A "Fun" Way to Exercise Your Brain

As you some of you might know, I am a stay-at-home mom. You'd think it's easy but it's really not. Besides doing the never-ending household chores, I also need to take care of my active little darling. At times, I feel so tired and  I can't really take a naps during the day because my daughter won't let me. Sometimes I imagine being alone somewhere, to have that me-time and relax, I thought it was selfish though and I know for sure that I won't enjoy moments like that without my family. So, I found a different approach to amuse myself, and that is by playing games! Oh yes, I love games. I even used to play online ones, then there came app games, but what I love the most are games which exercise the mind. Perfect example is the shell game. This is a one-player game designed as a fun way to exercise the brain.

The game includes 6 sea shells, 6 hermit crabs, 3 ocean stones and a booklet of 60 challenges that ranges from novice to expect! The objective of the game is to get your hermit crabs from the start position to the end position by using memory and logic.

How To Play:
1) Select a challenge. I suggest you do the beginner ones if it's your first time. I had a hard time winning that first challenge, it actually took me 3 times. LOL!
2) Setup the crabs and stones on the challenge card to match the start position. Place a stone on any gray position that doesn't have a letter. In my case, I prefer to line up my stones in the start figure then I...
3) Cover each crab and stone with a sea shell. Then I drag it towards the middle which is the four (4) gray circles.

4) Swap the shells (two at a time) from position along the printed arcs to get the crabs to the end position. The end position is the lower portion where, in this case, is the 3 gray and 1 red circles.

5) Continue swapping until you believe the Crabs are in the correct order.
6) When you think you've got it, lift up the shells. If the crabs match the end position - You WIN! Again, I prefer dragging the shells down to the end position, I find it more exciting to see if the color matches or not.

I didn't show the end-result because I didn't win this game. LOL!

There are also rules to follow when playing the shell game. Make sure you don't cheat, or else, the purpose of this game will not be valid or let me say that in a more conscientious way - Your brain won't be exercised if you cheat! LOL!
1) No arc between shells. You can only swap shells along the printed arcs.
2) Don't lift the shells to peak underneath unless you think you've solved the challenge!

For young kids and beginners though, one peek per challenge is allowed. *Wink*

When you're playing, do not give up, if you were not able to solve the puzzle the first time, just reset and give it another try. If you're stuck or feeling crabby, you can check the Solutions page starting on page 4 of the booklet.

By the way, I quoted "Fun" in the title because when I'm not able to do the challenge right, I laugh at myself for being so... nevermind. LOL!

I think by the time I reach the expert challenges, I won't feel relaxed anymore! It just gets harder and harder every time! LOL! I need to play with this often so my mind will get used to this jumbling memory game by ThinkFun! My husband will surely like this because he is very competitive and he doesn't easily give up. Ha! I'll have him try this shell game soon!

How about you, do you have any favorite games and what do you like about it?

DISCLOSURE

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. This post may contain affiliate links.