Memory Pairs Game

About Pairs

Pairs is the classic card game known as Memory or Concentration. A set of face-down cards hides pictures in pairs. You flip two cards at a time; if they match they stay open, if not they are turned back. The goal is to find all pairs in as few attempts as possible.

A run has eight rounds with a growing number of pairs, from three pairs in the first round to eight in the last. The score for each round depends on how many attempts you needed. A top score needs a combination of memory and some luck, and the game tells you how many attempts you used and how many the pairs required at minimum.

How to play

1. Tap a card to turn it over and see its picture. Tap a second card to try to find its twin.
2. If the pictures match the cards stay open. If not, they turn back after a moment; remember what you saw.
3. Continue until all pairs have been found. The status line shows your tries and the number of pairs found.
4. If time runs out the round ends with a reduced score for the pairs found.

Turn over two cards at a time to find matching pairs. Fewer attempts mean a higher score. A perfect memory needs only one attempt per pair.

How scoring works

The score starts at 100 when you need at most 1.25 attempts per pair and falls in a straight line to 0 at about 2.95 attempts per pair. For a board of 8 pairs, 10 attempts or fewer give 100 points, 13 attempts give about 78 and 20 attempts about 26. Every pair of cards you turn over counts as one attempt.

The number of pairs rises from 3 to 8 over the rounds. A mismatch stays visible for about 900 milliseconds on easy levels and 600 milliseconds on hard ones. The time limit is 18 seconds plus 9 per pair. If it runs out you get at most 40 percent of the score for the share of pairs found.

What it trains

Pairs trains visuospatial memory for object locations, the memory that tells you where you put something. It also trains planning: a good player turns over new cards first and uses the information from the known cards to avoid wasting attempts.

The game is as suitable for adults as for children and offers a simple way to see how your memory for locations works under pressure.

Tips for a higher score

• Begin by turning over cards you have not seen, in a fixed order, so that you gather as much information as you can.
• If you see a card with a known twin, flip the twin first and the known card second. This gives a sure match.
• Remember cards by the row and column and say the picture name silently: 'top left, apple'.
• Concentrate on the cards that you turned in the last few attempts, since your memory for recent cards is best.
• Do not rush on larger boards. A mismatch that you remember is worth more than a quick guess.

The idea behind it

The optimal strategy for the game of Memory has been analysed mathematically. In 1993, Uri Zwick and Michael Paterson showed that a player with perfect recall who plays optimally needs, on average, about 1.61 turns per pair on large boards, because the first flips must be guesses. This is the reference level for the score: the game gives about 79 points for that performance.

Psychologists have used card-matching tasks to study object-location memory. Studies find that women and children often perform well on this kind of task, but differences are small and depend strongly on strategy and practice.

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Free, no account. Your best scores are saved on your device.