Brainbean
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Daily App: Brainbean is great way to exercise both sides of your brain
If you are looking for some brain games for yourself or your children, consider Brainbean from Tanner Christensen. The colorful app offers a variety of creative and cognitive games that provide a stimulating round of mental calisthenics. What strikes you first about Brainbean is it colorful and descriptive UI. The app features eight mini-games along with a "Surprise Me" option arranged in a simple tile grid. The game icons are snazzy enough to attract the attention of a child, yet adult enough to allow grown-ups to play without feeling like they are playing a child's game. Each game tile is eye-catching and informative with a brief description and preview of the gameplay. These previews are helpful so you don't waste precious time trying to figure what you need to do when you fire up a new game for the first time. The mini-games can be broken down into three basic categories -- word games, logic games and creative games -- and include: Letter list (Free): You are given a letter. Spell as many words as you can that begin with that letter. Incomplete Figure (Free): You are given a doodle. Use the colored brushes to complete the drawing. Remote Association (Paid): You are given three words, type in another word that can be added to the end of all three. Pattern Tiles (Paid): Look at pattern and find the correct piece to complete it. Word Scramble (Free): Use the letters to spell as many four-letter words as possible. Mosaic Drawing (Paid): Tap the tiles to shrink their size and create an image. Broken Connections (Free): Move the tiles to connect all the wires together. Block Builder (Paid): Use the slate and existing blocks to build something creative. Each mini-game has a timer of 60 seconds of less, making it a challenge for you to think quickly and solve the problems. There is no distracting music, just a few sound effects in response to taps. The app also keeps track of your statistics so you work to improve your score in each game. With its diversity of games, Brainbean provides both cognitive and creative challenges that will appeal to children and adults alike. My only complaint was device related -- I played on the iPad Air and found it hard to type quickly on the big screen. I split the keyboard as shown above to ease the typing, but I believe the experience would have been better on an iPad mini. Brainbean is an iPad-only ap. It is available for free with in-app purchases to open the locked mini-games as noted above.
