Why Colt Express is good for science.

Such a straightforward game, such simple rules, yet Colt Express teases out of you mental faculties you never knew you had. 

The board is a miniature Wild West train where you can move between carriages, climb onto the roof, lead the marshal, rob, punch, and shoot each other.

And that’s it. Those are your choices. But – these actions happen only after 3-5 rounds of instructions are placed on a communal stack, which is then flipped over and played out as they were entered.

First round is easy – you know where everyone is, and what they’re up to (mostly), so that if you’re going to rob that ruby, it will likely be there for you to grab.But then someone throws a punch; someone will be pushed into an adjacent carriage, it might be you, it might be the other guy, and you still have three rounds of instructions to issue.

Your certainty splits. Were you punched? If so, will it be to the carriage to the left or right? Where will you be? Who will be there with you? You keep both these possibilities in your head, then someone moves the marshal. If he is moved onto you, then you are now on the roof. Django shoots, which would push someone back. You, or someone else?

You now have seven possibilities in your head with varying degrees of likelihood.The rest of your decisions, simple as your choices are, become based on being able to hold these possibilities in your head, to remember what went before, and to mentally adjust your previous decision based on what someone else has just done.

Get all that? No? You will.Your game becomes a growing stack of "if… then…" statements as the order slowly unravels into a limited chaos that you, as a player, get gradually better at handling. The more you play, the better you will become at keeping track of multiple lines of logic.

Five stages per game of this, and you will astound yourself at what your brain can do, and chuckle at beginners with their one-track-at-a-time mind.Scientific and philosophical thinking require these skills – to keep competing possibilities in your mind as valid to differing degrees until the proof comes in, in this case, only when the cards are turned over and played out. Like a mental fitness coach, your memory will be stretched, your logic strengthened, your capacity for abstract thought teased out and your ability to keep a mind open to possibilities kneaded into shape.So play Colt Express, enjoy it, it's loads of fun, play it repeatedly, then see if you do better at computer programming.

Or theoretical physics.