Memory Match
Play Memory Match Online for Free
Your time is the score, and each grid size keeps its own best. You can't lose, only take longer.
How to play
Pick Small 4×3, Medium 4×4 or Large 4×6 and press Play. Every picture is on exactly 2 of the face-down cards.
- Turn over a card, then a second one. Those 2 cards are 1 move, match or not.
- A matching pair stays face up.
- Two different pictures turn back over after 0.9 seconds.
Pairs, Moves and Time are counted above the grid. Match the last pair and “All pairs found!” appears with your moves and time. There is no mode for two players.
Controls
| Action | Touch | Mouse | Keyboard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turn a card | Tap it | Click it | Arrow keys or W, A, S, D, then Enter or Space |
| Pause | Pause button | Pause button | Esc |
| Resume | Resume button | Resume button | Esc or Enter |
| New deal, same size | New game button | New game button | Tab to New game, then Enter |
| Choose the grid size | Pick a size on the start or result screen | Pick a size on the start or result screen | Tab or Shift+Tab to the sizes, then arrow keys |
Pressing Play puts the keyboard focus on the grid. W, A, S and D go by key position: Z, Q, S and D on an AZERTY keyboard.
Tips and strategy
The numbers below come from a computer player that never forgets a card.
Open each move with a card you have never turned
If you know where both cards of a pair are, take them. Otherwise turn a new card, then its partner if you have seen it, or another new card. A new card tells you something; one you have seen tells you nothing. Starting with seen cards takes 50% to 65% more moves.
Take new cards in reading order
Go left to right, top row first. The cards you have never turned then stay in one block at the end, so you only need to remember where you stopped.
Don’t wait for a miss to turn back
Your next card turns a missed pair back at once. Even the computer player misses, and waiting out every miss adds about 4 seconds to a Medium game and 6 to a Large one.
About Memory Match
Memory Match comes from a card game for two or more players. On your turn you flip 2 face-down cards. A pair is yours and you go again, and whoever ends with the most pairs wins.
In 2013, the mathematicians Daniel Velleman and Gregory Warrington wrote that for a player who forgets nothing, no method beats the one in the first tip.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the clock start when I press Play?
- No, it starts with your first card. It stops while the game is paused, and switching to another tab pauses it.
- Is my game saved if I close the page?
- Yes, once you have found a pair. Pick the same size in the same browser and press Play, and your pairs, moves and time come back, with the clock running.
- Which grid size should I start with?
- Small. In games a computer played the way the tips describe, a typical Small game has at most 5 cards to remember at once; Medium has 6, Large 9.
- Can I play if I find colors hard to tell apart, or with a screen reader?
- Yes. No two of the 12 pictures share an outline. A screen reader reads each card as "Card 5, face down", names the picture when it turns, and announces every match.
