Memory Match

How to play

A deck of face-down cards, and every one of them has exactly one twin. Turn over two at a time. If they match they stay up; if they do not, they flip back and you have to remember what you just saw. Clear the whole board and the move counter tells you how much of it you actually held in your head.

The board starts with every card face down. Your job is to find matching pairs, two cards at a time. Flip one card and it reveals a symbol. Flip a second card: if the symbol matches, both stay face up and are removed from play. If it does not match, both flip back after a short pause and you try again.

There is no timer pressure and no way to lose. The only score is the number of moves you needed, which makes Memory Match unusual among browser games: it is pure memory, not reflexes. A perfect game on a 16-card board takes 8 moves, and nobody gets that on a first try.

The game ends when the last pair is cleared. Your best move count for each board size is saved in your browser, so you can come back and try to beat it. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.

Strategy that actually helps

• Say the symbol out loud or in your head as you flip it. Naming a thing is what makes it stick; looking at it is not enough.
• Work the board in a fixed pattern, left to right, top to bottom, and you will always know which cards you have already seen this sweep.
• When you flip a card you have seen before but cannot pair, use the second flip to explore a new card rather than guessing. You lose nothing and gain a new known position.
• The first four or five moves are pure investment. Do not expect to score; expect to build a mental map.
• Late in the game, when only a few cards are left, slow down. Rushing on the last three pairs is where most good runs die.