®
TM
N5454
For 1 player / Ages 8 and up
INSTRUCTION MANUAL
P/N 823B6700 Rev.A
Dear Brain Gamers,
I am delighted that you are one of the millions of people who want to keep their minds sharp and have fun doing it. After two decades studying how we can improve memory and prevent Alzheimer’s disease, I have found there is a lot we can do. Genetics accounts for only about a third of what determines our health as we age – that means that simple, everyday lifestyle choices have a major im- pact on our memory and brain fitness. My books, The Memory Bible, The Memory Prescription, and The Longevity Bible, detail my strategies – physical and mental exercise, stress reduction techniques, the Healthy Brain Diet, and more – to boost your brain power and live longer, better. However, you are well on your way to boosting your brain power by playing Brain Games 2.
Brain Games 2 will teach you my basic memory technique – Look, Snap, Connect – and help you perfect these strategies. Besides being fun to play, Brain Games 2 will help your memory abilities improve almost immediately. You will also “cross- train” your brain with left-brain (verbal memory and logical skills – e.g., writing letters) and right-brain (visual memory and mental skills – e.g., reading maps) games. Brain Games 2 lets you monitor your progress, while setting and increasing a pace that works for your memory ability as you train your brain and gauge your improvement.
You can use Look, Snap, Connect for everyday memory tasks (lists, errands, names and faces) and build on this basic technique to become a memory champion. First master the basic skill:
•Look – learn to focus your attention on the new information you wish to remember. Slow down, take a deep breath, and ignore distractions.
•Snap – create a mental snapshot or visual image in your mind’s eye of what you want to remember. Make it personal and give it detail to help fix it into your memory.
•Connect – link up your mental snapshots in you mind’s eye. This association step helps put the new memories into context and helps you retrieve them later when you need them.
To remember a list of errands, create a story using Look, Snap, Connect: You need to stop at the store to get some aspirin and a hair brush before you meet your sister. In your mind’s eye, you see your sister taking some aspirin and then brushing her hair.
For learning and recalling names and faces, think up a Name Snap and a Face Snap – then Connect these mental pictures or Snaps together. Thinking of a visual image or Snap for a name can be easy: See a house for Mr. House, a gold coin for Ms.
Gold, or a carnival worker for Mrs. Carney. For more complex names, combine visual words that sound like the name – see Mr. Domachow eating chicken chow mein under a dome. For a face snap, look for a distinguishing feature and then
connect it to the name snap. If Mrs. Washing- ton has prominent lips, see her kissing George Washington on the lips. At first it may seem a bit wacky; however, you’ll not only have fun but you’ll improve your everyday memory skills. Remem- bering names and faces is the most common memory complaint.
Our research group at UCLA has studied the ef- fectiveness of Look, Snap, Connect, along with other lifestyle strategies that improve memory and brain health. We found that after only two weeks, these techniques have a significant effect on memory performance scores and dramatically increase brain efficiency. The more you play Brain Games 2, the better you’ll get at it and the more brain power you’ll have.
To find out more about the creation of Brain Games, visit www.drgarysmall.com and www.brainstorminginc.com.
Have fun,
Dr. Gary Small
Ready to Cross-Train Your Brain!
Brain Games are mind stimulating activities for your brain. It’s time to challenge yourself! Whether you choose to enter the Training session or jump right into the Testing mode, Brain Games 2 will be sure to challenge your mind in several new and different ways.
MENU
ON
ON – Press the ON button to power on the game. Use the stylus to tap the SCROLL arrows at the top and bottom of the touchscreen to toggle through the different game modes. Once your mode is highlighted, tap it using the stylus to select.
NEW – Press this on the touchscreen to bring up End Round or New Game.
END ROUND – This allows you to end the current game and calculates the score up to that point. This may be most useful in the Word Hunt game when you can not think of any more words, but there is still time remain- ing. Or Recall when you have already memo- rized words and there is still time remaining.
NEW GAME – This allows you to cancel the current game and return to the Main Menu. If selected during Testing mode, it will cancel your score for that session.
ENTER – Press this to confirm your selection.
MENU – This will bring you back to the Menu when you are selecting your options. If you have already started a game, you will need to Select NEW to quit and return to the Main Menu.
TIPS – Press this to see quick suggestions on things you can do everyday to help improve your memory and general wellbeing.
TIMER – This is a countdown timer that is used in some of the exercises.
MAIN MENU
TESTING – Select TESTING from the Main Menu to start your daily exercise program. Choose the skill level you wish to play at, and that’s it! Brain Games will now run you through the 5 different
exercises (described below) of your routine. This is the mode that you will be tested in and that will record your score. You can check this in the SCORE mode (see below). Remember to use the Look, Snap, Connect technique!
TRAINING – This is where you can train or practice the different brain games without affect- ing your score. Select TRAINING from the Main Menu. Tap the SCROLL arrows to toggle through the five different exercises (Sequence, Twist, Focus, Word Hunt, and Recall) and tap the one you wish to select. Next, choose the skill level you wish to play at. You are now ready to start your training session.
Word Hunt - In this brain game your objec- tive it to use the letters the game gives you to make words. You will be shown a word on screen and the total number of words that can be formed out of that word. Select letters from the core word with the stylus to spell new words and then select Enter. To deselect a letter, select that letter from your word and it will return to the original word. After completing the exercise, the game will display how many you got correct.
Sequence – In this brain game your objective is to select the random numbers in the grid in the proper sequence or order (lowest to high- est). If you select a number out of sequence an X will appear, and you will continue onto the next grid. If the sequence is correct, a musical prompt will sound. There will be several grids in each game. After completing the exercise, the game will display how many you got correct.
Twist – In this brain game the objective is to memorize the relationship of 2 images and then apply that relationship to a 3rd image in order to select the correct answer. You will be shown a puzzle on the left side of the touchscreen. You will also be shown the same puzzle rotated or flipped (horizontally or vertically) on the right side of the touch- screen. You will have 5 seconds to look at the puzzle on the left and see how it has been rotated or flipped in the puzzle on the right. After 5 seconds, you will be shown a new image and 4 possible answers. You have to recall the relationship of the puzzles from the opening screen and apply that relationship to the puzzle at the top. You have 15 seconds to solve the puzzle. After completing the exercise, the game will display how many you got correct.
