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 impact on our memory and brain
fitness. My books,
The Memory Bible
,
The Memory
Prescription
, and
The Longevity Bible
, detail my strate-
gies – 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
.
Brain Games
will teach you my basic memory tech-
nique –
Look
,
Snap
,
Connect
– and help you perfect
these strategies. Besides being fun to play, Brain
Games 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., writ-
ing letters) and right-brain (visual memory and mental
skills – e.g., reading maps) games. Brain Games 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 distinguish-
ing feature and then connect it to the name snap. If
Mrs. Washington 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. Remember-
ing names and faces is the most common memory
complaint.
Our research group at UCLA has studied the effective-
ness 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
, 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.brainstorm-
inginc.com
.
Have fun,
Dr. Gary Small
Ready to Cross-Train Your Brain!
Brain Games is a mind stimulating activity for your
brain. It’s time to test yourself! Whether you choose to
enter the training session or jump right into the BRAIN-
CHECK mode, Brain Games will be sure to challenge
your mind in several different ways.
BUTTONS
ON / START / ENTER –
Press the ON button to power
on the game. By using the SCROLL buttons on the far
right of the key pad, toggle through the different game
modes. Once your mode is highlighted, press ENTER
to select. Next, select the skill level at which you wish
to play at. Press ENTER to start the game and confirm
selection.
NEW GAME –
Press this button for two seconds to quit
your current game, and select your choice of modes.
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 memorised
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
Braincheck mode, it will cancel your score for that
session.
KEY PAD –
Press these buttons when playing each of
the exercises. The various keys will work in different
ways with each of the games. Most of the time, they
will represent the same layout as shown on screen or
correspond to the numbers at the bottom of the screen.
UNDO –
In some games you can use this button to
reverse or UNDO a selection, prior to pressing ENTER.
RESET –
When a blunt point is inserted, this button will
RESET the game to its original factory settings.
MAIN MENU
BRAINCHECK –
Select BRAINCHECK 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 affecting your score. Af-
ter pressing the START button, select TRAINING. Use
the SCROLL buttons to toggle through the five different
exercises (Sequence, Flashcard, Mind Game, Word
Hunt, and Recall) and press Enter to select. Next,
choose the skill level you wish to play at. You are now
ready to start your training session.
•
Sequence –
In this brain game your objective is to put
the random numbers in the grid into the proper se-
quence or order (lowest to highest). The numbers in
the top row of the grid correspond to the places of the
buttons in the top row of the key pad. The numbers in
the second row of the grid correspond to the places
of the buttons in the second row of the key pad. 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 check will appear. There will be several
grids in each game. After completing the exercise,
the game will display how many you got correct.
•
Flashcard –
In this brain game your objective is to
add, subtract, multiply or divide the numbers that the
exercise gives you. You must answer the equation
with the correct answer using the key pads that align
with the number bar at the bottom of the screen.
Each question is timed. The higher the skill level, the
harder the equation. After completing the exercise,
the game will display how many you got correct.
E
I
7065
For 1 player / Ages 8 and up
INSTRUCTION MANUAL
P/N 823A7110 Rev.A
ON / START
/ ENTER
NEW GAME
UNDO
Reset
KEY
PAD
