Often, when we try to learn a new skill or get into a new field, we invest a lot of time, effort, and sometimes money into learning and mastering this skill or field. We read books, tutorials, blogs, watch videos, take courses, attend a class, and build projects just to get ourselves ready to apply for new jobs using these skills or in this field.

While that is a perfect way to learn something new or improve upon an existing skill, sometimes we wonder if there’s a way to work on our skills while doing something fun. We wonder if we can build new skills without actually reading a book or a technical post or watching a video. The truth is, there are many activities in life that we can do both to have fun and improve some skills without even realizing it.

Often, when we try to learn a new skill or get into a new field, we invest a lot of time, effort, and sometimes money into learning and mastering this skill or field. We read books, tutorials, blogs, watch videos, take courses, attend a class, and build projects just to get ourselves ready to apply for new jobs using these skills or in this field.

While that is a perfect way to learn something new or improve upon an existing skill, sometimes we wonder if there’s a way to work on our skills while doing something fun. We wonder if we can build new skills without actually reading a book or a technical post or watching a video. The truth is, there are many activities in life that we can do both to have fun and improve some skills without even realizing it.

This article will talk about some games that can help you improve some essential skills that every data scientist must develop, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, coding, pattern finding, and data analysis. These games are fun to play and will help you work on these skills without the stress of building a project or following a deadline.

Command and Conquer (C&C)

We will start out the games list with a real-time strategy or RTS game, Command & Conquer. This game is one of the earliest RTS games that include a complete ensemble cast to help you progress the story. This game introduces the player to different scenarios and different tasks that need to be completed. The player will need to develop a plan of action in order to finish these tasks and strategies efficiently. Playing such games can help you work on your critical and structured thinking skills, both very important for any data scientist to have a successful career.

Lumosity Games

Last but not least is a collection of games that will help you work on improving your problem-solving skills through a series of fun interactive games developed by Lumosity Games. This game collection is designed to expand on your planning, spatial reasoning, and logical reasoning skills.

Data Games

Perhaps the most directly related to data science on this list is this collection of games, Data games. These games help the player have a better understanding of the mechanics of any video game. For example, when you play a game, often the game collects a lot of data about your pattern of playing, but no one actually gets to see this data. This collection of games allows you to see this data, perform some interactive analysis, and make some predictions to get a sense of what real-life data analysis may involve.