When you think of a game of cards, you imagine a quiet night with a game of Solitaire or a fun night of poker with friends. However, there's more to card games than that – they can be used as a tool to build and repair cognitive ability and mental fitness.
In this article, we'll explore how card games can be used in this fashion and what the research shows about their effectiveness. Card games that can be used for mental health exercises range from classics that most know how to play to modern and complex games that are introduced every day.
The Cognitive Science Behind Card Games
Card games stimulate a great variety of mental faculties. Regardless of what game you play – it stimulates working memory, strategic planning, and decision-making abilities. Games that require quick reactions can also be used to improve processing speed. Memory games activate the hippocampus, the brain's center for long-term memory.
Research from the Journal of Aging and Health has shown that the elderly who keep playing cards demonstrate a slower rate of cognitive decline. Other research papers from Frontiers in Psychology show that playing cards can actually increase cognitive abilities.
Card games are also used for gamification, a process of making everyday tasks more engaging and easier to handle by turning them into a game. This process is also backed by neuroscience. Rules and rewards are commonly used to help those with ADHD manage their tasks.
Solitaire: The Accidental Brain Trainer
Solitaire is one of the most popular card games out there. It dates back to the 18th century, and it's easy enough to learn. The game can be used to improve pattern recognition, sequencing, and goal-oriented behavior. Each move requires the player to think ahead about the next one and to make decisions that will impact the future of the play.
The game can be played with real cards or digital ones, and it's one of the most widely available games out there. In the long run, playing Solitaire will improve attention span, delayed gratification, and spatial reasoning.
The biggest advantage of Solitaire is how accessible it is. It comes with Windows, there are countless free apps for it, and it can be played with any deck of ordinary playing cards. It doesn't require a lot of space when playing with physical cards.
Poker and Blackjack
Poker and blackjack are the two most common gambling card games. They can be played with physical cards or on crypto gambling sites. Both games have a positive impact on mental health if they are played responsibly. Players can engage with other players in real-time, or they can play against AI with similar effects.
Poker can help players control their emotions as they need to bluff the opponent. It also requires them to read social cues and try to guess their opponent's cards and moves, and boosts mental resilience since games can go on for hours.
Playing blackjack increases the ability to do mental math and focus on a subject with intent. It requires impulse control, and over time, players can improve that ability. Pattern recognition is also key for winning at blackjack, and it has countless uses outside of playing cards.
Modern Card-Based Brain Training Games
As the effect that card games have on mental health has become clear, digital mental health apps have started using card-based games to provide their services. Apps such as these provide science-based results for their users, but they aren't overwhelming or difficult to understand, as they are gamified.
For example, memory games such as the ones from Lumosity require the player to remember the exact spot that the cards with a certain sign occupy on the grid. The players, therefore, practice their memory, pattern recognition, and quick reaction time.
The game also offers personal progress tracking and adapts and changes to meet the needs of every player and their recovery speed individually. Apps often use AI to adapt the difficulty and the learning curve to individual players and their goals. Experts from Cryptomaniaks have written that this principle is already used when selecting opponents in online eSports events
Analogue Card Games and Cognitive Engagement
Analog card games, especially the ones that require a group of players to play together, can help a lot with cognitive engagement. Emotional intelligence and strategic thinking are key parts of those games, and they can be exercised by playing card games on a regular basis. This goes for simple games such as fish as much as it does for complicated ones like poker or bridge.
The social aspects of the games also play a big role in mental health recovery, and that's why they are often recommended to the elderly or those going through trauma. Intergenerational card games also bridge age gaps and bring players from different age groups together.
Design Your Own Card Game
Not all card games come from the store. In fact, new card games are invented all the time, and many of them find their audience. The process of getting from the idea of a novel card game to making it available for others to play can be complicated, but there are resources online to help you.
When creating a game, one can be as creative as one can, but there are a few features any game should have:
· A clear goal that focuses on a clear skill
· Introductory level and increasing difficulty
· Variety in gameplay that usually comes from a variety of card combinations
· Scores that can be tracked
Card games such as MindMaze, The Mind, Trial by Trolley, and Zener have all been recently invented by enthusiasts, and they find their way to a decent-sized audience because of how inventive they are.
The Future of Card Games in Cognitive Training
Card games have a long history, and they've always changed and adapted over time. They will continue to evolve and include the latest technology. Many intriguing new games that incorporate the latest tech are already in the works.
Augmented reality has already been used to play card games, and it made the cards appear to float in real-time in front of the players. Many have noticed that this way of playing cards also helps with spacial awareness alongside all the other benefits we mentioned.
Other innovations in the world of card games read more as a science fiction concept, but a few years ago, that could have been said to be for augmented reality as well. The developments are happening in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), where neural activity can be monitored to optimize game difficulty and focus areas. Such advances can easily be used in therapeutic card games.
To Sum Up
Card games, even the simplest one that anyone knows and can play, can have a variety of cognitive benefits. Playing cards can be therapeutic, as it can improve memory and problem-solving skills, as well as pattern recognition abilities. The games played against other players in real-time also have social benefits.
Creating card games of your own can also be a way to improve your mental health and abilities. Many of such games have already been developed, and they've found an audience of players. With the changing and improving tech, card games will adapt and implement the latest tech while retaining the benefits we mentioned.
