The human brain is capable of retaining three kinds of memory (each with their own strengths and limitations): the sensory memory, the short-term memory, and the long-term memory. These are useful for categorizing the millions of information bombarding the brain every day according to their importance - which is, of course, subjective.

The problem now lies in how our brain categorizes information. The sensory memory can only store information for a couple of seconds while the short-term memory, despite the capability to last for a minute, can only hold as much as seven items. Committing information to the long-term memory can be tricky and failure would result to the lost of the item amidst the turmoil of information in the brain. Most of the time, the human brain is set to default the incoming data to the sensory memory bin since they are almost always perceived first by the senses.

In order to be able to retain and recollect these memories after storing them in the sensory memory, you must learn to commit these to your short-term memory and then your long-term memory. There are many techniques dedicated to achieving this goal and most articles about them are study and review-related. It doesn't always have to be so. There are games for improving memory which prove to be as effective as (and more entertaining than) the peg system techniques most students and professionals employ.

Here are a few ideas for games that improve memory that you could do alone in leisure or with a group of friends.

1) The first game is very common it has been seen played in video arcades as well as in schools. It's called the Pexeso: Matching Pairs. It may also be known as the Matching Box but they are all the same in essence. This stimulates and strengthens your imagery association. Basically, you start with 24 cards of paired up pictures (an alternative would be normal playing cards where you only use a pair from each number and suit) and setting them face down. Move the cards around until you are quite sure you don't know which card is which from the set. Then the game starts.

Turn the cards over one at a time (be sure to replace them face down before turning over another) until you find each of their matches. Seems easy enough? Spice it up with a timer and challenge yourself to finish the game faster; and/or increase the number of cards from 24 to 36, then to 42, so on and so forth.

2) Another well-known game is the trivia quiz as it is a great way to improve your recall of various subjects and fields. While quiz board games and books are readily purchased at a local bookstore, it's also fun to make your own quiz games (with questions, answers, and everything in between!) with friends. This way, you can quiz yourselves about more familiar stuff like the names of your grade school classmates and other nostalgic topics.

3) You can also try reverting to the good old' jigsaw puzzle and add a twist to one of the most loved family games. Play it "blind". Just give the picture on the box a good long look - try to commit every detail to memory - then bam! Work on your puzzle until you're done and no peaking! Can you say "competitive"?

4) There's another less known but just as competitive (if not more so) game for passing time. It sounds like a simple word-association game but it really gets more spirited as it goes longer. The first person says a word from the top of his head and the next person should say another word that is associated to the first word, and so on. The catch here is that the next person must first recap the previous words starting with the first person's before he or she can say hers.

Now you can leave the rules at that or you can make it all the more complicated by requiring the last of the group to say the words in the opposite chronological order, then adding a word associated to the first words, and so on.

There you have it - four games that improve memory. It's sure to keep the brain cells happy and stimulated; and the memories easier to jog up.