Searching for items in a hidden objects game could be best described like looking for a needle in a haystack. It could be a strange pair of spectacles tucked in the corners of a sofa, or a pair of shoes clandestinely placed among a mountain of clothes, or even a baseball bat obscurely fixed among a row of umbrellas.

Aside from the variety of items being searched for, most hidden objects game today are structured in a myriad of forms and structure. Some are set up with a detective story and objective in its core while some adopt a storyline that is based on grand larceny. No matter the differences of each game, there is just one thing that hidden objects game certainly provide, and it is a beautiful mix of entertainment and cognitive training.

When it comes to games they were usually categorized only as a medium of entertainment alone. Some critics even argue that games are a way of distraction and are definitely bad for children. But then, more and more studies are emerging to continuously disprove this claim and instead contend that age-old belief of games being a distraction by offering counter arguments that strengthen the idea that games actually provide more and more benefits to children—especially on the mental aspect.

In 2013, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore released a study wherein they tested five groups of non-gamer participants whom they instructed to play a certain game for one hour a day for over four weeks. The type of games that were included in the test were action games, spatial memory games, match-3 games, hidden objects games, and agent-based life simulation games too. Before and after playing these games, the participants were also asked to perform four behavioral tasks which attentional blink test, a spatial memory and visual search dual task, a visual filter memory task, and also a complex verbal span task.

For the participants who played hidden objects games, researchers discovered that the participants had an improved performance on visual search and spatial working memory tasks. Specifically, search time has tremendously improved for those participants who have played hidden objects game. Essentially, playing hidden objects game seem to provide a certain development in cognitive function as playing those games seem to provide a certain exercise of the muscles in participants’ brain.

To get started in the practice of training one’s cognitive skills through playing hidden objects games, players may begin trying out some of the famous Hidden Objects Game available today:

Rooms of Memory – it is a hidden object game that focuses on the medieval period where players may search for mysterious artifacts and relics through different adventures while also unlocking several different mysteries.

Incredible Heist – is a hidden object game wherein the player begins as a novice thief longing to join the ranks of the world – class group of robbers and smugglers as they solve puzzles and side quests all around the world.

Puppet Show – a series of hidden objects game wherein players work as a detective who travels to a small town to solve the strange disappearance of the town’s puppet master.