Online Puzzle Games that Make You Think
Play free online games that require thought, logic-based puzzles that make you think outside the box, fun brain-teaser activities for elementary / middle school students and high school teenagers, as well as for adults & seniors to enjoy.
Play hard puzzles, interactive problem solving games, challenging thinking games that involve and help to promote and improve critical thinking, creative / analytical thinking skills. Find physics-based games for the school classroom as a fun science lesson reinforcement, and to play at home with your best friends and family members.
Play a challenging, match 3 jewel-swapping game with different missions! Jungle Temple Blast is an interactive, multi-level matching puzzle where you must complete specific matching tasks by swapping jewels around in a grid so that they line up in horizontal or vertical groups of three or more. Playable on mobile phone, tablet, notebook, laptop and desktop PC, you must hit specific targets depending on what your mission is in order to progress to the next level.
Skills required: As in many match 3 grid puzzle games inspired by the Candy Crush phenomenon, you must utilize fast reactions, hand-eye coordination, problem solving skills, shrewd observation, and dogged determination in order to succeed. Due to the different level types and fluctuating time limits, you need to adapt your strategy each time you take on the grid.
Play a challenging visual puzzle and color coordination game: Collect all the colors of the ‘prism’ by combining the same blocks together in this sliding tile-based puzzle game! Ancient 2048 is an addicting, online brain teaser game where you must merge matching tiles together to unlock new bigger numbers – with the ultimate goal of getting to 2048. Playable on most mobile phone, tablet, notebook, laptop and desktop browsers, you must methodically slide the tiles around the 4X4 grid, ‘doubling-up’ the numbers along the way.
Reasons to play this tricky problem-solving game: Fans of 2048 (the sliding-tile number game that has been played by millions of gamers since its launch in 2014) should enjoy this quirky twist on the familiar gameplay. Test and exercise your analytical thinking skills, focus, concentration, and problem busting determination.
A good game for fans of multi-level visual puzzles! Link Line Puzzle is a challenging, interactive brain exercise. This multi-level puzzle game is for older elementary school through high school age students (and grownups) where you must link all of the blocks using only one line.
Playable on Android mobile phone, tablet, notebook, laptop and PC. This engaging, problem-solving game and addicting brain teaser offers a whopping 800 levels to keep you occupied! Sharp concentration and observation skills are required, as well as good analytical and creative thinking acumen; The ability to see the ‘bigger picture’ is essential. The willingness and determination to use lots of ‘trial and error’ attempts to find a successful solution is key (You won't complete each level in one attempt, and must learn from unsuccessful efforts.) Enjoy!
XO Wars is a fun and fast online Tic-Tac-Toe game where you play against the computer in an ‘Easy’ or ‘Hard’ difficulty level. In this animated Flash puzzle game version of the classic ‘pen and paper’ doodling game also known as ‘Xs and Os’ or ‘Naughts and Crosses’, your aim is to place three blue ‘O’ marks in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row on the 3X3 space grid. Naturally, you must also block your opponent from making a ‘three-in-a-row’ combination with his red X marks.
Skills required include accurate mouse clicking, simple logic, and the determination to outwit your computer opponent. Patience and perseverance also play a part, as there are plenty of "Tie games" in Tic-Tac-Toe, and you often need to wait for your PC opponent to make a mistake in order to pounce for victory. Enjoy the fun action!
The Onomastica is a very interesting platform adventure running game with a cool, linguistics twist. Playing the role of an acrobatic running and jumping character, you must leap across platforms and ledges made up of different words and letters. These interchangeable block words and letter fragments can be pushed together and manipulated to form new words which alter the game environment in a really clever way. For example – you might have to push the letters E-R toward the end of L-A-D-D – and suddenly, the completed word transforms into a LADDER that you can climb to get to the next ledge!
Reasons to play this challenging thinking game: Fans of quirky, alternative, highly interactive and thought-provoking puzzle games and brain teasers are in for a treat! Exercise your logical and analytical thinking skills, problem solving stamina levels, and your vocabulary range as you attempt to create solutions with the available letters. Stimulate your observation and reaction skills too - Amid the fun word-play, you still have to run and jump tactfully and accurately.
Best strategy to win: You need to tap into your ability to ‘think outside of the box’, and rely on your puzzle-busting determination to go deep into this creative and difficult Flash-based game. Sharp keyboard skills are also important as you attempt to join separate words and letter groupings together! Enjoy the fun word-play action!
Educational note: The name of the game ‘Onomastica’, comes from the Greek term ‘onomastics’ which is a branch of linguistic study that focuses on names and people.
Fly Tangle 3 is a very-challenging, interactive visual puzzle game. In each tricky, timed level, you must untangle a web of buzzing flies that have got their flight lines all crisscrossed and overlapping each other! Utilizing good logic and analytical thinking skills, you must carefully maneuver the flies until their lines are all completely free from each other!
Reasons to play this hard, visual brain teaser game: This is a good fun problem-solving and visual skills-based game for children and adults alike. Exercise your analytical thinking skills, strategic planning and hand-eye coordination as you work hard to untangle the complex web of flies!
Strategy to win: High concentration levels, good strategy, problem-solving determination and tenacity are all key attributes for success here. Task completion speed is also very important; you must score at least some points to progress!
Solve platform puzzles by creating and controlling dummies to mimic your movements. Fancy Wizard is a clever problem-solving game and interactive platform adventure puzzle where you must use innovative strategy to guide a red-robed wizard through a series of 18 enclosed platform levels. Your wizard can perform magical feats – and his specialty is creating a team of duplicate ‘helper dummies’ (when necessary) that can perform certain key tasks such as flipping switches, distracting enemies, forming jumping pads, and more. Your job is to carefully utilize these dummies in order to ensure your wizard makes it safely through each level!
Reasons to play this quirky brain teaser: Exercise your analytical thinking and problem-solving skills as you figure out how to exploit the unique dummy-creating magic of your wizard. Think of the possibilities!
Strategy to win: Good team management and logical strategy is the key to guiding your wizard to the Exit Door in each level. Fast reactions and solid keyboard control skills also come into play. You must be patient, determined, and ready to engage in trial and error (and learn from your mistakes!). Use dummies to reach ledges that the wizard cannot, slow down other characters by forming blockades, and get them to stand guard on special switches and door-opening buttons.
Christmas Bugs is a very tricky, visual brain teaser puzzle game that could well remind you of trying to untangle the Christmas tree lights from last year! In each challenging and timed level (of 24 increasingly-difficult levels), you must untangle a web of buzzing bugs (large-eyed flies) that have gotten their lines overlapped and crisscrossed! Can you carefully maneuver the flies until all of their lines are free from crossing over each other?
Reasons to play this hard, visual problem-solving game: As well as being a good fun, family-friendly activity online at home over the holidays, this game is also a hard, interactive skill-based game for younger children, teens and grownups to play year-round.
Test your patience and exercise your focus & concentration levels, analytical thinking skills, strategy planning ability, hand-eye coordination, and problem-solving determination and persistence as you attempt to untangle the complex web of floating bugs! Brain and reaction speed are also important here as you must score at least some points to progress to a higher level. Happy untangling!
Trio Tic Tac Toe is a fun, tough and addicting X and O game to play against the computer in 8 different difficulty levels, or with a friend in 2 Player mode. Here, each player is limited to just three pieces, and must continue to move these pieces around the grid while trying to score three in a row or thwart their opponent. Tic Tac Toe online has never been so tricky!
Reasons to play this innovative version of Tic Tac Toe: With a maximum of 6 filled spaces on the grid at any one time, this cool online version demands a lot more interesting tactical play compared to the classic Tic Tac Toe format. Young and older players alike, and experienced strategy puzzle aficionados should enjoy the challenging action here. Can you become an expert Tic Tac Toe player?
Strategy to win: Good analytical thinking skills are very important here, especially if taking on one of the more difficult computer levels. This is a much more tactical thinking-based version of Tic Tac Toe than versions you may have played before. Instead of looking to score three in a row with the knowledge that you may have an unlimited number of Xs or Os to use, here you must be more forward-thinking and cautious with your moves. You have to be more defensive-minded also - not to open up an extra space for your opponent (computer or friend) to exploit if you are removing one of your earlier moves.
Alien Bottle Buccaneer 2 is a very tricky aiming and accuracy-based shooting game and fun puzzler for kids and teens where you play the role of a bottle-smashing alien pirate. In a series of 20 highly-challenging levels, you must accurately shoot bouncy rubber balls in order to blast all of the green bottles in the confined, ledge filled environment. While the premise of the game (break all bottles before your ammo runs out) is simple, actually completing the tasks can prove extremely difficult as there are numerous obstacles and angle-based problems to solve!
Reasons to play this addicting, shooting skill challenge: This funny game requires much more analytical thinking and strategy than the average shooting game, and presents a physics-based problem solving challenge as you have to figure out the optimum angle and trajectory to smash each bottle.
Strategy to win: Trial and error forms a big part of your strategy here. While you have a decent ammunition stock of 25 bouncy rubber balls to smash maybe 5 or 6 bottles with, it's highly unlikely that you'll break them all in one shot. This means that you’ll need to perform ‘test shots’ where you see how your balls (bullets) react when fired off at certain angles. Accurate mouse control and a steady hand are vitally important here. Some levels feature very awkwardly positioned bottles that can only be reached by firing from three or four different angles.
A cool and challenging spot-the-differences puzzle game for eagle-eyed sleuths! Tales of Pylea: Crux is a very tricky, online visual puzzle where you must find and eliminate 4 differences between two seemingly identical side-by-side picture images in each level. Based on the fantasy webcomic ‘Tales of Pylea’, this is certainly no walk in the park – the 4 differences between the comic strip images in each level are absolutely minute.
Reasons to play this fun, interactive difference-finding game: Stimulate and exercise your observation, focus, concentration, patience and perseverance skills as you work hard to pick out the often innocuous differences between the two pictures. Can you find the differences quicker than your friends or family members can? Perhaps create a fun contest!
Strategy to win: Simply, focus and find! Of course, keen eyesight is required to scrutinize every inch of each image. As you are looking at an online comic strip, there may be numerous different panels in each level – so you're concentration levels need to be optimal. Use thought-out processes such as pinpointing smaller areas of each comic strip – and focus on that area for a little while (Don't worry; there's no time limit here).
Top of the morning, afternoon or evening to you! Test your eyesight and fast reactions against the clock in a challenging, leprechaun-themed, spot-a-difference puzzle game! Ultimate Leprechauns is a tricky, interactive visual puzzle game where you must find and eliminate 5 differences between two seemingly-identical picture images depicting a group of crazy leprechauns in a series of wacky adventures. The catch is that you only have 90 seconds to spot those differences in your first attempt!
Reasons to play this fun, online optical challenge: Exercise your vision and perception skills as you scrutinize every inch of the pictures in search of the miniscule differences while under pressure. Seasoned fans of spot-a-difference activities should enjoy the high difficulty level due to the short, timed levels.
Strategy to win: Fast reactions and prompt mouse-clicking skills are vitally important. You only have a mere 90 seconds to find all 5 differences, so there's no time to hang around searching for lucky charms! A good strategy is to concentrate on smaller areas of each picture, and try to determine if there's a difference to be found in that area.
Wooden Path 2 is a tricky, interactive, isometric visual-style construction puzzle and bridge building game with 3 difficulty levels where you must carefully and strategically slide wooden bridge pieces around the game grid so that they form a crossable bridge across a river. As Chief Structural Engineer, you must oversee the visual problem solving and bridge building work, and are rewarded with higher scores for completing levels in fast times. With a massive 54 levels to complete, you must contend with immovable wooden bridge pieces, rocks that block your path, special colored tiles & blocks that must be removed, and more.
Reasons to play this cool, construction-based puzzler: With 3 difficulty levels, this game is suitable for elementary school age kids, middle school and high school students as well as visual-puzzle-loving adults. Wooden Path 2 really is a fun game and block-shifting, brain-teaser challenge for players who enjoy thought-provoking puzzle game that require smart analytical thinking and logic-based problem solving know-how. Exercise your creative engineering skills and spatial visualization ability as you complete simple to more advanced building tasks throughout the three different ‘worlds’.
Best strategy to win: As with any construction-based activity in real life, you must be careful and deliberate in your actions. Patient observation and planning combined with determination and persistence are very important attributes required here; there is a solution to each construction puzzle, you just have to stay in the game to figure it out using well thought out step-by-step procedures!
Utilize strong 2-player teamwork and problem-solving skills to explore and escape a spooky, ancient maze structure! Pyramid Maze is a challenging, teamwork-oriented platform puzzle and maze-based adventure where you must guide a brave father and daughter duo through a series of tricky ledge and obstacle-filled levels. Set in the fire-lit depths of an ancient Egyptian-style pyramid, you must collect precious gems, flip switches, open doors, blow up obstacles, and more. While it is possible to ‘go it alone’ and control both characters, you have a much better chance of progress if you enlist the help of a friend or family member to form a formidable 2-player team!
Reasons to play this fun, escape-based adventure game: If you enjoy fun teamwork activities, puzzle platformers, and interesting maze action games for two players, then this game should offer you a good challenge.
Strategy to win: It is impossible for either character to complete the level on his or her own, meaning that a combination of both character's unique abilities is the only path to progress. Whether you are playing solo or with a friend, nimble keyboard skills are absolutely essential here. Some levels require logical, creative and analytical thinking skills as you try to figure out how to remove obstacles and reach higher ledges etc. Sharp observation skills are also handy – You need to be on the lookout for advantageous passages and vital collectible items such as the priceless diamond-shaped gems!
Play a retro-style, online Tic tac toe game for 1 and 2 players! Tic Tac Toe Multiplayer is a simple, colorful version of the classic pen and paper game - Xs and Os, or Naughts and Crosses. Play against the computer or with a friend or family member, and be the first to get three Xs or Os in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row on a small 3X3 space grid.
Reasons to play this straight-forward, online puzzle game: Exercise your analytical thinking, strategy and decision making skills as you work to figure out the best way to bamboozle your opponent and get the coveted 3-in-a-row of your chosen symbol. Older players and adults can re-live their classroom days while younger players can experience the fun challenge of a quick-fire, virtual tic tac toe puzzle online.
Strategy to win: As the game grid is very small, ties are a commonplace occurrence in Tic Tac Toe. This means that concentration levels must be high at all times. You must try to come up with different strategies and approaches which might trick your opponent, and force a mistake. Accurate mouse clicking is also important!
Play a fun interactive, analytical thinking puzzle game: Transform red-colored balls to orange with sharp aiming skill, accurate collisions and skillfully-managed ricochets! Clash It is a multi-level, physics-based puzzle and billiard-style, arcade skill game for little kids through high school teens and adults where you must launch an orange ball around a confined game screen, and try to make sure it comes into contact with (and transfers its color to) the awkwardly-positioned red balls. Your goal is to transform all red balls to orange within a set number of launching ‘shots’.
Reasons to play this challenging, collision-based mouse control game: Test and exercise your analytical thinking skills, visual awareness, prediction skills, angle judgement and accuracy as you attempt to carefully and skillfully guide the orange ball toward successful collisions with the target red balls. Unleash the power of your problem-solving mind as you deal with increasingly-difficult levels, tricky target ball placement, and wacky obstacles.
Strategy to win: Trial and error is really important here! You must learn from your mistakes and try to alter your shot power and angle accordingly. Many of the prediction, precision and deftness skills required for table games such as pool and snooker come into play. You must play ‘carom’ and ‘billiard’ type shots where you ricochet the orange ball off of one or more target balls.
Use duplicate characters and expert platform jumping skills to help a little ball to escape 15 increasingly-difficult ledge-filled levels! Little Thing is a very challenging, platform-based skill game and problem-solving puzzler where you must help a lonely green ball to reach an Escape Portal in each tricky level. As well as avoiding dangerous pits and thorny spikes, you must occasionally ‘duplicate’ this little green ball, and use the resulting duplicates to your advantage for reaching higher ledges and other tasks.
Background info: ‘Little Thing’ is a rather lonely green ball character who has been stuck alone inside these difficult, confined levels. He needs your help to escape! Luckily, he has a special power that allows him to create clones of himself that can be used as stepping stones, blockages, etc.
Reasons to play this cool & ambient arcade game: If you like hard tasks, then this could definitely be described as a thinking person's game. Exercise and test your analytical thinking and strategy skills as you carefully and methodically find the solution that allows the ‘Little Thing’ (green ball) to escape each level.
Strategy to win: Good hand-eye coordination, sharp keyboard control and reaction speed are essential skills required to succeed here. On the mental side, you must have a very high concentration level at all times to work out when best to use the duplicate copies of your central character. Trial and error / learning from your mistakes is also really important. Call on your reserves of patience, stamina and determination to get the job done!
Eliminate green balls from a confined, pinball-style game screen with accurate, ricocheting cannonball shots! Hardball Frenzy is a challenging and addicting aiming and accuracy-based ball shooting game and physics-based puzzle where you must clear the play area of green balls within a set number of shots. Utilizing accurate aiming and mouse control, the rebounding power of your silver cannonballs, and the contours of each level, you must hit and eliminate the green balls before your shot counter reaches zero. Remember that a ricochet game involves an element of luck also!
Reasons to play this online ball shooting game: This tricky puzzler is a quirky mix of pinball, billiard-style action, and also archery; games where accuracy is essential! Test and exercise your judgement of angles, visual prediction skills and problem-solving determination as you attempt to take out more than one green ball with each shot.
Strategy to win: Utilize good hand-eye coordination, smart judgement and your prediction skills as you try to imagine where the ball might ricochet to after your initial shot. Trial and error also comes into play as you make small but effective alterations in your aiming angles.
How good are your ball control skills? Use deft touches, reaction skills and expert mouse control to guide a bouncing, ricocheting ball into a bucket in dozens of copybook-style, obstacle-filled levels. The Circular Blot is a fun and challenging, interactive, multi-level, mouse-based skill game and physics-based strategy puzzler. Using a tethered ‘blot’ attached to your mouse cursor, you must carefully and creatively deflect a falling paper ball into an open bucket.
Reasons to play this tricky online arcade game: This is a hard problem-solving brain teaser puzzle where you must figure out the best way to use gravity to your advantage. Showcase your skillful hand-eye coordination, fast reactions and reflexes in a high-intensity, motor skills testing environment. While the concept and copybook-style graphics may be simple, the execution and difficulty level of each level is very high!
Strategy to win: Each level has numerous solutions, and you must try to use the most efficient solution to get the ball into the bucket. Trial and error (learning from your mistakes) and great determination are also very important – Surely only a ball control wizard could complete each level on the first attempt!
Exorbis is a really challenging, sliding tile-based, visual puzzle game and multi-level brainteaser for older kids, teens and adults where you must slide colored balls onto matching ‘nodes’ in each increasingly-difficult level. Figure out a solution that ensures all colored balls are shifted onto the correct nodes in as few moves as possible.
Reasons to play this tough problem-solving game: Test and exercise your concentration level, analytical thinking skills, creative engineering know-how, prediction skills, determination and problem solving stamina as you attempt to ‘map out’ a process that maneuvers the balls into the correct positions. Brain teaser buffs and fans of tricky movement-based puzzles are in for a treat… But beware, the difficulty level is quite high as you progress!
Strategy to win: In most levels, there is only one viable solution to the puzzle. This means that trial and error is very important here as you exhaust all possibilities you can think of for success. Happy problem solving!
Guide a brave astronaut duo through a series of challenging, survival-based platform levels: Interplanetary 2 is a very hard, multi-level platform adventure and brain teaser puzzle game for 1 and 2 players where you can control both astronauts (little and big) simultaneously, or enlist the help of a best friend, classmate or family member! The space-loving pair of buddies are faced with numerous obstacles and deterrents - not least a series of intermittent meteor showers that eliminate all non-sheltered characters! You must use your considerable brain power to help the astronauts to shelter from those meteor showers, collect gems, avoid aliens, replenish oxygen levels, rescue a third astronaut, and eventually escape in your spaceship in this high-intensity arcade challenge!
Reasons to play this in-depth, task-based adventure game: If you enjoy a good brain teaser test with platform jumping elements, you're on the right planet here! Test and exercise your problem-solving and analytical thinking skills as you try to complete the many tasks required to complete each level.
Strategy to win: Smart use of teamwork is vital to your success and progress. The little and large duo must work well in tandem, utilizing their individual attributes (For example, ‘little’ can jump high, while ‘big’ is able to quench fires). Good hand-eye coordination, nimble keyboard skills, fast reactions, and determination are all vitally important.
Rolling Football is a very challenging, soccer-themed, physics-based puzzle and ‘environment altering’ brain-teaser game where you must add / move blocks and other items in order to ensure a soccer ball rolls into the open goal. Methodically and tactfully add the building block objects to the level, and then release the ball, and wait for gravity to complete the job! Scoring a goal has never been so intricate and complex!
Reasons to play this hard, interactive, science-based puzzle: Sternly test and exercise your analytical thinking and prediction skills, creative engineering, problem-solving determination, timing and stamina to figure out a solution in each of the 18 increasingly-difficult levels. This challenging soccer ball-based, environment altering game could be used as a fun gravity / momentum science lesson reinforcement aid in the school classroom or at home.
Strategy to win: Good old trial and error combined with your determination plays a big part in your success here. You must try to learn from your mistakes, and make alterations in your next attempt. Visualize (predict) what you think will happen, use good judgement in placing the blocks, and try to use gravity and the building block tools in each level. Remember that it does not matter how the ball gets in the goal but that timing is everything!
Mr Mothball is a straight-forward yet cool, fun and challenging platform-based adventure and problem-solving puzzle where you must carefully and safely guide a cute, acrobatic mothball to an ‘Exit Portal’ in 21 escape-based levels. Dodge and weave around red spiky enemies, leap from ledge-to-ledge, collect Dust Pellets, and more on this quirky adventure! Use reaction skills, keyboard control, analytical thinking skills and hand-eye coordination to guide the little guy to the exit.
Reasons to play this cool brain teaser adventure game: Test and exercise your problem-solving / solution-finding skills, motor skills, reflexes, and more as you try to figure out the best way to guide the little mothball to the exit portal while avoiding enemies.
Strategy to win: Remember the core goal – To get Mr Mothball safely to the exit. Although it might be tempting to collect all of the Dust Pellets and try spectacular jumping moves, this is no use if it puts the little mothball in danger! Perhaps first see if you can complete all 21 levels, and then go back and repeat the feat while collecting all Pellets and scoring as high as possible.