Wayfinder Isle

Optional add-ons to try one at a time or together. Turn on the ones you like before you start.

Buy new things from the market seller standing beside the market tent on the island. Tap an item here to wear it or put it away.

• Move: arrow keys or W A S D, or hold the on-screen arrows. Left and right turn you; up walks forward.
• Sidestep: hold Shift with left or right (or press Q / E), or use the ⇤ ⇥ buttons above the arrows. On a phone you can hold two buttons at once, such as ▲ and ⇥.
• Grab a coin: click or tap it, or press Space (or the yellow Grab button). Walk into big coins on the island.
• Market seller: walk up to the man beside the market tent to spend your savings on coats, hats, a dog companion and path lanterns.
• Treasure map (turn it on below): the Map button or M. You choose whether the clock keeps running while the map is open.
• Scoring circle (any part): the Circle button or C shows a yellow ring around you, sized to how close counts as finding a treasure again (10, 8 or 6 steps by difficulty). It also appears on the map.
• Pause: the Pause button, P or Esc. The game also pauses if you switch to another window.
• Full screen: the Full screen switch above, the Full screen button in the Pause menu, or V. Press V or Esc to leave it.
• I'm here: Enter or the I'm here button.
• Fun extras (turn them on above): F takes a photo, H says hello to an animal nearby.
• Each expedition has three parts: Explore, Return, and Same or similar? Every part adjusts its difficulty to you.
• Difficulty: Easy, Moderate or Difficult sets the range. Your three skill levels still adjust inside it after each expedition.
• Bank goal: Part 1 ends once you've found every treasure and banked 12, 25 or 50 coins per explore minute (Easy, Moderate, Difficult).
• Stakes: find every treasure before your explore time runs out, or that expedition's coins are lost (choose Unlimited explore time for no countdown and no risk). Remembering where treasures were grows your bank: +10%, +50%, or double for all of them.

Each part borrows from a published study with older adults:

• Exploring a 3D world and remembering where things are works the hippocampus, the brain's map-maker. Six months of Super Mario 64 was linked to hippocampal growth.
• Same or similar? trains telling apart near-identical memories, the skill that improved after 4 weeks of 3D Mario but not Solitaire.
• Grabbing only the right coins while you walk is multitasking practice, like the NeuroRacer driving game.
• Returning from memory is the route-finding skill measured by Sea Hero Quest.

Those studies were small and short, and none showed that a game prevents dementia. This game hasn't been tested itself. Think of it as healthy exercise for your sense of direction and memory, alongside physical activity, good food, time with people, and regular checkups.