We’ve been watching Amherst people do the thing Amherst people do; argue passionately about our town, get the details slightly wrong, and then double down anyway. It’s charming. It’s also, frankly, a challenge we couldn’t ignore.
So we built something to help you make sure you actually know what you think you know.
The Amherst Games platform goes live today, March 5, 2026, at games.amherstnow.com, and it’s our love letter to everyone who has ever lived here, moved here, passed through here, or spent four years here thinking they knew the place. Now you can find out.
Here’s our starting line up of games, all developed here in Amherst by the team at Owwtreach as part of their digital placemaking program.
The Amherst IQ quiz is your Amherst PhD
Questions about the town’s history, geography, culture, quirks, and the kind of local knowledge that doesn’t show up in any orientation packet. Some of it will surprise you. Some of it will humble you. All of it is genuinely Amherst. Take the Amherst IQ quiz and find out if you’ve actually been paying attention.
This isn’t trivia for trivia’s sake. It’s the kind of thing that makes you realize how much texture this town has, and how much there is to discover, even if you’ve been here for years.
Photo Hunt: you’ve walked past it a hundred times
Amherst’s streets, storefronts, and corners are hiding in plain sight, and Photo Hunt is going to make you feel bad about how little you’ve noticed. Play the Amherst Photo Hunt and see if your eyes have actually been open.
Em-Dashing: even Emily would struggle
Amherst’s daily word game is inspired by Emily Dickinson’s love for dashes, that pause, that breath, that space between what’s said and what’s meant. It’s clever, it’s local, and it will absolutely ruin your morning if you let it.
Play Em-Dashing and try to keep your streak alive.
Amherst Shopper: $100, one town, good luck
You start with $100 and a dangerous amount of confidence about where to buy things in Amherst. Spoiler: you’re wrong.
If you select the wrong shop, you get charged a penalty for impulse buying, and other random things like that.
Play the Amherst Shopper game and find out exactly how wrong.
Why games? Your brain will thank you
Because information is only part of how people connect with a place. The other part is play.
But there’s more to it than fun. Research has increasingly linked regular engagement with brain games to meaningful cognitive benefits. Studies show that game-based cognitive training improves processing speed, selective attention, short-term memory, and executive function.
A 2025 meta-analysis found that traditional puzzles and trivia-style games show stronger evidence of sustained benefit than generic training apps, which is exactly what locally-grounded games like these are. The more meaningful the context, the more the brain engages.
There’s a social dimension too. A study published in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society found that older adults with strong social ties experienced 70% less cognitive decline compared to their less socially engaged peers.
Games that connect you to your community aren’t just entertaining. They’re doing double duty. You’re sharpening your mind while strengthening the ties that literally keep it healthy.
And the stress piece matters. Research points to games creating what psychologists call “flow states,” those periods of focused, low-pressure engagement that actively reduce cortisol and improve mood. You know the feeling. You’re in a quiz, you can’t quite remember the answer, and nothing else exists for a moment. That’s not wasted time. That’s your brain doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.
It’s your turn to play – and help shape The Amherst Games
Amherst Now exists to help people, newcomers and longtime residents alike, actually know this town. Not just read about it. Know it. Games are one of the most direct ways to make that happen.
You remember what you had to think about. You come back because the town keeps surprising you. And along the way, you become a little more connected to the place you live.
We’re just getting started. More games are coming, and we want to hear from you. If you have an idea for a game that could only exist in Amherst, tell us. Seriously. Send us your idea.
For now: go play. See where you land. Then come back and do better.
Amherst Now covers the town you actually live in, not the one the algorithm shows you. Browse the site, check out our guides to Amherst, or sign up for updates.
