Tile Sequence Memory Game
Watch the tiles light up, then repeat the order.
About Grid Pattern
Grid Pattern lights up tiles in a grid, one after another, each with a short tone. When the sequence ends, you tap the same tiles in the same order. A tile you tap is marked green if it was right and red if it was not. The game has nine rounds and the sequence gets longer in every round.
The grid is three by three at the start and four by four from the fourth round. The sequence grows from three tiles to nine. The tiles light up for about 620 ms in the first round and about 360 ms in the last. Because only the tiles that you tap in the right place count, a single slip early in the sequence does not spoil the rest.
How to play
- Watch every tile as it lights up. Try to see the path as a shape or a route.
- When the grid is ready, tap the tiles in the same order. You tap as many times as there were tiles.
- The result marks your taps in green or red, and shows tiles that you missed with a dashed outline.
- In endless mode you keep playing until you have lost three lives.
Tiles light up one after another. When the sequence ends, tap the same tiles in the same order. The score is the share you got in the right place.
How scoring works
The score is the number of tiles you tapped in the right place of the sequence, divided by the length of the sequence. If a sequence has 6 tiles and you get 4 in the right position, the score is 67. A tile that is correct but in the wrong position does not count.
The sequence length is 3 in the first round and 9 in the ninth. The grid is 3 by 3 while the difficulty is below about one third, and 4 by 4 above that. Each tile is lit for 620 ms in the first round and 360 ms in the last, with pauses of 240 ms and 150 ms. You have 8 seconds plus 2 seconds per tile to answer.
What it trains
This is a version of the Corsi block-tapping test, one of the classic ways to measure spatial working memory span. It trains your ability to remember the order of locations, a skill you use when you follow a route, remember a dance or a combination lock.
It also trains the use of strategies such as chunking and tracing the path, which transfer to many memory tasks.
Tips for a higher score
- See the sequence as a path. Imagine a line connecting the tiles in order, and trace it with your eyes.
- Group tiles in threes. A sequence of nine becomes three small paths.
- Link tiles with the tone. The tone rises with each step, which helps you count the position.
- Do not hurry your taps. Tap each tile calmly, and let your memory unfold.
- If you forget a tile, guess a position that fits the path, since a correct position still earns points.
The idea behind it
The block-tapping task was devised by Philip Corsi in the early 1970s for his master's thesis, following Brenda Milner's work. Healthy adults can usually repeat sequences of five or six blocks, which is about two items shorter than a typical digit span.
The difference between the two spans has led researchers to suggest that visuospatial and verbal memory rely partly on different systems, a view that goes back to the working memory model of Baddeley and Hitch. Spatial sequence memory involves the right parietal and frontal cortex more than verbal memory does.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the order matter?
The task is a sequence memory test, so a tile only counts when you tap it at the right position in the sequence.
Why are there nine rounds?
The sequence grows by one tile about every round, so nine rounds take you from 3 to 9 tiles.
What similar games exist?
Color Memory asks for a set of lit circles without order, and N-Back asks for repeats in a stream.
Related games
Free, no account. Your best scores are saved on your device.