Memory Match

Flip two cards at a time and find all eight pairs.

How to play

Sixteen cards lie face down in a four-by-four grid. Hidden behind them are eight matching pairs of symbols. Tap any card to flip it over, then tap a second card. If the two symbols match, the pair stays face up. If they don't, both cards turn back over after a moment. The game is won when all eight pairs are face up. Every two flips count as one move - the challenge is to clear the board in as few moves as possible. Your best (lowest) score is saved on your device.

Strategy: how to win in fewer moves

Open with a sweep, not a search

At the start you know nothing, so your first several flips are really about gathering information. Flip cards you haven't seen before instead of hunting for a partner for the last card - every new card you reveal tells you more than a hopeful guess. The perfect opening reveals eight different cards in a row and leaves you knowing where most of the pairs are.

Give every card an address

The trick that separates fast players from slow ones is treating the grid as a map. Silently name each revealed card by its position - "rocket, top row, third column" - rather than trying to remember a floating cloud of symbols. Your memory for locations is much stronger than your memory for lists, which is why this works.

Cash in pairs the moment you can

When a flip reveals a symbol whose partner you have already seen, take the pair immediately, on your very next move. Holding out "for later" adds nothing and risks forgetting. And when a second flip accidentally reveals a new symbol, treat it as free information - say its address to yourself before the cards turn back over.

Why this little game is good for you

Concentration games like this one are a genuine workout for short-term memory: you hold several pieces of information in mind, update them every few seconds and discard them when they stop being useful. That is exactly the skill used when following directions, remembering a phone number long enough to type it, or keeping track of a conversation. A round takes about a minute, which makes it an easy daily habit.

A short history

Matching-card games have been played with printed cards for well over a century - the classic children's game Concentration was already popular in the 1800s - and they moved naturally onto computers and phones because the rules need nothing more than a grid and a memory. This version uses the classic sixteen-card layout.