Do Board Games Make People Smarter?: Two Initial Exploratory Studies

Abstract

In recent years, the authors have witnessed the rebirth of board games. This contribution aims to investigate the educational potential of non-random board games in two ways: the comparison of performances of “expert adult players” and “adult non-players” through a correlation study (n=45) and the comparison between the results achieved by a group of children after 26 hours of game training (n=10) and those of a control group that carried out traditional educational activities (n=10) by using a nonrandomized control group pretest-posttest. Specifically, the findings relating to fluid intelligence, analytical and converging cognitive processes and creativity were compared. The results suggest that non-random board games can be an important stimulus for the cognitive functions, with a particular focus on the creative side, and therefore have an important educational function.