ADHD Pearls
Sixty seconds with a beginning, a middle and an end — for the moment you’re staring at the thing and not starting it. Free, in your browser, no login.
Do these actually fix your attention?
No — and we’d rather say so. Blinded research on computerised cognitive training in ADHD found gains in working memory but none in attention, impulse control or processing speed. Practising a task mostly makes you better at that task. What a brain break doesreliably do is give you a small, finishable thing to complete on purpose — which is often exactly what it takes to get moving. That’s the whole promise, and it’s the only one we’ll make.
The gentlest way in. Numbers are scattered across a grid and you tap them 1, 2, 3… in order. Under a minute, impossible to lose, and weirdly satisfying to finish.
Pokes at: Visual scanning — how your eyes hunt across a busy field.
Shapes flash up and you tap them fast — except when it's a pearl, and then you have to not. It is exactly as hard as it sounds, and failing it is funny rather than damning.
Pokes at: The gap between deciding to stop and actually stopping.
A bar fills for a while. You guess how long it took, then try to reproduce it. If you've ever lost ninety minutes to a five-minute task, this one will feel personal.
Pokes at: Time perception — the thing behind 'I swear that was five minutes'.
Colour words printed in the wrong colour. You pick the colour, not the word — and your brain will fight you the entire time. Twenty rounds, with a rule flip halfway if you want it.
Pokes at: Ignoring the obvious-but-wrong answer your brain offers first.
Looking for something you can sink into rather than leave? The ADHD games are longer, sillier, and earn the same pearls.
A brain break is a short, deliberate pause that gives your attention something small and finishable to do. These ones take 45 to 90 seconds, run in your browser, and are built for the exact moment most of us know far too well — you know what the task is, you know it matters, and you still cannot get yourself to begin.
They are not treatment and they are not training. Think of them the way a runner thinks about walking to the end of the street before a run: the point is not the walk, the point is that you are now moving. You do a break, something happens, it ends, you get a small reward — and the next thing is a fraction easier to start.
Do brain training games actually work for ADHD? Honestly — mostly not in the way the ads suggest. The biggest review of computerised cognitive training in ADHD, looking only at blinded, objective results, found that working memory did improve, but attention, impulse control and processing speed did not, and symptom change was far smaller than medication. Practising a task mainly makes you better at that task. Anyone promising that a grid of numbers will fix your attention is selling you something.
So here is what we will claim, and nothing more: a brain break is a ritual with a beginning, a middle and an end. For a lot of ADHD brains that structure is the thing that gets you over the starting line — not because your attention got repaired, but because you did one deliberate thing on purpose and the momentum carried.
Every break ends the same way: a plain-English sentence about how the run went, the numbers underneath for anyone who wants them, an honest note about what the result does not mean, and one link to a two-minute real-life step — usually the free Stuck Reset or the Dopamine Menu.
You also earn pearls 🫧, the same currency as the rest of the ADHD games. Collect enough and a surprise reward unlocks. Pearls live on your device — no account, no login, nothing to remember.
Educational, not a diagnosis.This game is a relatable, educational tool — it cannot diagnose ADHD or any condition. If your symptoms are affecting your daily life, please talk with a qualified clinician.
ADHD Pearls Letter
One short letter, every week. Real talk about ADHD, task paralysis, and the tiny wins that actually move the needle for a brain like yours. No shame. No hustle culture.