NumberOne Review

NumberOne Review

Aug 23, 2012

Brain teasers keep the mind young. I think I read that somewhere but can’t remember where. By playing games to evoke thought, the hope is that mind will work like a muscle and get more awesome the more its used. And with apps like NumberOne, now we can work our brains from anywhere.

NumberOne is a brain teasing game to test reaction time. The game is deceptively simple, see the numbered tile at the bottom of the screen and tap the same numbered tile at the top of the screen. Pretty simple, right? Think again. (No pun intended.)

What makes NumberOne a challenge is the mind trickery they play. The number at the bottom might be the number 2 on a red tile. The brain is looks for the color first so at the top, the red tile might be 10. To find the right number the eyes and brain need to look for a number 2. To add to the neural trickery, they toss in dual numbers. So when the red 2 is at the bottom of the screen, there may be a red 10 and a green 22. Both are meant to trick the way the brain processes what the eye sees.

For those people out there who feel like NumberOne is way too easy, there is a Hard level. Instead of small numbers there are triple digits, and not the easy numbers. 539 might pop up at the bottom and the top numbers may be something like 529 or 839 or 536. Number close enough to cause a second look and slow reaction time.

Remember, the whole point of the game is to have the fastest overall reaction time. When the Stroop effect is added to the equation, reaction time is slowed. Working out the brain using games like NumberOne will keep the mind muscles more youthful and sharp.