Doesn't make you smarter, but it does tend to calm one down. After a while, a person could even get good at it. As a result, we feel better, rested, ready to hit the office. Lay it all aside, the pressures of the world crowd in again and one tends to lose the knack of feeling the bottom of the pond with the sinker, teasing a nice fat, well-whiskered bottom feeder to strike...

Maybe it's like Chinese 3-D puzzle boxes...?

...kite-fighting...?

...crossword puzzles...?

...game shows...?

Maybe we just get good at stuff, and we become ready for some new mental challenge.

Mind games do remain fun, though.