Cortex Challenge Brain Party Game Review (age 8+)

Cortex Challenge is a really fast-paced game for 2-6 players aged around 8+, although my 7 year old is brilliant at it. Card-based, each card is a challenge and it's up to each player to be fastest to spot the correct answer, shout it out and cover the card with their hand.

Everything is packed into a small box, so this is an ideal one for taking out with you or for using on holiday. Only the brain parts are small and have potential to be lost.

The cards have 8 different challenges on them and are all shuffled and placed face down in a pile. The top one is turned over and all players have to work out the answer and slap their hand over the card, shouting the answer as they do so. Then players all check and if they were right they win the card. You can guess to try to be quick, but if you are wrong, you sit out the next turn.

Some of the cards have a picture of a thumbprint and they denote a bonus 'Touch Challenge' for whoever won the last card. The tactile cards are brilliant and have a large variety of items on them. They're also a lot harder than they look!

Collect matching pairs of challenge cards to exchange for 'brain pieces'. When you have collected a whole 4-part brain, you're the winner.

This is a brilliant game which we've played a lot. A full game lasts around 20 minutes, but with 2 of you, you can dip in and play for 10 minutes and even if you don't finish, see who scores the most.

As much as we love Cortex Challenge, 3 of my sons are red-green colourblind and the gentle hues are completely imperceptible to them. It gets even more complex because they all have varying extremes of colour vision, so using the 'Which is the broken robot?' Observation Cards we get 4 different answers and then the winner has to just point immediately to prove they saw it. We can't play the 'Combination Challenge' puzzle cards which rely entirely on colour. It's a little disappointing because it's so easily solved, but it still works and we all agree it's a great game.

Cortex Challenge is suitable for 2-4 players of all ages around 7+. Available now from all good games stockists including Amazon, rrp £12.99. An absolute bargain and a great game for the price. 



We were sent our copy of Cortex Challenge for review. Amazon links are affiliate links, which means I earn a few pence for directing you to the product, but you don't pay any more