Cognido is a German university project downloaded 40,000 times.

Cognido is a brain training game made by university student David Schreiber
It’s a solo project that features quick matches against friends and strangers.
Cognido challenges you with problems that evolve from simple math equations to trivia and more.

If you’ve ever been to college and taken any type of course, you’ll probably remember the time when you had to complete a project that was then released into the wild. Whether it’s a website, social media project or something else. Most are probably dead and forgotten, but some academic projects defy all odds and aim for success, like the current subject Cognido.

Developed by university student David Schreiber, it is a single-player developed multiplayer brain training game. What’s special here is the pace, with quick matches against other players to take on friends and strangers.

With already 40,000 downloads, the success of this project is both impressive and easily understandable. I think most of us have fond memories of old Doctor Kawashima and his brain training, even if the squid-shaped Nido mascot for Cognido isn’t necessarily as encouraging or kind as the kind old Japanese doctor.

Built in Germany

This is not to say that Cognido is necessarily a university-mandated project, otherwise I’m not sure it would offer both free and premium play. Yes, if you want to get the most out of Cognido you will need a subscription, however, you can also try it with a free trial to see if it is for you.

A major new update is also apparently in development to bring even more content to Cognido, including the new Clash mode which lets you compete in rounds of four to six players, deciding who will be the last brain standing.

Yet if there’s anything I know about puzzle fanatics, it’s that they’re rarely satisfied with just one way to exercise their brains. So if Cognido makes you want to know more, why not try checking out our list of the 25 best puzzle games for Android and our equivalent list for iOS?