Memory game online

A matching game in your browser

This memory game is the classic matching game, also known as Concentration or Pairs: every card starts face down, you turn over two per move and look for the two that match. Play alone, with a friend on the same device or against the clock. Nothing is sent anywhere: the game and your best scores stay in your browser.

How to play

1. Pick a "Grid", from "4 × 3 (6 pairs)" up to "6 × 6 (18 pairs)", or "8 × 6 (24 pairs)" if you want a real workout.
2. Pick the "Cards": "Shapes and colours", "Animals", "Numbers" (1 to 30) or "Letters".
3. Tap a card to turn it over, then a second one. If they match, the pair stays face up. If not, both cards flip back after one second, and during that second a third card will not turn.
4. You win once every pair is found.

One move means two cards turned over. On the 4 × 4 grid a perfect game takes 8 moves; finishing in 14 moves means you turned over 28 cards. The timer starts on the first card you touch. With a keyboard, the arrow keys move between cards and Enter or Space turns one over. Every card is read out to screen readers, for example "Card 3: blue triangle. Pair found."

Ways to play

Solo: the "Best scores on this device" table keeps your fewest moves and your best time for each grid.

Two players: with "2 players, taking turns", whoever finds a pair scores a point and goes again; a miss passes the turn. The player with more pairs at the end wins, and a draw is possible on grids with an even number of pairs.

Against the clock: tick "Against the clock (10 s per pair)". You get 1 minute on 4 × 3, 1 min 20 s on 4 × 4, 3 minutes on 6 × 6 and 4 minutes on 8 × 6. The countdown starts on the first card; when it hits zero the game stops and shows how many pairs you found.

Tips to remember more cards

• Sweep the board in order: early on, turn cards row by row instead of jumping around, so you always know which areas you have already seen.
• Name the cards under your breath: saying "green star, top left corner" helps you keep both the picture and its place.

Each shape has its own colour and its own pattern (solid red, striped blue, dotted green, checked yellow, banded purple, gridded orange), so they can be told apart without relying on colour.

For kids and for vocabulary

A matching game asks children to pay attention, wait for their turn and cope with getting it wrong. Start with the 4 × 3 grid and the animals, then move up a size once your child finds the pairs without help.

The "Word ↔ picture pairs" option, available for shapes and animals, swaps one card of each pair for the written word: the cat picture now matches the word "cat". Words follow the language of the page, which makes it handy for learners: on the Spanish version of the site, the same picture matches "el gato", article included.

Frequently asked questions

Is the shuffle really random?

Yes. Each card appears exactly twice and the shuffle uses your browser's built-in random number generator, so every position is equally likely to hold any card.

Where are my best scores kept?

Only in the browser on this device. "Clear best scores" removes them, and so does clearing the site's data.

Do two-player games count towards best scores?

No. Only one-player games that you win are recorded, including games against the clock.

Why is the word ↔ picture option greyed out?

It only works with "Shapes and colours" and "Animals". With numbers and letters, each pair is two identical cards.