can’t say I am good at it because I’ve hardly ever won or completed a session. Still, when it comes to cards, it is one of the few fun and challenging online games.

If you’ve never played, the goal is simple – to stack the cards in a sequential order, which is K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A. But it is much harder than it sounds. Luckily the website has an entire guide that tells its history, foundations, and strategies to help people play better. That is a very nice addition as a lot of game sites don’t have that kind of info.

It has been a while though since I’ve dabbled in some solitaire though. I remember playing it during lunch at work or during breaks to sharpen my mind. Now that I am playing again, I started off badly but then quickly got a hang of it. Every new game, I was playing better. As you can see.

Too bad this website does not have card games like Uno or Cards Against Humanity. Now those are REALLY fun and exciting card games.

Crosswords

As a kid, I used to do a lot of crosswords when it came with the newspaper. Then I stopped when we stopped receiving it at home.

Now that I have come across Solitaire.org, I have access to daily crossword puzzles. It’s super fun to do it on this website because they make it easy to figure out the words. Just type the letters and it will turn green if it is correct. Incorrect letters appear red.

Sure, you can keep trying out all the letters before they turn green but that is not the right way to do it, is it now? There is a timer as well to keep yourself challenged and try to beat your records. As a blogger and writer, this is an especially useful game to learn new words and keep my mind sharp.

I am definitely going to spend at least 30 minutes daily doing Crosswords.

Hidden Object Games

Remember those days when you went to the movies and to kill time, you’d play those hidden object arcade games? At least my friend and I did. I’ve even downloaded some on my iPhone.

There are a variety of Hidden Object Games on this website. Each one is unique with sets of challenges and difficulty levels. China Temple and Hidden Princess seem to be the most popular but particularly tough ones.

The goal is the same though – find items hidden within the photo. Many objects are hard to see, so in many cases, you have to zoom in and really keep an eye out.

Sudoku

Another epic game that is good for the brain as it tests your focus, concentration, and a bit of mathematical skill. Sure it is not going to make you smarter or increase IQ levels but it doesn’t hurt either. It’s a good way to sharpen your brain when you wake up instead of playing some other mind-numbing games out there.

If you aren’t familiar with this game, The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 boxes.

You can enter multiple small numbers in a square as temporary holders until you are certain which of them is correct.

It’s actually super challenging and I’ve never completed a set. Sudoku is a bit time-consuming, at least for myself. I know people who can finish it quite fast. I’s a bit like the Rubix cube but with numbers and 2D.

Word Search

Much like crossword, word search is another game that really helps me with vocabulary. It is equally relaxing and challenging at the same time, even though it requires a significant level of concentration and memory retention.