SuperMinds: A Psychometric Mind Twister

Description:

If you're ready to have your brain turned inside out, step into Compedia's SuperMinds: A Psychometric Mind Twister! Be prepared to be immersed in thought for hours that will seem like minutes with mind-boggling exercises and games . Before you begin solving these puzzles, though, be sure to take a tour through the Learning option which explains step-by-step how to perform the five different exercises in the Exercise section.

Exercise your brain with Odd-one-out, which displays five shapes, one of which is different/odd from the others. In the Shape Series Exercise you will need to find the next shape in the pattern and to solve the Dominoes Exercise you must analyze three dominoes to decipher the pattern. Players must guess how many cubes are in each structure in the 3D Cube Towers Exercise and figure out the number pattern in the Number Series Exercise, which is especially challenging with seven different types of series possibilities. After completing some exercises, progress can be tested by taking a 10 minute timed test that incorporates questions from each of the five exercises. At the end of the test review the following: Test Completion Time, Number of Questions, Number of Correct Answers, Number of Incorrect Answers, Number of Unanswered Questions, and Grade. The player will also be able to go through their incorrect answers with Gordi, who will point out the correct answer . The test is different every time.

Want to play? Select from five games to tease your brain 'till it hurts. Number Rodeo has three levels of difficulty. Players are given coins to bet and will strike it rich or go in the hole depending on how they spin the answer wheel; the player is given 30 seconds to find the correct answer. The Cannon Game requires the green balls to be moved to cannons under command of green soldiers on the right and orange balls to be moved to cannons under the red soldiers on the left. Each ball can move to an empty cannon next to it or jump over one ball that is not the same color. The balls can only move in one direction, so choose thoughtfully! In Go Fish the computer thinks of a four digit number. Players have nine tries to figure out what that number is and hit the bullseye. Mosaic asks that the stones be rearranged according to certain rules and the Head and Tail Puzzle asks the player to rearrange puzzle pieces so each shield contains three identical symbols by moving pieces side to side or turning them around.

Features:

• 5 Challenging exercises
• 5 Mind boggling games
• "Real time" tests.

Technical Aspects:

Report and Conclusions:

SuperMinds is a great choice for kids (or adults) who love to challenge their minds through problem solving. Math and logic skills are required to succeed in the Number Series, Dominoes, and Block Tower Exercises. If your child is not well grounded in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division I would strongly encourage you to sit down beside him/her and work with them until you feel they can go it alone. If your child is 8 to 10 you may want to review incorrect test answers with them. Gordi points out the correct answer but no explanation is given.

Positive reinforcement doesn't come in the Games until a win occurs; stroll by with a few words of encouragement every once in awhile. Don't be surprised if you want to play yourself after you spend time helping your child. My husband was getting ready for work when my son and I were exploring the program and it was all he could do to not take over the mouse. He kept wandering over with "suggestions" as to what we should do to win. Finally he said, "I don't have time for this, I've got to stop looking". Easy to get hooked on, don't start playing unless you have a few hours to spare.