Playing board games has been associated with higher cognition, improved quality of life and lower risk of developing dementia for older adults. Photo / 123rf
Playing board games has been associated with higher cognition, improved quality of life and lower risk of developing dementia for older adults.
Board games have made a massive comeback in the past decade. And researchers are discovering that board games are not only fun, they may also benefit our brains, especially as we age.
The global board games market has an estimated value of US$18.53 billion ($31.5b) and is projected to grow by US$5.17b from 2025 to 2029. Classic games such as chess, Monopoly, Scrabble and Go remain popular, now joined by modern favourites such as Ticket to Ride, Pandemic and Wingspan. If you think you don’t have anyone to play with, no problem. Board game cafes and bars offer a place to drink, socialise and play outside the home.
Since antiquity – senet, a board game played by the Egyptians, dates to around 3100 BC – players have revelled in the shared experience, healthy competition and sheer entertainment value of board games.
Playing board games has been associated with higher cognition, improved quality of life and lower risk of developing dementia for older adults. Experts think some of the effects could be explained by their social nature. Some research suggests that face-to-face play may have an additional benefit above playing them alone. Stimulating leisure activities such as board games are thought to enhance cognitive reserve, the brain’s ability to function despite ageing, injury or disease.
“There is a certain complexity, even for simple board games, in this process of understanding the game system that demands something from your cognition,” said Carla Sousa, a games researcher at the Center for Research in Applied Communication, Culture and New Technologies (CICANT) at Lusófona University. “Analogue games, in general, are also much more social than digital games.”
Research from the past two decades has found significant links between board games and brain-related improvements.
In one study, out of 17 cognitive and physical activities, only playing board games, reading, dancing and playing musical instruments were associated with a lower risk of dementia among adults older than 75.
In another study of people aged 65 and older, board game players had a 15% lower dementia risk than non-players, even after adjusting for confounders such as age, gender and education.
More recently, a 2025 randomised controlled trial showed that a group of nursing home residents who engaged in twice-weekly board game sessions facilitated by trained professionals showed improvements in cognitive function, in skill areas such as comprehension, memory and attention, while a control group did not.
The nursing home residents also showed gains in quality of life, with reported increases in dimensions of emotional wellbeing, interpersonal relationships, personal development and social inclusion.
“The value I see in board games in the elderly are different from the value that board games have in the young,” said Federico Emanuele Pozzi, a clinical neurologist at the Memory Clinic of the Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori. “In the young, they can help develop the brain through pattern recognition and other skills. But in the elderly, the value of games is more linked to being socially engaging.”
Pozzi and his colleagues conducted a 2023 meta-analysis of 15 studies that showed several cognitive benefits of traditional board games such as chess, Go and mah-jongg. The studies involved participants older than 60 who were at risk of or who had dementia and took part in a board game-based intervention that lasted from three to six months.
The meta-analysis revealed that playing board games appeared to improve mental function, as measured by cognitive assessment tests that evaluate memory, attention, concentration and other skills. Chess players reported an improved quality of life, according to the World Health Organisation Quality of Life scale, while mah-jongg players had a reduction in symptoms of depression.
“In the end, we want to find spaces and activities in which elderly people feel that their life is enjoyable and has meaning,” Pozzi said. “And if there is an approach that is both stimulating, cognitively speaking, and socially engaging – like board games – then we have a win-win.”
“The most amazing thing when you play board games is that you are socialising,” said Jorge Moya‐Higueras, a professor of psychology at the University of Lleida. “And in these times, when one of the biggest problems with the elderly is loneliness, board games could be a good way of not feeling alone.”
Games have come a long way since the days of Monopoly and Scrabble. Modern board games range from strategic to luck-based, with diverse themes such as birding, zombies and railroads. American-style games – which, despite the name, can originate from anywhere in the world – have a strong storyline and rely on randomness, often through rolling of dice. Eurogames, on the other hand, emphasise strategic decision-making and long-term planning. “If I want to feel my brain burn, then I’ll play a Eurogame,” Moya-Higueras said.
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Pozzi recently led a study that brought groups of older adults together for board game lessons, and the participants enjoyed their experience so much that they continued to meet, even after the study had long ended.
“Since we are in Italy, I can tell you that those study groups became ‘pizza groups’ – they had a group chat and were constantly organising a pizza together,” he said. “There is a loneliness epidemic, in the elderly especially, and the main takeaway is that board games can enhance wellness and make people feel better.”