Reasoning - The Towers of Hanoi

How To Play

Before you try to figure out how the Egyptians built the pyramids, try out your problem-solving skills with this game. In this game, you must configure colored rings on a series of pegs in order to match a target. You can move the top-most ring on each peg to another peg, but you can only move one ring at a time and you can never put a larger ring on top of a smaller ring. From time to time, a given peg may not hold any rings: you may move any available ring you like on to an open space.

Cognitive Function Exercised

This game requires problem-solving skills that call on the brain's executive functions. You must define a strategy to reach a desired outcome, calculate the right moves to reach the solution in the shortest possible time, and remember the rules of the exercise. Training in this kind of thinking is helpful as a guide to use in other problem-solving situations. The area of the brain at play is the pre-frontal cortex, the anterior portion of the frontal lobe important for the "higher cognitive functions" and the determination of personality.

Benefits to Daily Life

You use your executive functions when managing your time, planning a presentation or a pairing menu, outlining a report or even taking care of several children simultaneously. 

In every day activities, we must often develop a strategy to solve a problem. Developing the strategy involves analysis of the goal to be reached, analysis of the action steps needed, as well as any constraints that may block attainment of the goal. Along the way, we must evaluate obstacles, choose among methods for evaluating various decision paths, and compare the effects and trade-offs of each possible move. Sometimes, solutions to problems are readily available but we have to figure out a winning strategy and specific action steps ourselves.