A lot of people come to my blog looking for online brain games and advice on how to find the best ones. In order to help you make more informed decisions, I’m producing a series of reviews of commercially available brain games. You can find a listing of all the commercially available brain game reviews in the Articles section of this website.
Lumosity Online Brain Games
Name: Lumosity
URL: www.lumosity.com
Product Type: Online access, subscription based
I’m starting my review series off with the first commercial online brain games product I ever purchased, and the one that I still use today.
This article is intended to help you reach an informed decision on whether Lumosity is the right commercial online brain game for you.
Before reading on, if you have no idea as to how brain games can benefit you or how you would go about selecting a good one, read my post titled; Brain Games Benefit You Now, and In The Future
A Brief History
As I initially educated myself on the subject of online brain games, I realized that I wanted something that;
1) Worked.. Meaning that it would actually benefit my brain health and fitness.
2) Wasn’t too expensive.
3) Would be fun to play and use.
I went looking online for commercial brain games that met my initial criteria. I discovered Lumosity and was completely intrigued by the online brain game product. What most interested me at first was how well rounded and professional the product was. A lot of commercial online brain games seem almost childish. I mean, games that seem like they were created or targeted mostly for children. Lumosity brain games however, seemed more geared for adults in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong.. some of the games included in Lumosity do have the look and feel like they were designed for younger audiences, but I think overall the product is geared towards adult to young adult ages.
As usual, I did some due diligence first and looked around the internet to see what other people were saying about Lumosity. It was hard to find a negative comment. Most of them were very positive. As you look around, you’ll find that most sites dealing with brain health and fitness offer links to Lumosity – so I knew it wasn’t a fly by night outfit. It was and still is, in fact, one of the leading online brain game products and companies out there today.
I then went ahead and signed up for the free 14 day trial with Lumosity. Once I got the feel for the product and saw everything offered first hand, I opted up for the subscription service.
Even though I have by now tried and used many other commercial online brain game products, I continue to subscribe to and use the brain games at Lumosity.
Why I Use Lumosity Online Brain Games
In a nutshell, there were seven reasons why I initially chose and continue to use the Lumosity online brain games product.
- The product is accessed online, meaning I didn’t have to download anything to start using it. Therefore, I could play it on any computer, anywhere, anytime I wanted. In addition, as the product improves and more games are added over time, I’m always using the latest version.
- There was a free trial period where I could evaluate the product before I paid any money.
- Once I did sign up for the subscription service, I could cancel it at anytime.
- There were lots and lots of different brain games included in the product. In fact, there are even many groupings of brain games, each group targeting a certain aspect of brain function. For instance, there are whole groups of brain games targeting memory improvement, processing speed and problem solving, just to name a few.
- There were Neuroscientists on the development team. This was important, because I wanted to make sure that neuroscience was behind the development of the games.
- The product is relatively in-expensive, especially when one considers the health benefits derived from such a product.
- The brain games found at Lumosity are fun to play. They also continually increase in difficulty as you progress in ability.
Price
There are three levels of Lumosity access.
1) Visitors – Free but limited access to brain games and content on the Lumosity website. No sign-up is required to play the limited access set of brain games.
2) Members – Once you sign up for a free member account with Lumosity, you have a 14 day free trial to all of the brain games offered at the site. You won’t be billed for anything unless you keep your account open past your 14-day free trial. After that, you will be billed depending on the subscription plan you chose at member sign-up. You can cancel at anytime using your member account page.
3) Subscribers - Once the free trial is over, you can pay in billing increments of your choice (monthly or yearly) and have access to all the games, training programs, and progress tracking tools.
Membership Plans Available (billing cycles) – You can choose one of the following subscription plans upon sign-up.
Monthly Subscription — $14.95 / month
Yearly Subscription — $79.95 (most popular plan)
Two Year Plan — $119.95
Cancellation policy – When you subscribe to Lumosity, you are signing up for an automatically recurring billing at the interval of your choice. You can cancel your subscription at any time. After canceling, your account will retain subscriber level access to all of the brain games through the remainder of your billing cycle (mthly, yearly or two year).
My subscription preference- I signed up and continue to remain on the Yearly Subscription membership plan. I am now in my second year as of this writing. For me, it’s the least risky yet affordable way to go.
Choosing An Online Brain Game
I recommend before choosing a commercial online brain game you do your own due diligence and read forums and ask for opinions from current customers. Narrow down your list of potential commercial online brain game products based on your most important criteria and then test one out. Remember, making a purchase doesn’t lock you in, most online brain game companies offer a free trial and money back guarantees (just make sure there is one before buying).
In addition, I suggest that you read the blog posts I list in the articles section of this site under the heading: Brain Games: How To Choose The Best. These articles will give you more information on how best to evaluate and select an online brain game product.
