There was a time when admitting to playing chess on the tube or solving sudokus in the waiting room felt like an awkward confession. Today, it’s almost a statement of intent. With the rise of online chess platforms, the craze for apps that promise to get the brain in shape, and a generation that boasts about logic challenges on social media, strategy games have transformed from a discreet pastime into a mass phenomenon. It’s worth asking what here is a passing trend and what has a solid foundation.
The brain turned into a gym
The turning point has a date and even a television series. The release of *The Queen's Gambit* at the end of 2020 skyrocketed downloads of major chess platforms and filled the homes of half the world with chessboards. What seemed like a temporary spike has consolidated: the main gaming portals count their daily games in the millions, rapid tournaments are followed live as if they were sports, and chess clubs and park tables in Madrid are once again bustling.
Chess doesn’t travel alone. Sudoku never left, word puzzles are shared every morning in messaging groups, and a whole sector of apps sells daily routines for calculation, memory, and attention with the promise of keeping the mind alert. The common denominator is simple: thinking has become a form of leisure that can also be flaunted.
From the board to the cards: when thinking is half the game
Not all strategy games are alike. At one end is chess, where chance does not intervene and the one who calculates better wins. At the other end are games that mix skill and luck, a realm where the player's decision weighs in but never decides everything. Poker is the classic example of that boundary, and cards have offered a perfect testing ground for probability for centuries.
Of all of them, one has earned the label of the most analysed card game by mathematicians: blackjack. Since its optimal strategy was formalised in the 1960s, it has served as an academic example to explain how to make decisions with partial information, that constant dilemma between hitting or standing. Those curious about its current version will find in a comparison of online blackjack rooms which licensed operators in Spain offer tables with real dealers and under what conditions, useful information to separate regulated offers from unregulated ones. That said, we’re talking about a pastime for adults, and playing with a cool head starts with deciding in advance how much one is willing to spend.
Does training the mind really help?
This is where science calls for calm. The idea that a few minutes a day on an app turns anyone into a genius clashes with the evidence: the most serious studies suggest that one improves primarily in the specific task being practised, and that transfer to other abilities is modest. Solving a thousand sudokus makes one good at solving sudokus, not necessarily a better driver or quicker with bills.
In fact, years ago, a large group of scientists signed a statement warning that the commercial promises of the "brain training" industry were far ahead of the evidence. The warning hasn’t stopped the sector, which continues to grow, but it’s worth keeping in mind before paying for an annual subscription expecting miracles.
That said, not everything is skepticism. Keeping the mind active with challenges that require concentration is associated with better cognitive reserve with age, and there’s one benefit that no study disputes: enjoyment. A game that captivates with its just-right difficulty is a reason to sit down, think, and disconnect from the noise, and that alone justifies the time spent.
Training that fits in your pocket
The other major reason for the rise is that all this now lives on the phone. The chess game, the logic challenge, and the card table have moved to the same screen where mobile games have already surpassed consoles in time and revenue. The barrier to entry has disappeared: there’s no need to buy a board or find an opponent, just open an app while waiting in the supermarket queue.
This convenience explains a good part of the phenomenon, but also its less pleasant side, which is turning mental rest into just another notification. The recommendation from enthusiasts is the same as always: choose a couple of games that you really enjoy and let the rest sleep in the folder.
A pleasure that never goes out of style
The word "training" may end up sounding like a marketing label in a few years, but the love for games that require thinking is much older than any app. The mediums change, from wooden boards to touch screens, and trends shift, from newspaper sudokus to the latest viral challenge, but the pleasure of a well-calculated decision remains intact. As long as there’s someone debating the best move, that pastime will have a future.
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