What board games uses your brain capacity to the utmost?

It's hard to comment on this game because I don't know how it's played. Does it have exactly the same moves as checkers but only using a bigger 10x10 board or are there other strategies involved? I need to learn and play this game first before I go into any conclusion, but if you say it's a spectacular game, it should be worth getting into :)

Hmmmm ... I am surprised to see that you have not mentioned Scrabble here, Top, since it makes you use your brain as well. Is that because you have forgotten about the game or perhaps you are just out of practice and not that good at it any more?

It is a variant of checkers, but it needs more thoughts : pieces can capture forward and backward, kings can do long moves like a bishop in a chess game, and they can/have to change of diagonal after a capture if another capture is possible. I began to learn it at the age of 5 with my mother who was playing it in clubs/contests, so this game has also a sentimental aspect for me. Give it a try, you will probably enjoy it.

I used to play Boggle also with my brothers and it's really a lot of fun and very challenging because you need to be very fast in finding words. I didn't know the game Risk, though but the name seems interesting. Probably other board games I know that makes you think are mastermind and Games of the General. In mastermind, you have to find the right combinations of pegs and you have a few tries to do it and if you failed you lose the game. One player would be the one to place the pegs with different colors, and another player would be the one guessing where each colored pegs are placed. It's very interesting and also challenging, and this also really tests your brain skills. In games of the general, though, you only think in terms of placement strategies but it's no big effort and it doesn't task your brain too much. And then there is the factor of luck, but it's generally still an enjoyable game.

I have not played either of those games, but there is an online game that I used to play where you had to guess the pattern of colors of rocks, which sounds similar to your description of Mastermind, and that was fun. I also like to play the game Blurt. There are a bunch of cards with words and definitions on them. One person reads a definition of a word from one of the cards (these definitions are taken from a child's dictionary), and then you have to be the first person to "blurt" out the correct word based on the definition. Everybody takes turns reading the definitions and yelling out the words, so everybody is involved and you are not always competing with the same person/people. It is a lot of fun, but it is actually more difficult than it sounds, even though these definitions are taken from a child's dictionary.

I can understand your point perfectly, thewonderboy. I have bought about 50 books or more and joined about 300 tournaments online and offline, and practiced for about a total of unimaginable hours before I gain proficiency. I forgot something...and I lost approximately about more than 1000 games in my lifetime...online and offline :D

Chess is also my initial answer. It's really a very complex game, and mastering it is a difficult task. Although I know there are other board games out there that tests your brain, so I think it would be interesting to see what other games compares to chess in it's ability to make you think hard.

I totally agree with you, doroffee. Anyway I don't know two board games you mentioned which are Activity and Trivial Pursuit. The others I have already played before, especially chess. I'm currently a chess tutor online at Babaschess :)