Whether they will admit it or not, people of all ages love to learn and most people love to play games so something that can combine the two are often an excellent experience. With the rise of the Internet and the abundance of online “Flash games” it is easy to find games that will be interesting and useful to develop both logic and motor skills. As a bonus, most Flash games are free, and pretty much everyone likes free!

Sliding Block Games

There are a plethora of sliding block games out there. In these games, a picture is broken up into a series of blocks, with one blank space. The blocks are then jumbled up and the player must slide the blocks around to reconstruct the picture. In general, as you complete levels and move on to the next, the pictures get progressively harder and harder to reconstruct, forcing you to think and apply logic more and more.

Some of these types of Flash games come pre-loaded with pictures, sometimes simple and other times complex. Other versions of these games allow you to upload your own pictures.

There are many variants on this theme, such as this one, where the goal is to move a colored block out of the field.

Whack a Thing

Many of us have played whack-a-mole type games, where several things pop up and you are required to strike them before they pop back down again. Like the sliding puzzle games, there are many Flash games available out there with this basic idea in mind. These are a great test of both motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

However, one of the more interesting variants out there is Whack a Difference, which not only requires you to be quick, but you also have to apply logic as well to figure out which of the items that pops up are different. While it sounds simple, not all of the differences are as easy to spot quickly as an upside down letter, and it can be far more challenging than one would think at first.

Geography Games

One great way to test your logical skills (and your memories of grade school) is with a geography game. In these games, you are generally given a geographical location and must choose the appropriate place for it from a graphical map that is given to you.

A fairly typical example of these kinds of games can be located here. There aren’t too many variations of these sorts of games, though some add the complication of a timer countdown, forcing you to answer as quickly as possible.

Sudoku Games

Sudoku is a popular numbers game that experienced an explosion of popularity a few years back. While the popularity has cooled somewhat, the game is no less challenging. in Sudoku, the goal is to fill a grid with numbers, each block having a single number from 1 to 9 and to have none of the numbers repeat within the grid. The grid is often 9 squares by 9 squares and some of the squares are already filled in.

There are many, many Soduku Flash games on the Internet, but one of the more interesting is located here. There are multiple difficulty levels to choose from, and some of them are timed which forces you to think even quicker.

Brick Breaking

Chances are, most of you have played a brick breaking game at some point in your life, whether it be the original Breakout or some later iteration. The basic goal of these games is to move your a platform back and forth at the bottom of the screen and bounce a ball up into a series of bricks above. As the ball strikes the bricks, they disappear and when all of the bricks are gone, the level is complete.

Modern variants of the game have added to this simple formula. Some games add power ups that are released when random bricks are struck, such as making your platform smaller, larger or enabling it to grip the ball instead of just bouncing it off. Some other variants add different types of bricks that affect the game in several ways, such as needing to hit a brick more than once or reflecting the ball in a way the other bricks didn’t.

Some variants, however, opt to combine both of these features. Such is the case with Stonebreaker. Regardless of the variant you play, your motor skills and hand eye coordination will get a good workout.

Shooting Games

These games are an excellent test for your motor skills and can help you develop them quickly. Generally, these games involve your character shooting something, using the mouse to point your gun and fire. As things come at you or disappear from the screen quicker and quicker, you must become a progressively quicker and better shot.

One personal favorite type of shooter game is Dead Zed. This is an enjoyable game because not only do you have to fend off the advancing and ever-increasing hordes of the undead, but you must also apply a bit of logic. Between waves, you can assign various tasks to “survivors” found between waves. This can have a great impact on game play and adds a mental, strategic component to what might otherwise be a straightforward zombie based shooter Flash game.

Article by ArcadePreHacks, hacked online games portal.