A Mind Sport is a game of skill where the competition is based on a particular type of the intellectual ability as opposed to physical exercise. The objective in mind sports is to test mental strength rather than physical strength.
Mind Sports include many different codes such as board games like Chess, Checkers, Go or Diplomacy, as well as card games such as Bridge or Poker. There are some who consider these board games sports, or at least worthy of being on a sports program.
All activities that require mental calculation or high levels of memory are all part of the mind sports family. Memory sports are contested, biannually in the Mental Calculation World Cup and annually in the World Memory Championships.
Most of the mind games requires intense thinking in which the players stay glued to the board, hardly ever taking their eyes off, for several hours. Card games too fit the bill as a mind sport, for example Bridge and Poker.
Some of the other games are the Rubik’s cube and Sudoku, which have major competitions like the World Rubik’s Cube Championships and the World Sudoku Championship. Speed reading, computer programming, e-sports (which is a new term used for all video games based competitions including the famous FIFA game), spelling bee, and geographic bee, all fall under the mind sports category. Recently speed-texting, which involves sending text messages using a phone has also be accepted as a part of mind sports. Some of the Mind Sports are Chess; a strategy board game played by two players on a checkered game board with 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. Speed-cubing; players solve single piece 3D puzzles in the quickest time possible. E-Sports gaming; competitive form of playing computer games (e-sports).
Poker; a card game that combines gambling, strategy, and skill. The winner of each hand is determined according to the combinations of players’ cards. Bridge; a card game which is played by four players, playing in two competing partnerships. Players score points based on the number of tricks achieved.
Chess-boxing; a combination of chess and boxing. Memory Sports; (sometimes called competitive memory) is a competition in which the participants (“memory athletes”) attempt to memorize the most information that they can then present back. The bottom line is; mind games sports are indeed a sports that keeps your brain sharp through play.
*Stefan Ngolo can be reached at ngoloset@gmail.com