Free brain-training game
About Ghost Train
Ghost Train is a working memory game about live updating: passengers board and leave your train, but the moment they enter the tunnel their numbers disappear. You keep the running total in your head — +4 boards, +7 boards, −3 leave — and answer at each station. Later journeys split you across two carriages tracked independently, and every completed station carries the train into a new environment.
How to play Ghost Train
- 1Watch each passenger update appear one at a time (for example +4 board, −3 leave).
- 2Update the running total in your head — the labels vanish and are never shown again.
- 3At the station, pick the current total from four choices.
- 4A correct answer extends the journey to the next stop; longer chains, doubling events and a second carriage arrive as you travel farther.
What Ghost Train trains
Ghost Train trains working memory in its purest form: continuously updating hidden information rather than recalling a static list. Holding one — later two — running totals through a stream of changes is the classic n-back-style load that stretches how much your mind can juggle.
Learn about Working Memory Exercises and Games for Adults →Tips & strategy
- Say the new total to yourself after every update — vocal rehearsal beats passive watching.
- With two carriages, anchor each total to a side (A left, B right) so updates land in the right slot.
- Don't rush the answer — the clock is generous; losing the total is what ends runs.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ghost Train free to play?
Yes. Ghost Train is free in your browser with no sign-up needed.
How does Ghost Train get harder?
Chains grow longer, doubling events appear, and from station five you track two carriages independently — the question can ask about either one.
Why is tracking a running total good working memory training?
You must hold information you can no longer see and keep rewriting it as new updates arrive — the hold-and-manipulate loop at the heart of working memory.