Brain Training’s Dr. Kawashima Does It For Free February 01, 2008

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You’d think after creating one of the world’s best-selling games the man behind it would find a tropical beach, kick back and spend all those millions. Right?

He would if he wasn’t Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, the scientist that created the phenomenally successful Brain Training games for the Nintendo DS. To date, 17 million copies have sold. In fact, even though he’s entitled to $22 million in royalties, he hasn’t touched a penny himself.

Speaking to AFP, the 48-year old inventor said: "Not a single yen has gone in my pocket. Everyone in my family is mad at me but I tell them that if they want money, go out and earn it."

Instead, the self-confessed workaholic has spent his share building new laboratories at the Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer where he works in Tohoku University in Japan. Hell, he doesn’t even like games and bans his four sons from playing all week, except for one hour.

"What is scary about games is that you can kill as many hours as you want. I don't think playing games is bad in itself but it makes children unable to do what they should do such as study and communication with the family.”

And what about his own brain?

“I'm confident I'll go senile,” he jokes. “Researchers, especially those in medical fields, are said to die of what they are studying. Since I've been studying the brain, I'll die of a brain disease.”

Hats off to the Doc.-Martin Lynch

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