Aha!

After playing the Brain Training Game for a while I began to notice some key elements holding it together.

The brain training game features no conventional gameplay and it does not set to entertain the player per say. Still it is very popular and selling like mad, simply, people love it.

Obviously there is something else then gameplay at work here.

The game isn't "actually" entertaining (besides perhaps the soduku).

No, the gameplay is not fun. Instead the overall greatness of the game is held together by several key features in unison.

I works like this:

The game is presented to be a serious product based on research of a famous brain researcher.
The game is designed, based on his reseach, to improve your brain.

After the introduction where the evidence is presented you are asked to take a brain age test which you do and to your horror your brain age is 40 some years older then your real age. The horror!

The motivation is now established that you, since this is for real, are in some trouble and this software can help you. It does help that the Dr. Kawashima avatar is very charismatic and friendly.

Lastly, all data is presented in graph form, along with your "level" (brain age). So now, when your stats are determined who could stop you from levelling up?

Introduction -> Evidence is presented, eliminate doubdt -> Perform poorly in test -> Present the solution, brain training -> Present data as "levels", visualize progress (numerical rating of the self).

This is just an observation, I like the game and I do believe it does have positive effect on the brain.

Key findings today:
"calculating" the skill/stat of the physical player and presenting it in the game.