Brain Test 5 — Play Free Online

Brain Test 5 is a puzzle game built on trick questions. Each level gives you a short scene and a one-line prompt, and the obvious reading of that prompt is usually wrong. The fun is in noticing what the question never actually said, and then doing something slightly sideways to solve it.

It sits in the Puzzle & Brain corner of the Doodle Jump catalogue, which suits a different mood from the headline game. Doodle Jump asks for steady reflexes and a long climb. Here a level can take a few seconds or a few minutes, and nothing punishes you for stopping to think. It runs in the browser with nothing to install, so it works well as a break between runs of something faster.

How to play

Read the prompt, look at everything on screen, and interact with it. The listed controls are the arrow keys or WASD to move, and the mouse to aim and select. On a phone you tap and swipe instead. In practice most of the game is pointing and selecting: tap an object, drag it somewhere, or tap something that does not look interactive.

If an attempt fails, the level resets and you can try again straight away. A wrong guess costs you nothing but a few seconds, so experimenting is part of the design.

Tips

• Treat the wording as a clue. If a prompt sounds too simple, the answer is probably not the simple one.
• Try tapping on text, on the background and on small details. Puzzles in this style often hide the solution in something that does not look like a button.
• If you are stuck, put the game down for a minute. Fresh eyes spot the trick faster than a tenth repeat of the same wrong idea.
• On a touchscreen, drag slowly so the game registers where you meant to drop an object.

Similar games on Doodle Jump

If you like the thinking-first pace, Fireboy and Watergirl swaps trick questions for cooperative platform puzzles with two characters. Bloons Tower Defense 2 is a more planned, strategic kind of puzzle. For something that needs only quick fingers, Helix Jump and Bird Jumper are the better pick.

Brain Test 5 suits short sessions, one-handed phone play, or passing the screen around so a friend can have a go at a level that has stumped you.