Brain Strainers
Brain Strainers — frequently asked questions
- Is Brain Strainers on Steam?
- No. Brain Strainers is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.
- What platforms is Brain Strainers on?
- Brain Strainers is available on ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit.
- When did Brain Strainers release?
- Brain Strainers was first released on June 1, 1984.
About Brain Strainers
Brain Strainers is a collection of two separate games/learning tools. The first game is "Follow The Leader" where a pattern is repeated using a 4-color circle. By keeping track of either the tones generated or the colors flashing, the player can copy the sequence to continue. Higher difficulties increase speed and allow only tone identification of sequences. Additionally it keeps track of your best number of correct identifications in a row. The second game is "Clef Climber" where the player is given a tone that corresponds to a certain musical note and must match the note being played. Lower difficulties provide a constant tone to refer to and visual help on the note being used. Higher difficulties provide a single playing of the tone and no visual help.
Summary via IGDB.
Game details
- Platforms
- ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit
- Publisher
- Coleco
- Themes
- Educational
Details via IGDB.
Every version compared
Prices, contemporary reception and the studio credited for each release
| Platform | Year | Loose | Complete | Sealed | Period reviews | Built by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ColecoVision | 1984 | $15 | $21 | — | Graphics ★★ · Play-Action ★★½ | Dan Smith (publisher) |
Also released on: Commodore 64 · Atari 8-bit. We haven’t priced or authenticated those versions yet.
Collector value & authenticity
ColecoVision · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-10-19
How often it sells
- Loose: about 6 times a year
- Complete: about 2 times a year
- Sealed: about once a year
Sales frequency from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, as of 2026-10-19.
Price over time
- Loose
- Complete
A loose copy sold for about $9.00 in Jul 2009, $19.99 five years ago, and $15.01 as of Oct 2026.
Show as table
| Month | Loose | Complete |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2010 | $6.10 | — |
| Jan 2011 | $9.00 | — |
| Jan 2012 | $15.49 | — |
| Jan 2013 | $29 | — |
| Jan 2014 | $17.99 | $19.99 |
| Jan 2015 | $12.82 | $25 |
| Jan 2016 | $7.00 | $26 |
| Jan 2017 | $11.95 | $19.94 |
| Jan 2018 | $9.31 | $21 |
| Jan 2019 | $12.49 | $21 |
| Jan 2020 | $14.99 | $21 |
| Jan 2021 | $19.99 | $44 |
| Jan 2022 | $19.99 | $61 |
| Jan 2023 | $19.99 | $40 |
| Jan 2024 | $18.39 | $40 |
| Jan 2025 | $15.85 | $28 |
| Jan 2026 | $14.33 | $20 |
| Oct 2026 | $15.01 | $21 |
Monthly price estimates from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, sampled quarterly, through Oct 2026.
Release record
| Territory | Label |
|---|---|
| North America Coleco | End label: for ColecoVision and ADAM |
- Region
- NA
- Released
- 1984
- Controller
- Port 1 controller (Player 1)
- Players
- 1 or 2
- Authenticity
- Low
A music-memory trainer from Coleco's educational line, worth owning for the shelf more than for the gameplay.
Brain Strainers began as a 1983 music game for the Atari 8-bit computers and Commodore 64, and Coleco published the ColecoVision cartridge in 1984 with Carousel Software credited as developer. Computer Entertainer filed it under ColecoVision-compatible titles and described it as a musical teaching program with two kinds of matching game.
The first, Follow the Leader, tests visual memory. The computer plays a note, an arrow points at one of four colored triangles, and you push the joystick in that direction to match it. Each correct repetition of the sequence makes the next round longer and harder. It is a simple idea for children, and the review treated it as one.
How it was made
Carousel Software is listed as developer and Coleco as publisher; the game originated on the Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 computers.
What the press said at the time
| Computer Entertainer Vol. 3 No. 8 | November 1984 | Graphics ★★ · Play-Action ★★½ |
“The game does provide for some good musical awareness, however. … This is one we'd suggest that you try out before purchase”
Computer Entertainer rated graphics first and play action second, from four symbols (excellent) to one (poor) — diamonds through early 1987, stars after — comparing each game only with other games for the same system.
How the ColecoVision version differs
The ColecoVision edition came a year after the Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 versions, arriving in 1984.
Also on other platforms
Commodore 64 · Atari 8-bit
| ColecoVision | Dan Smith (publisher) |
| ColecoVision | Bob Stewart with Radia Perlman and Carousel Software, Inc. |
- Commodore 64. Ahoy! panned the Commodore 64 version, calling it a strain on patience rather than brainpower and criticizing its poorly translated documentation.
- Atari 8-bit. Antic recognized the game for excellence in educational software.
Worth knowing
- From the ColecoVision manual. The cartridge holds two games, Follow the Leader and Clef Climber, chosen on the option screen with keypad buttons 1 and 2.
- From the ColecoVision manual. Follow the Leader offers forty difficulty levels; a note sequence can run as long as forty notes.
- From the ColecoVision manual. The manual says it was not designed for the Super Action Controllers, so use the standard hand controllers.
Before you buy
Needs only the standard ColecoVision controller; the joystick does the work, so there is no overlay to hunt for. The price row shows a boxed copy at only a modest premium over a loose one, so a complete copy is easy to justify, and the manual is worth having in a game aimed at kids. It is a US Coleco release with no documented look-alike or reproduction problem.
Watch on YouTube
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