Make sure you have the keyboard contoller.
My Atari was given to me by my brother when he moved out. The SNES was just coming out. The Atari was already old. And besides that, I didn't even have the keyboard. I spent literally a whole day trying to figure out why this game woulsn't work with the joystick (I was a little kid with a LOT of free time). I got no pleasure of this game then for that reason. Now that I am older, its 2006, and the miracle of E-bay and the internet make finding hardware such as the Atrai 2600 keyboard controller so easy. But why the hell would I want to spend THAT much money on a freakin keyboard to play this one game which after looking up what this game is about I've basically already done by attending 3rd grade.
So if you already have the keyboard controller, an Atari 2600, a copy of Brain Games, and are in or around third grade, or generally need help or practice with basic math/reading problem solving, by all means play the game.
I would probably reccomend Elmo's Counting Adventure as a better choice though.