What are good brain games for entrepreneurs?

Good brain games for entrepreneurs are the ones that rehearse the decisions you actually make: judging probabilities, spotting a bad deal, doing quick numbers and thinking a few moves ahead. Chess puzzles on Lichess, forecasting on Good Judgment Open, the free calibration trainer from Clearer Thinking, a maths puzzle like Nerdle and a decision game like Asendify Daily each train one of these. None of them will make you a better founder on its own; they work best as short daily practice that you check against real results.

Disclosure: this article is published on the Asendify Daily blog, and Asendify Daily is our game. The other games are described from their own websites, checked on 23 October 2026.

First, a reality check on brain games

Brain games mostly make you better at the game you practise. A peer-reviewed review by Simons and colleagues, Do "Brain-Training" Programs Work? (2016), found good evidence that people improve on trained tasks but little evidence of gains on distantly related tasks or everyday thinking.

For an entrepreneur, that is useful advice rather than bad news. Pick games that are as close as possible to the real skill, and keep score honestly. A game that trains forecasting is closer to "will this product sell?" than a game that trains reaction speed.

The skills worth practising

Most business decisions lean on a handful of thinking skills:

• Calibration: being right about as often as you feel sure you are.
• Forecasting: putting a number on an uncertain future and updating it as news arrives.
• Judgement on deals and offers: telling a good deal from a money pit quickly.
• Quick numeracy: doing rough maths in your head without freezing.
• Thinking ahead: seeing the reply to your move before you make it.

The games below each map to one or two of these.

Calibration: Calibrate Your Judgment (Clearer Thinking)

Clearer Thinking's Calibrate Your Judgment is a free web tool (you create a free account) that asks questions with known answers, makes you state how confident you are, gives immediate feedback and tracks your progress over time. The aim is to become "well calibrated", so that when you say you are 70% sure, you are right about 70% of the time.

Best for: founders who notice they are often very sure and often wrong, for example on launch dates or sales forecasts.

Forecasting: Good Judgment Open

Good Judgment Open is a forecasting site run by Good Judgment, a forecasting services firm; co-founder Philip Tetlock is named on its homepage. You sign up and give probability forecasts on real questions in its challenges. Forecasts are scored with the Brier score, the squared error of a probabilistic forecast, where lower is better (GJ Open FAQ).

Best for: entrepreneurs who want practice putting numbers on real-world uncertainty and seeing, months later, how good those numbers were.

Thinking ahead: chess puzzles on Lichess

Lichess describes itself as a free, open-source chess server and says it does not sell ads or user data. Its puzzle trainer gives you a position and asks for the best move, and it has quick modes such as Puzzle Streak, Puzzle Storm and Puzzle Racer.

Best for: founders who enjoy a short, focused challenge and want practice at checking the other side's best reply before committing.

Quick numeracy: Nerdle

Nerdle is a free online maths game where you guess a hidden equation in 6 tries, with coloured clues after each guess.

Best for: anyone who wants to feel faster and calmer with numbers before a pricing or budgeting conversation.

Judgement on deals: Asendify Daily

Asendify Daily is our free 2-minute daily challenge. Everyone gets the same 10 two-choice questions each day, such as "Good deal or money pit?", "Smart move or mistake?" and "Red flag or green flag?", drawn from topics including trading basics, cold email and YouTube retention. Each answer comes with a plain-English explanation, and you get a score out of 10, a streak and a challenge link for friends. No sign-up is needed. It is for fun and learning, not financial advice.

Best for: founders who want a quick daily rep at business judgement rather than puzzles.

If you mainly want deep strategic practice, chess or forecasting will stretch you further than a 2-minute game.

A 10-minute daily routine, worked through

Here is one way an entrepreneur could combine these without losing a morning:

1. Two minutes: play Asendify Daily. Note any question you got wrong and why.
2. Three minutes: five Lichess puzzles. Before each move, say out loud what your opponent's best reply would be.
3. Three minutes: answer a few calibration questions, or update one Good Judgment Open forecast.
4. Two minutes: write one real business prediction for the week with a percentage, for example "65% that the new pricing page lifts sign-ups".

On Friday, check your real prediction. Over a month, that last step usually teaches more than any game, because it is your own business. The games are there to keep the habit light.

How to choose

• You want the closest match to business decisions: forecasting and calibration.
• You want something fun you will actually open daily: Asendify Daily or Nerdle.
• You want deeper concentration: chess puzzles.
• You only have time for one: pick the one that matches your weakest skill, not your favourite.

Key takeaways

• Brain games mostly improve the trained task, so choose games close to real business decisions.
• Calibration and forecasting tools are the nearest match to "how sure should I be?"
• Chess puzzles train thinking ahead; Nerdle trains quick maths.
• Asendify Daily gives a 2-minute daily rep at deal and decision calls, with explanations.
• Pair any game with real written predictions about your own business.

FAQ

Do brain games make entrepreneurs more successful?

There is no good evidence that games alone do. They can build habits such as estimating, checking your confidence and thinking ahead, which help if you apply them to real decisions.

Which of these games are free?

Lichess, Nerdle, Clearer Thinking's calibration tool (with a free account) and Asendify Daily are free. Check Good Judgment Open's own site for its current terms.

How long should I play each day?

Five to ten minutes is plenty. Consistency and reviewing your mistakes matter more than time spent.

Is there a brain game that teaches business directly?

Asendify Daily focuses on business and money calls with an explanation after every answer. See is there a free daily game about business or money for how it works.

For more short exercises, read how to practise critical thinking in a few minutes a day.

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