How to Open the Games on This Website

There are over 250 free online games on this site. These are web games. You play them in a browser on your computer.

The image at left shows what the Simon Memory Game looks like, for example.

The games work well in popular browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox Quantum, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. I recommend Chrome or Quantum for the best experience.

A full list of the games is here. You can also access them from the FREE BRAIN GAMES pull-down menu above or the Free Online Brain Games box at right.

No Login Needed. There is no need to sign up or register to play the games.

No Time Limits. You can play the games on my site anytime. There are no time limits. Play as much as you want.

Quite simply, just go to any game page and start playing!

Most of the games require the free Adobe Flash Player plug-in to run. See below for how to activate this plug-in for your browser.

The new HTML5 games do not require the Adobe Flash Player plug-in. They work automatically in modern browsers without it.

Can My Device Run the Games?

Types of Devices. Both the Flash-based games and the HTML5 games run well on desktop computers.

The Flash games do not run well on mobile devices. So I recommend you play them on desktop.

The HTML5 games run well on desktop and mobile tablets. A few even work on smart phones!

Recommended Browsers. The games work best in Google Chrome and Firefox Quantum. For the smoothest experience, I recommend you play them in either of those browsers, if possible.

If you don't have Google Chrome, you can download it here. You can get Firefox Quantum here. They are free.

To download and install either browser on your computer, follow the onscreen instructions on the Chrome or Quantum websites.

Note: These games do not work in Google Chrome's "Incognito" mode. So in Chrome use regular mode.

Other Browsers. You can try to run the games in Safari or Microsoft Edge or another browser, but you might encounter glitches. Certain features might not work in those other browsers. Or the games might not run at all.

A visitor who uses Safari told me, for example, that she can re-size the games larger but can't re-size them smaller. If you can live with that, then go ahead and use Safari.

You can avoid most such issues by opening my website in Chrome or Quantum.

Operating Systems. The games work on Microsoft Windows computers and Apple Mac OS computers. I have no idea whether they run on Linux machines.

You Need the Free Adobe Flash Player Plug-In to Run the Flash Games

Note: As mentioned above, the new HTML5 games do not require the Adobe Flash Player plug-in. The HTML5 games work automatically in modern browsers without it.

1) Adobe Flash Player Plug-In Required. Most of the games on my website were programmed in a web software called Adobe Flash.

For this reason, to be able to play the games you must have the Adobe Flash Player plug-in installed and turned on in your browser. The Flash Player plug-in is free.

If you are not sure whether your browser has the plug-in, or just want to double-check, visit the Flash Player Help page on Adobe's website here.

2) Allow My Site for Flash. You also must "whitelist" (allow) my website, Memory-Improvement-Tips.com, to run Adobe Flash content in your browser.

So if your browser asks you whether to "Allow Adobe Flash to Run" on my site, choose yes, Allow.

See my How to Allow Flash to Run page for an explanation of how to do this if you are unsure.

If you don't have the Adobe Flash Player plug-in installed and turned on, or you don't whitelist my site, you won't be able to see the games. Those are the two requirements.

Options for Opening the Games

Two Options. There are two ways to open the games on my site:

• Click the Small, Medium, or Large "Play" link, or

• Click the "PLAY GAME" button.

Both the links and the button are found underneath the picture of the game on that game's page. See the following example.

Look under the picture of Basic Solitaire on the Basic Solitaire game page (shown at left). You'll see Small, Medium, and Large "Play" links as well as a PLAY GAME button.

Clicking either the links or the button opens the Basic Solitaire game in a pop-up window. Which method you should use depends on your preference or sometimes on the browser you are using.

Use whichever method you like. The links and the button open the same game.

To find out which works best for you (links or button), simply click each one in turn and see what happens.

For instance, first try clicking the Medium "Play" link. If the game does not appear in the pop-up window after several seconds, it probably means you can't use the Play links with your current browser.

So in that case you should try the PLAY GAME button. Hopefully when you click the button you'll see the game.

Again, if you are using one of the non-recommended browsers and are having problems displaying the games, consider downloading and installing either Google Chrome or Firefox Quantum.

How to Re-Size, Maximize, Close, or Mute the Games

See the image at left for example.

In contrast, if you clicked one of the Play links to open the game pop-up window, you can re-size that window by dragging any edge or corner with your mouse.

Note: Some of the games cannot be re-sized. This is due to how the game was originally programmed and cannot be changed. The 2048 Puzzle Game cannot be re-sized, for instance.

Maximize the Game Size. Many of the games can be quickly enlarged full screen to fit the size of your monitor.

This works if you open the game pop-up window by clicking the Small, Medium, or Large "Play" link.

To maximize the game, simply click the Maximize (square) button in the upper right corner of the pop-up window.

For example, the Flash Curveball game can be made full screen this way.

Close the Game. To close any game, click the 'X' (Close) button in the upper right corner of the game window. See the screen image at right.

The 'X' (Close) button works for either the "Play" links window or the PLAY GAME button window.

Turn Off the Sound. Some of the games have a built-in feature you can use to turn off (mute) the game's music and/or sound effects.

Even games that don't have this feature can be muted. For more on muting the games, see this page.

Why Are There Different Ways to Open the Games?

Two Reasons. First, there is no single method for opening the games that works on all computer systems or browsers.

Second, browser companies continue to change and improve their code. Methods that opened the games in the past don't always work in newer versions of the same browser.

I want you to be able to play the games. That's why I've provided alternative ways to open the games.

Bottom Line. Use whichever method works for you, the Play links or PLAY GAME button. Consider using the recommended browsers Google Chrome or Firefox Quantum if possible.

Final Tip: Keep Your Browser Up-to-Date

An outdated browser may cause the games to behave strangely.

Keyboard keys might not work. Game pop-up windows might not load. I have seen it before.

So always keep your browser version up-to-date!

The games will run better, and you will have the latest bug-fixes and security patches for your browser.

To verify you have the latest version, simply go to your browser's About page. The About page should indicate whether you are running the current version of that browser.

In Google Chrome, click the three dots in the upper right corner of the browser, then select Help → About Google Chrome.

You should see a screen similar to following, with the message, "Google Chrome is up to date".

If you are not running the current version, click the three dots button again and look for the option Update Google Chrome. Click that option to update your Chrome browser to the latest version.

Google Chrome normally updates itself automatically by default, I believe.

You should see a screen similar to the following, with the message, "Firefox is up to date".

If you don't have the latest version of Quantum, look for an Update link on that window or in the three lines menu. Go ahead and update to the latest version.

To save yourself the hassle of periodically updating Quantum manually, set your Quantum browser to update itself automatically. Then when a new version comes out, you'll get that version right away.

To set this up, go to Quantum's Options screen (three lines → Options) and select Allow Firefox to: Automatically Install Updates.

Problems or Questions?

On the page above I've covered the main issues related to opening the games on my website. Hopefully this page answered any questions you may have had.

If after going through the advice above you still can't get the games to run in your browser, feel free to send a message to me through my Contact Me page. I may be able to help troubleshoot.

Published: 03/17/2019
Last Updated: 06/11/2020