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Brain games are more than your average puzzle game. They train your mind to think logically and recall patterns to solve problems. Improve your brain by coming back daily. In this category, we’ve curated some of the best brain games to put your mind to work!

Play The Best Brain Games

The best brain game for you depends on what genre you like. If you enjoy mahjong , there are some particularly challenging mahjong games like Mahjong Solitaire that are well worth checking out.

For a tricky logic puzzle game with oddly satisfying gameplay, Cups - Water Sort Puzzle is a must-play title where you sort colored liquids into bottles with increasingly difficult situations. Another one of our greatest brain games is Bloxorz , a stone-cold classic from the Flash games era.

Memory games are a really effective way of sharpening up those recall skills. Incremental Memory is a game about memorizing and choosing the correct tiles. This is a great way to train your brain!

Math isn’t for everyone, but it certainly improves your numerical skills. Sudoku is an excellent combination of math and puzzle. Math Push is a cool platformer where you move blocks to solve mathematical expressions.

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23 Problem-solving games for busy work teams

Problem solving is a skill that can serve almost anyone, in any role, in any industry. The ability to think critically, and resolve issues is a welcome talent that is helpful for every organization. How can you encourage such thinking in your team? In this article, we are talking about our favorite problem-solving games, activities, and exercises for work. Use these activities to sharpen the reasoning and decision-making skills of your department or your entire company. Without further ado, let’s dive into the best problem solving games for getting the most of your next work event. 

In-person problem solving games

If you have the opportunity to get your team together in person, that’s a gift! Perhaps you are planning a company retreat or a department-wide in-person meeting. Whatever the circumstances, in today’s more digital workspace, it’s not always easy to have everyone in the same room. When you actually do, make the most of it! These activities are set up for in-person groups. They are part team-building activity, part icebreaker, and all fun! All of these activities are guaranteed to get people thinking, communicating, and having fun. If you have a particularly big group, you may want to browse our article on large group games too. 

1. Treasure hunt

Similar to a scavenger hunt, a treasure hunt is a lot of fun but with a bit more intention. Rather than collecting a random list of items, participants use clues to find more prompts and hints, until the group solves a mystery (or finds a treasure). You can also create a treasure map if you want to play into the “pirate” fantasy a little more. The important thing is that only clues point toward the next stop - areas of the map should not be spelled out, but involve some problem solving and critical thinking to figure out what the clue means. 

2. Story challenge

For the language lovers on your team, try this version of an ongoing story icebreaker. To play, each person receives a number of words (a word bank) that they can use to create a story. Then, everyone reads their piece out loud or presents it to the group. To come up with the words available for each person, you can use a random word generator online, or get creative. For example, consider instructing participants that they can only use words from the company website, or from the emails they received in their inbox yesterday. 

3. Moral dilemma

Similar to a “ would you rather ” game, this activity centers on ethical dilemmas. Players should try to flex their moral problem-solving muscles by tackling a social issue. For example, Scruples is a popular board game that can be played. Or, you can look online for versions of games like Dilemma or Quandary. This is a great way to learn more about your colleagues while getting a peek at the way they think. 

4. Build a shelter

How would you survive if you were stranded in an isolated place with a blizzard coming? Use this activity to find out! As an added complication, you can pretend that everyone is blinded by frostbite (by using blindfolds). The team leader must give the group instructions for building a shelter that can withstand the arctic winds. To play, you need a large space and some supplies. Then, select a leader (who can see) and blindfold everyone else. You’ll also need a large fan. The leader guides everyone in putting together their shelter (remember, while blindfolded). When everyone feels confident that their shelter is up to the test, turn on the fan and see if the structure can withstand the wind! This game is sure to lead to a lot of laughs and you’ll be surprised at some of the clever ideas that people come up with. This is also a powerful exercise for effective leadership - it’s not easy to reach a goal with a group that is blindfolded! Check out our article on team activities especially for leadership as well.

5. Improv games

You may think of improv games as more of an icebreaker activity, but the truth is there is a lot of brain power that goes into well-done improv. Look for ways to add both logic and entertainment to your next improv effort. Consider scenarios like banned words, where people cannot use a certain list of words, or “miracle cure”, where one person shares a problem they’re having and the other person must come up with the solution on the spot. Both are fun and easy ideas that don’t require anything but willing participants! If you need some other quick and easy team building activities , make sure to follow our blog. 

6. Spaghetti tower

In this classic team building game, users try to build a tower using uncooked pasta noodles and marshmallows. The instructions are simple: use the tools at your disposal to design and build the tallest tower in order to win the challenge. You can judge on height alone, or weigh other factors like innovation, number of towers, or stability. For more simple team building activities , make sure to follow our blog. 

7. What would you do?

Another classic icebreaker, this game involves coming up with some scenarios that require brain power to address. Here are some prompts you can use with your group: 

• What would you do if you were at the zoo and all the animals escaped? 
• What would you do if you were the first person to find out about an upcoming zombie apocalypse? 
• What would you do if you were in line for a really important item, and a person cut in front of you, getting the last item? 
• What would you do if you were invited for dinner at the home of someone you really needed to impress, and the food was terrible? 
• What would you do if an imposter that looks and acts just like you infiltrated your organization? How can you convince everyone that you’re the “real” you?

8. “MacGyver” challenge

MacGyver is an older television program where the hero escaped sticky situations by improvising tools made of unlikely materials. You can recreate this set-up in your event space or office. To play, challenge participants to use 3-5 items to reach a desired end result. For example, something like “a way to pick the door lock” or “escape vehicle” are fun options. You can either set out some various equipment, or have people collect their own based on what they can find around the office. Note: if you are doing this in a conference room or other rented space, it makes sense to have a table set up with random odds and ends for people to pick from. 

9. Egg drop challenge

This one will take you back to high school physics class! Break a larger group into smaller teams and challenge them to come up with a container that will protect an egg even when it’s dropped from up high. You can either let people know far enough in advance that they can discuss, design, and collect materials; or you can have supplies ready and have everyone build their creation on the spot. If you go that route, you’ll want to provide a variety of boxes, packing supplies, rubber bands, fabric, etc. Then set up a ladder and have each team drop their container and see if their egg remained intact. 

10. Shrinking circle

Adaptability and flexibility are huge in the business world. One way to focus on both of those items is by playing this simple and silly game. Start out by using a rope to create a large circle that everyone can fit in. Then, every few minutes, make the circle a bit smaller. Depending on how large the circle is in the first place, you can take away an inch or a foot each round. The challenge is for everyone present to stay inside the circle. This will require some serious innovation once the circle gets small, and lots of laughs almost always ensue. Note: People are likely to end up touching each other in this exercise. It’s difficult not to once the space gets small, like a game of Twister. You know your colleagues best - if that level of closeness would make anyone uncomfortable, it’s probably best to try a different exercise. 

Out-of-the-office problem-solving activities

Everyone once in a while, it can be really valuable to get out of your usual work environment and into a new mental space. If your team is planning a multi-day retreat, don’t be afraid to include an organized activity that will help everyone to think more critically. Most towns have at least one option for getting your group together and learning some new ways to problem solve. Do some research on what you have available locally, or work with an organization like Surf Office who can plan your next retreat - including the fun elements that your employees will be talking about for months to come! If you know that you can’t get out of the office right now, stick to this list of indoor team building activities . 

11. Escape room

The goal of an escape room is to follow a series of clues and take on some challenges in order to unlock the space that everyone is locked in. There are usually 5 - 10 puzzles that teams will work together to figure out. Typically finishing one leads to another clue, so that participants can move onto the next phase. Only when they’ve successfully completed all of the tasks can they find the key and escape. While you can definitely set up an escape room on your own, we think it’s worth finding a local version in your town (or wherever your retreat is taking place). These are professionally set up and usually in really cool spaces like an underground bunker or a historic building. An escape room is a good excuse to get out of the office and spend time with coworkers in a new environment. 

12. Murder mystery

These story-based games have people take on a role in a pretend scenario. They may take on a role like detective, dinner guest, or even killer in their dinner. Most of the time the games involve reading lines from a script, searching for clues, or even solving some simple challenges to move onto the next phase. Participants have to pay attention to conversations and context clues in order to get an understanding of who the killer might be. Observation and logic are key to catching the killer. Some murder mysteries involve getting dressed up and having a nice dinner, so if you’re looking for an idea for a big night out capping off your next retreat, this is perfect. 

13. Ax throwing

What do axes have to do with problem solving? You might be surprised. This is definitely an activity you’ll want to go to a professional venue for. Ax throwing outfits have everything you need, plus the right safety precautions. They have everything set up with the proper distances, buffers between throwing stations, safe ax materials, etc. Plus, many of them offer food and drinks! Ax throwing can help with problem solving because most people don’t excel at it their first time. It takes some practice and careful consideration to figure out where to stand, the best stance, the force of the throw, etc. As you take turns, you’ll make adjustments and also consider new methods based on observing your teammates. The more you watch and the more you try, the better you’ll get. In fact, instead of having people compete against each other, we suggest having the team compete against themselves, aiming for a higher total score in their second or third consecutive game. This activity allows you to observe others and then optimize - essentially learning from each other. 

14. Paper boat race

If you are able to visit a location by water, you can try this really fun activity. In this fun and creative exercise, participants build a small boat with paper (and other supplies) and then race them in a small body of water like a pond or stream. The boats are usually made by folding paper into a boat shape, but you can also try offering cardboard, balloons, popsicle sticks, or other crafty materials. You’ll also want to supply materials for decorating so that everyone can really have their creation stand out. Obviously the person who reaches the finish line first is the winner, but you can offer a few other prizes just for fun, like most beautiful boat or best effort. Make sure to check out our article on other creativity and innovation games , too. 

Problem-solving puzzles

When it’s just not possible to get everyone together, you can still encourage your team to put on their thinking caps and hone their skills. There are tons of critical thinking games, puzzles , and even apps that people can use to practice problem solving. You can encourage your team members to play these games in their spare time, or even set up a competition where people log minutes playing such games or using the apps. If you’re feeling really generous, give everyone a small stiped to be used on a problem solving app of their choice. This special touch makes a nice addition to a holiday gift, too!

Sudoku has become one of the most popular problem solving games for adults. There are dozens of free app options, as well as paperback books that you can pick up. The goal of this game is to fill each box on a 9×9 grid so that every row, column, and letter contains each number from one to nine. It sounds tricky - and it is - but players tend to find it addicting and the game has grown a huge following in recent years. Encourage people to play on their own by downloading an app or purchasing a puzzle book, or as a team by having the puzzles available in your office or at your next event. 

16. Crossword puzzles

These classic word games have players fill out words based on clues. Words interconnect, and people must think critically about the context clues of what they’ve filled out so far. These puzzles are super versatile and one of the best things about them is that you can make them yourself so they are themed. You can use an online crossword puzzle maker to create a custom puzzle with clues about your business or other relevant subjects. For your next event, it might be fun to have a custom crossword puzzle about your company history or trivia! 

17. Tic-tac-toe tournament

It sounds a little silly, but tic-tac-toe requires more brain power than one might think. Set up an ongoing tic-tac-toe board in your office and encourage people to use it on their breaks or when they have a few minutes to kill. You can set up a scoreboard and keep track of the leader; it’s a lot of fun to see the rankings change and to challenge the top performers. If you need an even simpler version of the same concept, simply set up the Connect Four game board in your break room and let people have at it! 

Problem-solving for virtual teams 

If your team is a bit scattered, it doesn’t mean that you can’t practice solving challenges together. In our digital world, there are plenty of options for online activities that teams can work on either independently or as a group. In the section above, we shared some ideas for independent work. These ideas are designed to bring your team together, no matter where they are. Set a time and have everyone hop onto your preferred communication tool, and then work together tackling these challenges. 

18. Virtual hackathon

A hackathon normally refers to an event where participants have a set amount of time to design and pitch a new product or solution. It’s normally used in the tech space for pitching things like new apps, but you can apply the concept in lots of other ways too. In this online version, teams work with each other using virtual meeting software and pitch ideas to a panel of judges. This type of event requires some advance notice for the participants, as they’ll want to collect a team and come up with some designs. If you want to raise the stakes, offer a prize for first place.

19. Online escape room

Just like an in-person escape room, in an online version people must solve a variety of puzzles in order to make it “out”. Digital escape rooms normally come in one of two ways: in a Zoom “room” led by a host, or in a choose-your-own-adventure style via Google Forms or other websites. To play virtually, staff will enter the meeting and follow the prompts they get, and it might involve screen sharing some Google tools to work on puzzles together. Because of the platforms and tools that may be involved, this activity is better for teams who are a bit more tech-savvy and comfortable with online meetings, apps, etc. 

20. Survival plans

Prioritizing is an important mental exercise. You can work on this with a game about survival. Have everyone imagine they are stranded on a desert island, and they must decide the correct order to perform life-saving steps in. Have this list handy, and ask everyone to pair off or get in small groups and number the list according to the best likelihood of survival: 

• Set up shelter
• Look around the island
• Signal for help
• Create weapons for self-defense
• Build a raft for water
• Start a fire
• Select a group leader
• Find other survivors
• Anything else you think of! 

The catch is that everyone must agree on the order of events!  That will typically involve discussion and coming to some sort of consensus. Once everyone is done with the exercise, have them present to the larger group and explain their reasoning. This exercise is good for team-building, communication, and problem resolution. Plus, you will be better prepared if you ever get stuck on a deserted island! 

21. Online role-playing games (like Dungeons and Dragons)

Seeing how people react in real-world situations is a really interesting way to get to know them better. Find an online game that has real-world actions and consequences, like Dungeons and Dragons. Or, you can make things even simpler by hopping on a Zoom together and reading a Choose Your Own Adventure book aloud, with the reader getting group consensus before making a decision. The important part is the discussion that will occur before choosing the next action. This is helpful for bonding and also helps you to see how your colleagues tick. These activities can be difficult to organize for big groups, so if you have a substantial team, try some of these team building activities for large groups instead. 

22. Google Docs story

Similar to an ongoing story icebreaker, this game is easy to do online as people have time. You start by creating a Google Doc that everyone on the team has access to. Then, have people go into the Doc and add to the story that’s developing. If you want, you can pick a prompt to kick things off - or you can just let the first person get creative and go for it! The more specific or bizarre the scenario, the more creative and clever people will have to get to add their portion. 

23. Model UN

Chances are you might be familiar with this concept from high school. Fortunately, adults can have a lot of fun with it too. You can play this virtually as long as everyone is a strong communicator. Each participant should take on the role of an international diplomat, and work together to form alliances and solve crises. Come up with a potential scenario that the UN must work through. Consider things like a global food shortage, natural disaster, or cyber-security threats. If your group is particularly large, you can have multiple people assigned to a country and they will have separate roles. If politics is a sensitive topic on your team, you might want to tweak this exercise to be focused on a business and treat participants like board members - or even a musical group! 

Set the tone of your next company retreat

These problem solving games and activities are great virtually any time - there is something for everyone, whether you’re remote or in person, on a large team or a small one. One of the best ways to implement a problem solving exercise is at the beginning of a team retreat. If you have organized a large meeting or team building event, consider getting things started with such an activity. Many of these problem solving games will get everyone thinking and make people more comfortable, plus a lot of them also serve as a form of icebreaker.

The next time you plan a work retreat , consider including a few of these on the agenda to set the tone for a fun, energizing event. Need help ensuring that your retreat is, in fact, fun and energizing?

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22 Unbeatable Team Building Problem Solving Activities

Problem-solving is a critical skill for professionals and with team building problem-solving activities, you can sharpen your skills while having fun at the same time.  

Updated: March 1, 2024

In the professional world, one thing is for sure: problem-solving is a vital skill if you want to survive and thrive. It’s a universal job skill that organizations seek in new potential employees and that managers look for when considering candidates for promotions.  

But there’s a problem. 

According to Payscale, 60% of managers feel that new grads entering the workforce lack problem-solving abilities – making it the most commonly lacking soft skill.  

Problem-solving skill needs to be practiced and perfected on an ongoing basis in order to be applied effectively when the time comes. And while there are tons of traditional approaches to becoming a better problem-solver, there’s another (much more interesting) option: team building problem-solving activities. 

The good news? This means learning and having fun don’t have to be mutually exclusive. And you can create a stronger team at the same time. 

16 In-Person Team Building Problem Solving Activities for Your Work Group  

1. cardboard boat building challenge, 2. egg drop , 3. clue murder mystery, 4. marshmallow spaghetti tower  , 5. corporate escape room, 6. wild goose chase, 7. lost at sea  , 8. domino effect challenge, 9. reverse pyramid  , 10. ci: the crime investigators, 11. team pursuit, 12. bridge builders, 13. domino effect challenge, 14. hollywood murder mystery, 15. code break, 16. cardboard boat building challenge, 6 virtual team building problem solving activities for your work group  , 1. virtual escape room: mummy’s curse, 2. virtual clue murder mystery, 3. virtual escape room: jewel heist, 4. virtual code break  , 5. virtual trivia time machine.

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There are a ton of incredible team building problem solving activities available. We’ve hand-picked 16 of our favorites that we think your corporate group will love too. 

Split into teams and create a cardboard boat made out of just the materials provided: cardboard and tape. Team members will have to work together to engineer a functional boat that will float and sail across water without sinking. Once teams have finished making their boats, they will create a presentation to explain why their boat is the best, before putting their boats to the test. The final challenge will have teams racing their boats to test their durability! Nothing says problem-solving like having to make sure you don’t sink into the water!

Every day at work, you’re forced to make countless decisions – whether they’re massively important or so small you barely think about them.  

But your ability to effectively make decisions is critical in solving problems quickly and effectively.  

With a classic team building problem solving activity like the Egg Drop, that’s exactly what your team will learn to do. 

For this activity, you’ll need some eggs, construction materials, and a place you wouldn’t mind smashing getting dirty with eggshells and yolks.  

The goal of this activity is to create a contraption that will encase an egg and protect it from a fall – whether it’s from standing height or the top of a building. But the challenge is that you and your team will only have a short amount of time to build it before it’s time to test it out, so you’ll have to think quickly! 

To make it even more challenging, you’ll have to build the casing using only simple materials like: 

• Newspapers 
• Plastic wrap
• Rubber bands
• Popsicle sticks
• Cotton balls

Feel free to have some fun in picking the materials. Use whatever you think would be helpful without making things too easy! 

Give your group 15 minutes to construct their egg casing before each team drops their eggs. If multiple eggs survive, increase the height gradually to see whose created the sturdiest contraption.  

If you’re not comfortable with the idea of using eggs for this activity, consider using another breakable alternative, such as lightbulbs for a vegan Egg Drop experience. 

With Clue Murder Mystery, your team will need to solve the murder of a man named Neil Davidson by figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit the crime.

But it won’t be easy! You’ll need to exercise your best problem-solving skills and channel your inner detectives if you want to keep this case from going cold and to get justice for the victim.

Collaboration is critical to problem solving. 

Why? Because, as the old saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This expression reflects the fact that people are capable of achieving greater things when they work together to do so. 

If you’re looking for a team building problem solving activity that helps boost collaboration, you’ll love Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower.  

This game involves working in teams to build the tallest possible freestanding tower using only marshmallows, uncooked spaghetti, tape, and string.  

The kicker? This all has to be done within an allotted timeframe. We recommend about thirty minutes.  

For an added dimension of challenge, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower to make it a little more top heavy.  

Whichever team has the highest tower when time runs out is the winner! 

If you’ve never participated in an escape room, your team is missing out! It’s one of the most effective team building problem solving activities out there because it puts you and your colleagues in a scenario where the only way out is collaboratively solving puzzles and deciphering clues.  

The principle is simple: lock your group in a room, hide the key somewhere in that room, and have them work through challenges within a set time frame. Each challenge will lead them one step closer to finding the key and, ultimately, their escape.    

At Outback, we offer “done-for-you” escape rooms where we’ll transform your office or meeting room so you don’t have to worry about:

• Seeking transportation for your team 
• Capacity of the escape rooms  
• High costs 
• Excessive planning  

That way, you and your team can simply step inside and get to work collaborating, using creative problem solving, and thinking outside the box.   

In this smartphone-based scavenger hunt team building activity , your group will split into teams and complete fun challenges by taking photos and videos around the city. Some examples of challenges you can do in this activity are:

• Parkour:  Take a picture of three team members jumping over an object that’s at least waist-high.
• Beautiful Mind:  Snap a photo of a team member proving a well-known mathematical theorem on a chalkboard.
• Puppy Love:  Take a photo of all of your team members petting a stranger’s dog at the same time.

It takes a ton of critical thinking and problem-solving to be crowned the Wild Goose Chase Champions!

Can you imagine a higher-pressure situation than being stranded at sea in a lifeboat with your colleagues? 

With this team building problem solving activity, that’s exactly the situation you and your group will put yourselves. But by the time the activity is over, you’ll have gained more experience with the idea of having to solve problems under pressure – a common but difficult thing to do. 

Here’s how it works. 

Each team member will get a six-columned chart where: 

• The first column lists the survival items each team has on hand (see the list below) 
• The second column is empty so that each team member can rank the items in order of importance for survival  
• The third column is for group rankings  
• The fourth column is for the “correct” rankings, which are revealed at the end of the activity 
• The fifth and sixth columns are for the team to enter thee difference between their individual and correct scores and the team and correct rankings 

Within this activity, each team will be equipped with the following “survival items,” listed below in order of importance, as well as a pack of matches:  

• A shaving mirror (this can be used to signal passing ships using the sun) 
• A can of gas (could be used for signaling as it could be put in the water and lit with the pack of matches) 
• A water container (for collecting water to re-hydrate ) 
• Emergency food rations (critical survival food) 
• One plastic sheet (can be helpful for shelter or to collect rainwater) 
• Chocolate bars (another food supply) 
• Fishing rods (helpful, but no guarantee of catching food) 
• Rope (can be handy, but not necessarily essential for survival) 
• A floating seat cushion (usable as a life preserver)  
• Shark repellant (could be important when in the water) 
• A bottle of rum (could be useful for cleaning wounds) 
• A radio (could be very helpful but there’s a good chance you’re out of range) 
• A sea chart (this is worthless without navigation equipment) 
• A mosquito net (unless you’ve been shipwrecked somewhere with a ton of mosquitos, this isn’t very useful) 

To get the activity underway, divide your group into teams of five and ask each team member to take ten minutes on their own to rank the items in order of importance in the respective column. Then, give the full team ten minutes as a group to discuss their individual rankings together and take group rankings, listed in that respective column. Ask each group to compare their individual rankings with those of the group as a whole. 

Finally, read out the correct order according to the US Coast Guard, listed above.  

The goal of this activity is for everyone to be heard and to come to a decision together about what they need most to survive.  

If your team works remotely, you can also do this activity online. Using a video conferencing tool like  Zoom , you can bring your group together and separate teams into “break-out rooms” where they’ll take their time individually and then regroup together. At the end, you can bring them back to the full video conference to go through the answers together. 

Many problems are intricately complex and involve a ton of moving parts. And in order to solve this type of problem, you need to be able to examine it systematically, one piece at a time.  

Especially in the business world, many problems or challenges involve multiple different teams or departments working through their respective portions of a problem before coming together in the end to create a holistic solution. 

As you can imagine, this is often easier said than done. And that’s why it’s so important to practice this ability.  

With a collaborative team building problem solving activity like Domino Effect Challenge, that’s exactly what you’ll need to do as you and your group work to create a massive, fully functional chain reaction machine. 

Here’s how it goes. 

Your group will break up into teams, with each team working to complete their own section of a massive “Rube Goldberg” machine. Then, all teams will regroup and assemble the entire machine together. You’ll need to exercise communication, collaboration, and on-the-fly problem solving in order to make your chain reaction machine go off without a hitch from start to finish. 

Being a great problem-solver means being adaptable and creative. And if you’re looking for a quick and easy team building problem solving activity, you’ll love the reverse pyramid. 

The idea here is simple: break your group out into small teams and then stand in the form of a pyramid.  

Your challenge is to flip the base and the peak of the pyramid – but you can only move three people in order to do so.  

Alternatively, rather than doing this activity with people as the pyramid, you can do another version –  the Pyramid Build  – using plastic cups instead.   

This version is a little bit different. Rather than flipping the base of a pyramid to the top, you’ll need to build the pyramid instead–but in reverse, starting from the top cup and working down. 

With this version, you’ll need 36 cups and one table per group. We recommend groups of five to seven people. Give your group 20 to 30 minutes to complete the activity. 

To get started, place one cup face down. Then, lift that cup and place the subsequent two cups underneath it. 

The real challenge here? You can only lift your pyramid by the bottom row in order to put a new row underneath – and only one person at a time can do the lifting. The remaining group members will need to act quickly and work together in order to add the next row so that it will balance the rest of the pyramid. 

If any part of your pyramid falls, you’ll need to start over. Whichever team has the most complete pyramid when time runs out will be the winner!  

The value of being able to approach problems analytically can’t be overstated. Because when problems arise, the best way to solve them is by examining the facts and making a decision based on what you know. 

With CI: The Crime Investigators, this is exactly what your team will be called upon to do as you put your detective’s hats on and work to solve a deadly crime. 

You’ll be presented with evidence and need to uncover and decipher clues. And using only the information at your disposal, you’ll need to examine the facts in order to crack the case. 

Like many of our team building problem solving activities, CI: The Crime Investigators is available in a hosted format, which can take place at your office or an outside venue, as well as a virtually-hosted format that uses video conferencing tools, or a self-hosted version that you can run entirely on your own.  

Each member of your team has their own unique strengths and skills. And by learning to combine those skills, you can overcome any challenge and solve any problem. With Team Pursuit, you and your team together to tackle challenges as you learn new things about one another, discover your hidden talents, and learn to rely on each other.

This team building problem solving activity is perfect for high-energy groups that love to put their heads together and work strategically to solve problems as a group.

Collaborate with your colleague to design and build different segments of a bridge. At the end, see if the sections come together to create a free-standing structure!   

Together as a group, see if you and your colleagues can build a gigantic “chain-reaction” machine that really works!

In smaller groups, participants work together to solve the challenge of creating sections of the machine using miscellaneous parts, and at the end, you’ll have to collaborate to connect it all together and put it in motion.

The case is fresh, but here’s what we know so far: we’ve got an up-and-coming actress who’s been found dead in her hotel room following last night’s awards show.

We have several suspects, but we haven’t been able to put the crime on any of them for sure yet. Now, it’s up to you and your team of detectives to crack the case. Together, you’ll review case files and evidence including police reports, coroners’ reports, photo evidence, tabloids, interrogations, and phone calls as you determine the motive, method, and murderer and bring justice for the victim.

You’ll need to put your problem-solving skills to the test as you share theories, collaborate, and think outside the box with your fellow investigators.

Using Outback’s app, split up into small groups and put your heads together to solve a variety of puzzles, riddles, and trivia. The team who has completed the most challenges when time is up, wins!

Can you stay afloat in a body of water in a boat made entirely of cardboard? Now that is a problem that urgently needs solving.

With this team building problem solving activity, you and your colleagues will split into groups and create a cardboard boat made out of just the materials provided – cardboard and tape.

Team members will have to work together to engineer a functional boat that will float and sail across water without sinking. Once teams have finished making their boats, they will create a presentation to explain why their boat is the best, before putting their boats to the test. The final challenge will have teams racing their boats across the water!

If you and your team are working remotely, don’t worry. You still have a ton of great virtual team building problem solving options at your disposal.

In this virtual escape room experience, your team will be transported into a pyramid cursed by a restless mummy. You’ll have to work together to uncover clues and solve complex challenges to lift the ancient curse.

You’ve probably never heard of a man named Neil Davidson. But your group will need to come together to solve the mystery of his murder by analyzing clues, resolving challenges, and figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit a deadly crime. 

This activity will challenge you and your group to approach problems analytically, read between the lines, and use critical thinking in order to identify a suspect and deliver justice.  

If you and your team like brainteasers, then Virtual Escape Room: Jewel Heist will be a big hit.  

Here’s the backstory.

There’s been a robbery. Someone has masterminded a heist to steal a priceless collection of precious jewels, and it’s up to you and your team to recover them before time runs out.

Together, you’ll need to uncover hidden clues and solve a series of brain-boggling challenges that require collaboration, creative problem-solving, and outside-the-box thinking. But be quick! The clock is ticking before the stolen score is gone forever.

With Virtual Code Break, you and your team can learn to be adaptive and dynamic in your thinking in order to tackle any new challenges that come your way. In this activity, your group will connect on a video conferencing platform where your event host will split you out into teams. Together, you’ll have to adapt your problem-solving skills as you race against the clock to tackle a variety of mixed brainteaser challenges ranging from Sudoku to puzzles, a game of Cranium, riddles, and even trivia. 

Curious to see how a virtual team building activity works? Check out this video on a Virtual Clue Murder Mystery in action. 

Step into the Outback Time Machine and take a trip through time, from pre-pandemic 21st century through the decades all the way to the 60’s. 

This exciting, fast-paced virtual trivia game, packed with nostalgia and good vibes, is guaranteed to produce big laughs, friendly competition, and maybe even some chair-dancing. 

Your virtual game show host will warm up guests with a couple of “table hopper rounds” (breakout room mixers) and split you out into teams. Within minutes, your home office will be transformed into a game show stage with your very own game show buzzers! 

And if your team loves trivia, check out our list of the most incredible virtual trivia games for work teams for even more ideas.

6.  Virtual Jeoparty Social

If your remote team is eager to socialize, have some fun as a group, and channel their competitive spirit, we’ve got just the thing for you! With Virtual Jeoparty Social, you and your colleagues will step into your very own virtual Jeopardy-style game show—equipped with a buzzer button, a professional actor as your host, and an immersive game show platform! Best of all, this game has been infused with an ultra-social twist: players will take part in a unique social mixer challenge between each round. 

With the right team building problem solving activities, you can help your team sharpen their core skills to ensure they’re prepared when they inevitably face a challenge at work. And best of all, you can have fun in the process. 

Do you have any favorite team building activities for building problem-solving skills? If so, tell us about them in the comments section below! 

Learn More About Team Building Problem Solving Activities  

For more information about how your group can take part in a virtual team building, training, or coaching solution, reach out to our Employee Engagement Consultants.     

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And stay updated, related articles.

The Role of Corporate Training in Employee Experience

18 Incredible Virtual Trivia Games for Work Teams

29 Spring Team Building Activities to Help Shake Off the Winter Blues [Updated for 2024]

I love how this blog provides a variety of problem-solving activities for team building. It’s a great resource for anyone looking to foster teamwork and collaboration!

10 Online Problem Solving Games For Adults

Published on april 25, 2017 at 1:51 am by amber hewitt in lists , news.

If you’re looking to strengthen your brain, you should check out these online problem solving games for adults .

As an adult, my biggest problems are usually financial or work related, which I supposed are hand-in-hand in some regard. They’re very solvable problems, but I wish someone would do it for me. With regard to work, can someone else figure out how late I can sleep in the morning without being late? Sometimes 6 a.m. just comes way too early for me. Problem-solving activities used to be fun and exciting, but now they come in the form of Sudoku, stress, and sleepless nights. As adults, we’re constantly busy and don’t tend to take the time to focus on games or other activities, but it’s important.

Sanzhar Murzin/Shutterstock.com

Problem-solving games help the brain grow and be able to process information better. They can make you smarter if you’re being effective about it. Focusing on problems within the framework of a game can actually help you compartmentalize the issues you may have going on in your real life. Obviously, in a game, it’s much more dramatized, but that’s why your other problems may seem small in comparison. It’s funny because children are told to play fewer games online to prevent a lack in brain development, but as adults, we can afford a little bit more online activity. Needless to say, none of the games on this list are also on our list of the best problem-solving activities for middle school .

In order to create this list, we used Business Insider and RSK to see what games improve problem-solving skills and make you smarter. The games that were mentioned in both sources were ranked higher on our list, but for the most part, these aren’t in any particular order because they span a variety of categories. All in all, these games will strengthen your brain so you can focus better.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at some online problem solving games for adults.

Slideshow List XFinance mind games for adults mind puzzles for adults puzzle solving games online problem solving video games problem solving games online brain teaser games for adults problem solving games for kids DayZ adult problem solving game FIFA adult problem solving game problem solving games for groups Diablo adult problem solving game Destiny adult problem solving game Sim City adult problem solving game StarCraft adult problem solving game fun problem solving games for adults Mass Effect adult problem solving game Call Of Duty adult problem solving game Final Fantasy adult problem solving game 10 Online Problem Solving Games For Adults Grand Theft Auto adult problem solving game 10 Best Problem Solving Activities For Middle School Show more... Show less

Tracking Health and Wellness Applications of Brain Science

Brain Teasers, Puzzles and Games for Teens and Adults

It is always good to learn more about our brains and to exer­cise them! .

Fun teasers on how our brains and minds work:

2. You say you can count? Check out this brief  atten­tion experiment

3. Test your stress level

4. Guess: Are there more con­nec­tions in one human brain or leaves in the whole Amazon?

Challenge your cognitive abilities with these brain teaser games:

5.  Quick brain teasers to flex two key men­tal muscles

6. Count the Fs in this sentence

7.  Can you iden­tify Apple’s logo?

Visual illusions:

8.  Ten clas­sic opti­cal illu­sions  to trick your mind

9. What do you see?

10. Fun  Men­tal Rota­tion challenge

11.  What is going on with these pictures?

Language and logic mind teasers:

12. Which way is the bus head­ing ?

13. Where do words go?

14. Join this par­ty for polyglots

15.  Fun & Brainy Haikus . Yours?

A few visual workouts to challenge your mind:

16. Is a cir­cle a circle?

17. Less obvi­ous than it may appear

18. How many…

How’s your pattern recognition?

19. Proverbs to  exer­cise your mem­ory and reasoning

21. Good puz­zle for the whole brain:  The Blind Beggar

22. Find the  the Real­ly, Real­ly, Real­ly Big Number

Fun brain teasers for the workplace:

23. Please  con­sider Lin­da ’s job prospects

24. A few guessti­ma­tions  often used in con­sult­ing and tech interviews

25. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

What does it mean when you don’t see mov­ing circles?

I don’t know

Thanks for nothing

there is no car ?

they are not moving

then its the let­ter o

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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AI Reveals New Possibilities in Matrix Multiplication

November 23, 2022

Matrix multiplication is not unlike solving an unthinkably large Rubik’s Cube.

Mahmet Emin Güzel for Quanta Magazine

Introduction

Mathematicians love a good puzzle. Even something as abstract as multiplying matrices (two-dimensional tables of numbers) can feel like a game when you try to find the most efficient way to do it. It’s a little like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube in as few moves as possible — challenging, but alluring. Except that for a Rubik’s Cube, the number of possible moves at each step is 18; for matrix multiplication, even in relatively simple cases, every step can present more than 10 12 options.

Over the past 50 years, researchers have approached this problem in many ways, all based on computer searches aided by human intuition. Last month, a team at the artificial intelligence company DeepMind showed how to tackle the problem from a new direction, reporting in a paper in Nature that they’d successfully trained a neural network to discover new fast algorithms for matrix multiplication. It was as if the AI had found an unknown strategy for solving a monstrously complex Rubik’s Cube.

“It’s a very neat result,” said Josh Alman , a computer scientist at Columbia University. But he and other matrix multiplication specialists also emphasized that such AI assistance will complement rather than replace existing methods — at least in the near term. “It’s like a proof of concept for something that could become a breakthrough,” Alman said. The result will simply help researchers on their quest.

As if to prove the point, three days after the Nature paper came out, a pair of Austrian researchers illustrated how new and old methods might complement each other. They used a conventional computer-aided search to further improve one of the algorithms that the neural network had discovered.

The results suggest that, like the process of solving a Rubik’s Cube, the path to better algorithms will be full of twists and turns.

Video : DeepMind researchers trained an AI system called AlphaTensor to find new, faster algorithms for matrix multiplication. AlphaTensor quickly rediscovered — and surpassed, for some cases — the reigning algorithm discovered by German mathematician Volker Strassen in 1969.

Christopher Webb Young/ Quanta Magazine ; Emily Zhang for Quanta Magazine

Multiplying Matrices

Matrix multiplication is one of the most fundamental and ubiquitous operations in all of mathematics. To multiply a pair of n -by- n matrices, each with n 2 elements, you multiply and add these elements together in particular combinations to generate the product, a third n -by- n matrix. The standard recipe for multiplying two n -by- n matrices requires n 3 multiplication operations, so a 2-by-2 matrix, for example, requires eight multiplications.

For larger matrices, with thousands of rows and columns, this process quickly becomes cumbersome. But in 1969, the mathematician Volker Strassen discovered a procedure for multiplying a pair of 2-by-2 matrices using seven rather than eight multiplication steps, at the cost of introducing more addition steps.

Strassen’s algorithm is needlessly convoluted if you just want to multiply a pair of 2-by-2 matrices. But he realized it would also work for bigger matrices. That’s because the elements of a matrix can themselves be matrices. For example, a matrix with 20,000 rows and 20,000 columns can be reimagined as a 2-by-2 matrix whose four elements are each 10,000-by-10,000 matrices. Each of these matrices can then be subdivided into four 5,000-by-5,000 blocks, and so on. Strassen could apply his method to multiply 2-by-2 matrices at each level of this nested hierarchy. As the matrix size increases, the savings from fewer multiplications grows.

Strassen’s discovery led to a search for efficient algorithms for matrix multiplication, which has since inspired two distinct subfields. One focuses on a question of principle: If you imagine multiplying two n -by- n matrices and let n run toward infinity, how does the number of multiplication steps in the fastest possible algorithm scale with n ? The current record for the best scaling, n 2.3728596 , belongs to Alman and Virginia Vassilevska Williams , a computer scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (A recent unpublished preprint reported a tiny improvement using a new technique.) But these algorithms are of purely theoretical interest, winning out over methods like Strassen’s only for absurdly large matrices.

The second subfield thinks on a smaller scale. Soon after Strassen’s work, the Israeli American computer scientist Shmuel Winograd showed that Strassen had reached a theoretical limit: It’s not possible to multiply 2-by-2 matrices with fewer than seven multiplication steps. But for all other matrix sizes, the minimum number of required multiplications remains an open question. And fast algorithms for small matrices could have an outsize impact, since repeated iterations of such an algorithm might beat Strassen’s algorithm when reasonably sized matrices are being multiplied.

Unfortunately, the sheer number of possibilities is huge. Even for 3-by-3 matrices, “the number of possible algorithms exceeds the number of atoms in the universe,” said Alhussein Fawzi , a DeepMind researcher and one of the leaders of the new work.

Faced with this dizzying menu of options, researchers have made progress by transforming matrix multiplication into what seems like a totally different math problem — one that is easier for computers to handle. It’s possible to represent the abstract task of multiplying two matrices as a specific kind of mathematical object: a three-dimensional array of numbers called a tensor. Researchers can then break this tensor up into a sum of elementary components, called “rank-1” tensors; each of these will represent a different step in the corresponding matrix multiplication algorithm. That means that finding an efficient multiplication algorithm amounts to minimizing the number of terms in a tensor decomposition — the fewer the terms, the fewer the steps involved.

In this way, researchers have discovered new algorithms that multiply n -by- n matrices using fewer than the standard n 3 multiplication steps for many small matrix sizes. But algorithms that outperform not only the standard but also Strassen’s algorithm for small matrices have remained out of reach — until now.

The DeepMind team approached the problem by turning tensor decomposition into a single-player game. They started with a deep learning algorithm descended from AlphaGo — another DeepMind AI that in 2016 learned to play the board game Go well enough to beat the top human players.

All deep learning algorithms are built around neural networks: webs of artificial neurons sorted into layers, with connections that can vary in strength representing how much each neuron influences those in the next layer. The strength of these connections is tweaked over many iterations of a training procedure, during which the neural network learns to transform each input it receives into an output that helps the algorithm accomplish its overall goal.

In DeepMind’s new algorithm, dubbed AlphaTensor, the inputs represent steps along the way to a valid matrix multiplication scheme. The first input to the neural network is the original matrix multiplication tensor, and its output is the rank-1 tensor that AlphaTensor has chosen for its first move. The algorithm subtracts this rank-1 tensor from the initial input, yielding an updated tensor that is fed back into the network as a new input. The process repeats until eventually every element in the starting tensor has been reduced to zero, meaning there are no more rank-1 tensors to take out.

At that point, the neural network has discovered a valid tensor decomposition, since it’s mathematically guaranteed that the sum of all the rank-1 tensors is exactly equal to the starting tensor. And the steps it took to get there can be translated back into steps of the corresponding matrix multiplication algorithm.

Here’s the game: AlphaTensor repeatedly decomposes a tensor to a set of rank-1 components. Each time, AlphaTensor gets rewarded if it finds a way to reduce the number of steps. But shortcuts to victory are not at all intuitive, just as you sometimes must scramble a perfectly ordered face on a Rubik’s Cube before you can solve the whole thing.

The team now had an algorithm that could, theoretically, solve their problem. They just had to train it first.

Like all neural networks, AlphaTensor needs a lot of data to train on, but tensor decomposition is a notoriously hard problem. There were few examples of efficient decompositions that the researchers could feed the network. Instead, they helped the algorithm get started by training it on the much easier inverse problem: adding up a bunch of randomly generated rank-1 tensors.

“They’re using the easy problem to produce more data for the hard problem,” said Michael Littman , a computer scientist at Brown University. Combining this backward training procedure with reinforcement learning, wherein AlphaTensor generated its own training data as it blundered around looking for efficient decompositions, worked much better than either training method on its own.

The DeepMind team trained AlphaTensor to decompose tensors representing the multiplication of matrices up to 12-by-12. It sought fast algorithms for multiplying matrices of ordinary real numbers and also algorithms specific to a more constrained setting known as modulo 2 arithmetic. (This is math based on only two numbers, so matrix elements can only be 0 or 1, and 1 + 1 = 0.) Researchers often start with this more restricted but still vast space, in hopes that algorithms discovered here can be adapted to work on matrices of real numbers.

After training, AlphaTensor rediscovered Strassen’s algorithm within minutes. It then discovered up to thousands of new fast algorithms for each matrix size. These were different from the best-known algorithms but had the same number of multiplication steps.

In a few cases, AlphaTensor even beat existing records. Its most surprising discoveries happened in modulo 2 arithmetic, where it found a new algorithm for multiplying 4-by-4 matrices in 47 multiplication steps, an improvement over the 49 steps required for two iterations of Strassen’s algorithm. It also beat the best-known algorithm for 5-by-5 modulo 2 matrices, reducing the number of required multiplications from the previous record of 98 to 96. (But this new record still lags behind the 91 steps that would be required to beat Strassen’s algorithm using 5-by-5 matrices.)

The new high-profile result created a lot of excitement, with some researchers heaping praise on the AI-based improvement on the status quo. But not everyone in the matrix multiplication community was so impressed. “I felt like it was a little overhyped,” said Vassilevska Williams. “It’s another tool. It’s not like, ‘Oh, the computers beat the humans,’ you know?”

Researchers also emphasized that immediate applications of the record-breaking 4-by-4 algorithm would be limited: Not only is it valid only in modulo 2 arithmetic, but in real life there are important considerations besides speed.

Fawzi agreed that really, this is just the beginning. “There is a lot of room for improvement and research, and that’s a good thing,” he said.

A Final Twist

AlphaTensor’s greatest strength relative to well-established computer search methods is also its greatest weakness: It’s not constrained by human intuition about what good algorithms look like, so it can’t explain its choices. That makes it difficult for researchers to learn from its achievements.

But this may not be as big a drawback as it seems. A few days after the AlphaTensor result, the mathematician Manuel Kauers and his graduate student Jakob Moosbauer , both of Johannes Kepler University Linz in Austria, reported another step forward.

Manuel Kauers tweaked the DeepMind approach to generate further improvements.

Jakob Moosbauer

When the DeepMind paper came out, Kauers and Moosbauer were in the process of searching for new multiplication algorithms using a conventional computer-aided search. But unlike most such searches, which start afresh with a new guiding principle, their method works by repeatedly tweaking an existing algorithm in hopes of squeezing more multiplication savings out of it. Taking AlphaTensor’s algorithm for 5-by-5 modulo 2 matrices as a starting point, they were surprised to find that their method reduced the number of multiplication steps from 96 to 95 after just a few seconds of computation.

AlphaTensor also helped them make another improvement indirectly. Previously, Kauers and Moosbauer hadn’t bothered to explore the space of 4-by-4 matrices, believing that it would not be possible to beat two iterations of Strassen’s algorithm. The AlphaTensor result prompted them to reconsider, and after a week of computation time starting from scratch, their method turned up another 47-step algorithm unrelated to the one AlphaTensor had discovered. “If somebody had told us that there is something to discover for 4-by-4, we could have done that earlier,” said Kauers. “But OK, well, that’s how it works.”

Littman expects more such surprises, likening the situation to the first time a runner finished a mile in under four minutes, a feat that had widely been considered impossible. “People were like, ‘Oh, wait, we can do this,’ and now lots of people can do it,” he said.

Looking forward, Fawzi hopes to generalize AlphaTensor to tackle a broader range of mathematical and computational tasks, just as its ancestor AlphaGo eventually branched out into other games.

Kauers sees this as the true litmus test for the application of machine learning to discovering new algorithms. He points out that the quest for fast matrix multiplication algorithms is a combinatorial problem to which computer searches, with or without human assistance, are well suited. But not all mathematical problems are so easy to pin down. If machine learning can discover a qualitatively new algorithmic idea, he said, “this would then be a game changer.”

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