Game On: How Singapore's Seniors Are Rewriting the Rules of Aging Through Gaming

“Too much screen time has been linked to behavioural problems, violence, depression...” – Mayo Clinic Health System

"Video game addiction... results in negative consequences including self-care, relationships, school and work.” – Cleveland Clinic

“Gaming is associated with obesity in teens, and, plausibly, the same would be shown in adults.” – Harvard Health

In 2018, the World Health Organisation formally recognised gaming disorder in the International Classification of Diseases.

For years, the narrative has been consistent: gaming is indulgent at best, harmful at worst. It is blamed for lethargy, distraction, and dependency. Mention games in the context of health, and few would instinctively think of prevention – let alone protection.

And yet, these very same digital tools are being reimagined by SingHealth. Not as an escape, but as an intervention. Not as distraction, but as defence – against cognitive decline.

Imagine forgetting how to make your morning coffee – not because you're tired, but because your brain can't remember the steps it's done thousands of times before.

This is the reality for millions facing cognitive decline, where everyday tasks become insurmountable puzzles. But what if we could catch these changes before they steal away independence?

Take CAVIRE-2[1], for instance. Players don a VR headset and step into 13 virtual environments that mirror real life – preparing breakfast in a familiar kitchen (above), navigating a grocery run, organising daily routines. But here's the remarkable part: whilst you're simply going about these everyday tasks, the system is quietly observing how your mind works.

Every hesitation at the coffee machine, every wrong turn in the virtual supermarket, every moment of confusion tells a story. The automated scoring system captures it all – tracking not just whether you complete each task correctly, but how many attempts you need and whether you finish within the 30 to 90 seconds allocated. These seemingly simple activities become powerful diagnostic tools, testing memory, attention, decision-making, and processing speed with nearly 90% accuracy.

Developed through a collaboration between SingHealth Polyclinics (SHP) and local VR software firm FXMedia / FXMWeb, CAVIRE-2 has the potential to provide a comfortable, immersive and even fun environment, promoting a more natural assessment process.

The virtual scenarios are tailored to reflect familiar, real-life activities within the Singapore context which allows clinicians to assess cognitive function in a way that is both culturally relevant and closely aligned with a person’s ability to manage daily life.

Mdm Gwen Too

Games for Seniors

We often describe the brain as a muscle, with different regions governing different functions. With age, the brain gradually shrinks, and cognitive decline follows. Over the past decade, researchers have been exploring how digital games – when carefully designed and clinically structured – can support cognitive health.

Mdm Gwen Too, 85, lives alone in Redhill and has done so independently for the past six years. Like many older adults, she understands the quiet anxiety that accompanies lapses in memory.

She, along with other seniors, took part in a six-month programme which had them playing an hour of games weekly on a specially designed tablet, SilverPad.

These games were first designed by SilverActivities, and forms part of the IMPRESS-MIND2S initiative, funded under the Ministry of Health’s National Innovation Challenge.

Researchers from the SingHealth Centre for Population Health Research and Implementation worked with occupational therapists and psychologists from Changi General Hospital as part of its Community Psychogeriatric Programme, and Dementia Singapore to enhance the games for seniors.

The refinements may appear subtle, but they are intentional. Large buttons. Clear instructions. Local language options – English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. Over 100 ad-free games grounded in local contexts. Technology here is not flashy; it is human-centred, carefully calibrated for seniors.

Where necessary, the team made further adjustments. Original versions of the Match It Objects and Repeat It games were deemed too fast-paced, so the response time between each stage was lengthened.

Additional rounds were introduced for the Whack A Frog game to ensure that difficulty progressed at a manageable pace. A search bar was also added to the homepage, so seniors can locate specific games more easily.

Each weekly session unfolds in three parts: a recap of the previous session, thematic discussions spanning topics from Singapore’s heritage to participants’ personal interests, and SilverPad games designed to target specific cognitive domains such as attention, processing speed, memory and executive function.

For Mdm Gwen, the impact extended beyond cognition. Once accustomed to sleeping late and waking in the afternoon, she adjusted her routine to attend every session. As one of the oldest participants at 85, she spoke warmly of the experience: “I look forward to the sessions. They help me stay active, and the experience has been very fulfilling – almost like crafting a new life for me. I feel my memory has improved, and I enjoy how the activities encourage active thinking and spark my creativity.”

The first 24-week pilot at NTUC Health Active Ageing Centre @Redhill recently concluded in February 2026, facilitated by CREST from NTUC Health Co-operative Limited, with approximately 470 seniors expected to participate by September 2028. Youth volunteers from Youth Corps Singapore were brought in to guide seniors through the games. Through this, social interaction became another unexpected central pillar, bridging generational divides.

[1] CAVIRE is short for ‘Cognitive Assessment using VIrtual REality’

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