Each level states a goal such as 'get the ball into the cup'; players draw any shape with a finger, it becomes a solid object that obeys gravity, and they watch whether it works, then refine the drawing to use fewer strokes.
Why it may be useful
There is no single correct answer, so you reason about levers, counterweights, ramps, and momentum, then test an idea in seconds. That reasoning stays intuitive: no force or unit is ever named, so little of it turns into anything a physics class would recognize.
Keep in mind
Free play is interrupted by ads and a hint and level-skip economy; difficulty spikes can frustrate, and the physics rewards clever exploits as much as textbook thinking.
Written 2026-09-15 · editorial assessment, not a measured effect · how we rate →
What the game is
Brain It On is a physics puzzle game for phones. Orbital Nine Games, a small studio, put it on the App Store in June 2015 and keeps updating it. Each level is a single still picture drawn as white lines on a dark background: a ball, a cup, a plank, a box, with one line of text at the top saying what has to happen.
You draw shapes with a finger. Whatever you draw turns into a solid object with weight, and then gravity takes over and the scene plays out. Nothing is timed, and a level can be restarted instantly and as often as you like. Extra stars are awarded for tighter solutions, such as using fewer shapes. The app is free with advertising, and in-app purchases remove the ads and unlock more levels. The store rates it four plus, and the developer adds new puzzles over time.
What you actually do
Read the goal, look at the scene, and decide what shape would make it happen. Then draw it. A line across a gap becomes a bridge; a blob above a lever becomes a weight; a wedge under a box becomes a ramp. Release, and the physics runs in front of you. Most first attempts fail in an interesting way, and the correction is usually small: draw the weight further out, make the ramp shallower, add a second shape so the ball cannot bounce away. Because the game accepts any solution that meets the goal, two players will solve the same level in completely different ways. The star challenges send you back to a level you already beat, to do it with less.
What it exercises
Predicts how weight, slope, and leverage will move an object
Turns a stated goal into a physical shape that could achieve it
Adjusts one element of a failed attempt rather than starting over
Finds a second solution to a problem already solved
Sees a drawn line as an object with mass, not a picture
Why we rate it Low Worksheet score 42 / 100
FitHow much real knowledge or skill does the play itself make you use?42weight 45%
Fit lands at 42. The reasoning is the gameplay: there is no quiz layer and no explanation, you think about a lever because a lever is what the level needs, and levels have many valid answers, which keeps it from turning into pattern matching. It falls well short of a strong score because the engine rewards exploits, and a player can win by wobbling rather than by understanding anything.
TransferWill what you practise here work outside the game?35weight 30%
Transfer sits at 35. Physical intuition built by watching a phone simulate gravity is not the formal reasoning a physics class asks for, and the game never names a force or a unit. It gives a player confidence with cause and effect, which is worth something, but that confidence rarely turns into anything you could write down or test elsewhere.
PracticeDoes the game make you use that skill again and again, as it gets harder?50weight 25%
Practice reaches 50. Levels take a minute or two each and restart instantly, so the guess-and-adjust loop repeats often, and star objectives bring you back for a tighter second answer on levels already solved. What limits it is that the levels get harder rather than deeper, so the same intuition is stretched rather than extended into anything new.
What the evidence says
Editorial onlyNobody outside our desk has checked this. It is our reading of how the game plays.
The evidence level is Editorial only: our reading of the mechanics, checked against Orbital Nine's site and the current App Store record in September 2026. Those confirm the developer, the June 2015 release, the free price with in-app purchases, the four-plus rating, and the design promise of several solutions per puzzle. No study examines this game, and we found no research on drawing-based physics puzzles as a group. The claim is limited to what the play demands: forming a physical prediction, watching it tested, correcting it. Whether that shows up in a physics grade is not something these sources address, which is why transfer scores low.
Editorial assessment - not a measured scientific effect.
Fit
42/100
Transfer
35/100
Practice
50/100
Why it makes the cut
A popular quick-fire puzzle game that people play for the satisfaction of a drawn contraption working; nothing is presented as a lesson.
Editorial only
Editorial only: no study examines this game or drawing-based physics puzzles as a group, so the case rests on what solving a level actually requires a player to predict and test.
Prices are US store listings in USD, last refreshed 2026-09-25; regional prices and sales differ.
Age guidance
Ages 9+
Topics
STEM, Logic & strategy
Play styles
Single-player, Puzzle
Tags
Physics · Drawing · Free with ads
Levels have many valid answers, which keeps the reasoning genuine rather than pattern matching, but the engine rewards exploits as much as understanding, and no force is ever named.
