20 APPS THAT IMPROVE HAND EYE COORDINATION

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Hand eye coordination is essential, not only for martial arts experts, Katniss Everdeen, or participant of sports in which balls are thrown (which is an awful lot) but for people who wish to carry out everyday tasks from writing their names to tying their shoes. Hand eye coordination is the visual system’s ability to recognize and manipulate objects. Video games have been studied for nearly thirty years for their ability to improve hand eye coordination, and smartphone apps represent a new generation of hand- eye coordination improvement tools. [1].

METRICS

Not all apps can improve your hand- eye coordination (sorry, Candy Crush). The apps complied focus on one, or all of these hand eye coordination metrics: Precision, accuracy (being able to repeat precision), and reaction time.  These apps challenge the brain (to process and carry out directions efficiently) and while measuring player improvement.

PRECISION

1. Cut the Rope

This app wins the award for most accurate title. A straightforward game that focuses on precision,  players must correctly swipe to cut the rope to release candy into the awaiting mouth of an insatiable alien.
Price: Free
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

2. Holes and Balls

Perhaps the most questionably title game on this list, Holes and Balls is reminiscent of pinball:  Users must align the ball to the target, manipulating the direction of the ball to it’s correct deposit. Although a relatively simple concept the game can get extremely difficult as users manipulate the ball through a series of changing obstacles and a never- ending series of levels.
Price: $.99
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Android compatible.  

3. RC Heli Gold

Whether it’s the 90’s computer graphics or the smooth jazz soundtrack, RC Heli Gold packs a wallop in hand-eye coordination capability. Users must precisely manipulate a helicopter via joysticks through a series of timed obstacles. There are six courses to choose from and users manipulate their pitch sensitive helicopter over low warehouse underpasses and a strangely desolate playground.
Price: $1.99
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

4. Precision

This application asks the user to deposit multicolored balls into the correct colored holes by carefully tilting the screen. Using varying levels of gravity to make the balls more sensitive, the application offers users 50 levels of precision practice.
Price: $1.99
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

5. Finger Balance

Users are given a given a rod and a ball. The objective is to raise and lower both ends of the rod to balance the ball and navigate it through obstacles. The game grows increasingly difficult as those obstacles tilt, shift, and provide the overall anxiety of the final leg of the egg balance during 4th grade field day.
Price: $1.99
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Android compatible.  

6. Jenga

The difficultly (and anxiety) of pulling out Jenga logs is transferred perfectly to this application. Users must carefully select and manipulate their logs from the tower and stack them neatly on top without causing the tower to tumble; the game graphics are phenomenal, so users must be precise as they manipulate the blocks. Users can play with up to four friends.
Price: $.99
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Android 2.0 and up.  

ACCURACY

7. Parking Mania Lite

Developers at Clickgamer.com have turned a headache-inducing driving nightmare into an entertaining game for iPad and iPhone users. The timed application provides a series of parking spaces where users must manipulate around objects with accuracy and precision.  The application requires steady hands to deftly navigate around narrow streets, and of course — parked police cars.
Price: Free
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.  

8. Traffic Rush

Traffic Rush is set in a terrifying world where there are no traffic lights, and cars must speed up or slow down to avoid collision at a four way intersection. The app tests accuracy and precision as users control the speed of approaching vehicles by swiping or tapping the screen to maintain a steady flow of traffic. Users can pick from the traditional traffic mode or train mode.
Price: $.99
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

9. Box the Bag  

Box the bag is a Kinect and Wii styled application where users literally use their tablet to box.  Users punch the boxing bag that has specific targets linked to your smartphone’s camera, to the test accuracy of jabs and punches. A truly innovative game that uses existing iPhone technology to track movement, Box the Bag is the only application on the list where users employ their body to meet visual targets.
Price: $.99
Compatibility: with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

10. High Noon

Users are lone travelers in the Wild West, armed with smartphones/virtual shotguns. In High Noon, users travel throughout the Wild West shooting outlaws and saving the day from vagrants. What makes this game unique amongst hand- eye coordination apps that focus on accuracy, is the interactive feature that allows users to play with opponents around the world.
Price: Free
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

​11. Finger Basketball

For the sports fans looking to improve their shots, Finger Basketball tests shooting accuracy. There are two ways to shoot: Users either put a finger on ball and swipe, or tap near the basketball’s edge for quicker shots. The application is slightly finicky, so shots need to be perfectly aligned to be counted.
Price: Free
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires Android 1.5 and up.

12. Fruit Sorter

With bright graphics and simple directions, Fruit Sorter is the ideal way to improve hand-eye coordination while reminding participants to eat healthier. Users must transfer fruit off of a moving belt and place in the correct boxes. The game is made more difficult by the belt, which speeds up or provides an additional variety of fruit to sort through.
Price: Free
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Android 2.2 and up.

 

REACTION TIME
 

13. Slide

This game measures reaction time as you slide the unlock bar on your phone as quickly as possible. Thankfully, this app does not initiate every time you unlock your phone (although you would certainly improve your hand-eye coordination if it did). Providing four levels that increase in difficulty, the app features levels with advancing speeds, multiple unlocks, and variable directional unlocks to challenge users.
Price: $.99
Compatibility: iPhone, iPod, and iPod touch

14. Burn the Rope

This app wins the award for the second most aptly titled application. Users try to burn as much rope as possible by selecting targets and tilting the screen to let the flames consume the cables.  Measuring reaction time, the app grows increasingly difficult as virtual bugs change how quickly the flames burn, forcing the user to continuously twist and turn.

Price: $ .99
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Android compatible.

15. Are You Faster

Are you faster? At first try- probably not.  Players must hit correct colored buttons as soon as they appear, to measure reaction time in this three level game. The uniqueness of this app is the multiplayer mode, which allows users to compare and track  reaction time down to the millisecond.
Price: $.99
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

16. Finger Slayer- Seasons

Although not as terrifying as the French revolution, users must place their finger in the guillotine and quickly remove it before it is sliced off (visually- don’t worry!). A fun and innovative way to measure reaction time, the game provides four modes that test reaction time via multiple falling blades.
Price: Free
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.  

ONE OR MORE METRICS

17. Braintrainer

Combining four games in one, Braintrainer is an all-in-one hand-coordination app because it tests reaction time, precision, andaccuracy. The application challenges the user’s memory through changing patterns, measuring reaction time to the millisecond and testing accuracy with a bull’s-eye game.
Price: $2.99
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

18. Hardest Game 0.02

Surprisingly addictive, the Hardest Game 0.02 is not as difficult as the name promises. Comprised of eight mini-games with three corresponding levels, the game tests your accuracy in a series of challenges from matching office supplies to sliding beers. The game also allows users to monitor their precision by tracking the pixel range of each attempt.
Price: Free
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

19. Amazing Twister

Twister for the fingers, the game challenges users to drag chips of different colors to their target, which can be moving or static. Carpal tunnel aside the game is a fun diversion, demanding precision and accuracy. An added bonus- friends can play simultaneously!
Price: $.99
Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

20. Bop It!

If you’re a nineties kid, Bop It! brings back memories of nonstop competitions and the catchy theme music that continues to haunt. The iPhone app is similar to the physical game, and asks users to follow commands and correctly select the object in the quickest amount of time.  In addition to the standard three commands, the game has six additional commands that keep users on their feet and allows for multiple players.