Memory Match

How to play

Every card starts face down. Tap one to reveal it, then tap a second — if they match, both stay face up for the rest of the game. If they don't, they flip back face down after a moment, and it's your turn to try again. The game is solved once every card on the board has been matched, and your score is simply how few moves it took you to get there.

Three board sizes are on offer: twelve cards for a quick round, sixteen for the traditional four-by-four, and twenty-four for something that really tests your memory of what you've already seen.

Tips for a stronger game

The game is really about what you remember from cards you've already seen, not the cards currently face up. Every time you flip a card that doesn't match, you've learned two things — try to hold onto both rather than just the one you were looking for.

When you flip a card that matches one you already know the position of, that's the pair to take immediately — don't go looking for a better option elsewhere on the board. A known match in hand is never worse than an unknown card.

Larger boards reward working the edges and corners early. They tend to get flipped less often in the middle of a game than central cards do, so committing their identity to memory early pays off more by the time the board thins out.