Games that teach strategy

Seven games to strengthen your mind and critical thinking skills

Introduction

We live in a world where it’s becoming increasingly important to be able to think critically. While there are many ways to develop these skills, one of the best is through playing games that teach strategy. Good strategy games can help strengthen your mind, sharpen your critical thinking skills, and hence improve your problem-solving abilities. Here are seven interesting and engaging games that you should definitely try out!

Chess – This classic game has been around since the 15th century, and for good reason; it requires skill, strategy, and forethought. By playing chess, you can learn how to read your opponent’s moves, understand the consequences of your own moves, plan ahead for future moves, and make quick decisions under pressure. It’s also a great way to practice patience as you wait for the perfect move.

Go – This ancient Chinese board game dating back over 2,500 years is often referred to as the “game of Japanese generals” because it was so popular with military commanders who used it as a way to sharpen their minds before battle. The object of the game is simple - capture more territory than your opponent by placing stones on the board - but mastering Go requires deep strategic thought and intense concentration.

Checkers – Though simpler than Chess or Go, Checkers still requires strategic thinking in order to win. You must think through each move carefully in order to anticipate what your opponent will do next. The key is not just making smart individual moves, but also forming a long-term plan that will secure victory in the endgame.

Risk – Risk is a classic strategy game where players attempt to conquer territories by rolling dice and deploying troops strategically across a map of Earth. It involves an element of luck, but ultimately, victory goes to those who can outwit their opponents through tactical maneuvers such as bluffing or sacrificing weaker pieces in order to protect stronger ones later on in the game.

Othello/Reversi – Othello (also known as Reversi) is a two-player abstract strategy game where players take turns placing pieces on an 8×8 grid with the goal of having more pieces of their color facing up at the end of the game than their opponent does. The key here lies in knowing when to sacrifice some pieces early on in order to gain control later on down the line - or at least prevent your opponent from doing so, instead.

Blokus – This abstract strategy board game has players taking turns placing pieces onto a 20x20 grid with different shapes like triangles or squares, all while trying not to block themselves off from other areas they want access to, or give their opponents opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have had if they had kept all their pieces together instead of spreading them out across different parts of the board. Blokus encourages players not only to think ahead, but also to look at strategies from different angles, which can help develop creative problem solving skills, too!

Settlers of Catan – In this resource management board game, players compete against each other by trading resources like sheep or wood in order to build settlements on an island made up of hexagonal tiles representing various terrains like deserts or forests, which produce different resources needed for building roads or cities, depending on what kind they're placed near when setting up at beginning of play. The key here lies both in understanding how best to manage resources available, as well as being able to anticipate what kinds of resources other players might need most throughout the course of game play which will give them better chances of succeeding and ultimately winning the match.

Conclusion

Strategy games are great because they require you to use critical thinking skills while also having fun at the same time! Whether you're looking for something fast-paced like Risk or something more mellow like Othello/Reversi, there's sure to be something suitable for everyone's tastes here that'll help sharpen your mind and hence help make you a better problem solver without realizing it even happening! So why not give one of these seven great games a try today and see just how much of a difference adding them into your routine can make? Good luck!