I have never played the Gameboy version of Brain Age. However, it is not to hard to deduct what the game consists of. By doing little activities you are able to supposedly increase your intelligence. If you are like me and like the idea of Brain Age, but are not blessed with a Gameboy than Brain Tuner is the next best thing.

It is really a cool concept. Brain Tuner gives you 20 basic math questions. Your job is to solve them as fast as possible. I thought for sure this was going to be easy. I was unpleasantly surprised to find out I am as dumb as a rock. It really becomes just as much a game of coordination as it is basic math. When you look at these equations it seems like the *-+ all start to blend together. Brain Tuner even keeps track of your best score for you. Though be warned that this record may disappear. As with all Google gadgets depending on the way it holds your info this may get deleted after deleting your cookies. However, that’s no big deal. Just get a screenshot when you get a good score. If you are wondering about my world famous gadget implementation critique, there really isn’t any. It takes up a reasonable amount of space and there are no ads.

My record is currently 27 seconds.

Flash games vary in quality. Sometimes a flash game can get away with being relatively cheaply made if it is fun and creative. The Missile Game is both fun and high quality.

I can’t put my finger on what this game reminds me of, but it definitely feels familiar. The Missile Game basically consists of you guiding a missile through a tunnel with obstacles. I know you’re thinking that you could find a hundred flash games that fit this description. What makes The Missile Game different is that it takes place in first person view. From a programming aspect, I can appreciate how difficult this is to make. But all the extra hard work paid off. The first person view gives you the added thrill of controlling a missile. Also, the control is terrific. I was a little worried when I started because I was afraid that the precision wouldn’t be what I needed it to be. No worries there. The mechanics feel completely natural. If for some reason they don’t, there is an option for adjusting the mouse sensitivity. These settings are not saved though so make sure to readjust it each time you play.

I guess I should address the Google gadget aspect of The Missile Game. The gadget is not overly big or small. There is a good sized Adsense ad on the bottom of the gadget. But overall I think the space allocation is reasonable. I believe this will fit in to anyone’s iGoogle page.

I can’t get past the first level. Can you?

I do enjoy the occasional chess game. I like to think that I am smart, because I am fairly decent at the game. Then reality kicks in and I get beat by a 8 year old. That’s life I guess. However, little practice right from my iGoogle page might help.

The Chess gadget is an effective chess flash game. It is definitely playable, which is more than I can say for flash games that are translated into gadgets. That being said it is far from perfect. There still is a slight issue with the size. The game is big enough so that you can see the pieces, however most of the words on the gadget are too small to read. So you better pay attention when the computer player makes its move, because the scrolling list of past moves is extremely illegible. Also in the opening menu there are two options about the A.I. However, I wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly what they are. Then again in the end I can in fact play the game.

I don’t know about you, but I lost my short term memory a long time ago. According to HelpGuide.org “Memory, like muscular strength, is a “use it or lose it” proposition. The more you work out your brain, the better you’ll be able to process and remember information.” So if the best way to improve short term memory is to test it, than I have the iGoogle Gadget for you.

What better way to practice your short term memory, than with the ultra simple children’s matching game on your iGoogle page. So leave it to LabPixies to provide the fine Memory Game gadget. Everyone has played some version of this game. You flip some cards with pictures on one side. Than you try to use your memory to match each picture with its twin. It sounds a lot easier than it is though. I have tried it and my best score is an embarrassing 25 steps.

Of course like most of LabPixie’s gadgets the Memory Game is well implemented. There are several themes to pick from to help add that extra bit of customization to your iGoogle page. Overall it is pretty hard to mess up such a basic game and not only did Memory Game not mess up it is pretty darn fun to play.

Now let me start off by saying that I have a completely reasonable fear of penguins. I believe that they are the true masterminds behind the Cold War. Also who can trust a bird that looks like it is wearing a tuxedo. So I was weary when I came across the gadget named Poke the Penguin. This turned out to be about the simplest form of entertainment you can find. I guess Poke the Penguin can best be categorized as a game. It basically comes down to you rapidly clicking on an innocent looking penguin. But when you poke the penguin enough, it retaliates in a hysterical way. See now I have you hooked. Instead of telling you what the penguins does, I think it is best if it is left a surprise.

I may still have an irrational fear of penguins, but Poke the Penguin manages to keep me entertained.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

This gadget is a fully-functional version of Popcap’s Bejeweled game (probably a renegade gadget since Popcap is not the developer). Since 2001, Bejeweled has been downloaded 150 million times, making it one of the most popular games on the internet. The objective of this game is to swap one gem with an adjacent gem to form a horizontal or vertical chain of three or more gems. Bonus points are given when more than three identical gems are formed or forms two lines of identical gems in one swap. Gems disappear when chains are formed and gems fall from the top to fill in gaps. If you love Scrabulous, you’ll probably like this game.

In terms of it’s iGoogle implementation, the game is unfortunately shrunk down a bit from it’s standalone version and no canvas mode has been created. It will also slow down your page quite a bit, so you might want to keep it minimized when you’re not using it. In general I can’t give much in the way of props to the developer, since he didn’t do too much here, but to his credit the game is not plastered with ads, which is a big plus.