Turn over two cards at a time and find every pair of shapes. Five grid sizes from 12 to 36 cards, solo against the clock or two players taking turns.
What is Matching Pairs?
Matching Pairs is a memory game in which all the cards lie face down in a grid and you turn them over two at a time, trying to find every pair of identical pictures. When the two cards match they stay face up; when they do not, they turn back over and you have to remember where they were.
This kind of memory match game needs no reading and no rules beyond a single turn, which is why children and adults play it together. It also rewards method: a player with a plan for which cards to turn will finish in far fewer moves than one who turns cards at random. You can play alone against the clock or with a second player on the same device.
How to play Matching Pairs
Setup: choose one or two players and a grid size, then press Start. The cards are shuffled and laid face down.
A turn: tap a card to turn it over, then tap a second card. If both show the same symbol, they stay face up and count as a found pair. If they differ, both turn face down again after a moment. Turning over two cards counts as one move, whether they match or not.
Playing alone: find every pair in as few moves and as little time as you can. The timer starts with your first card. When the grid is cleared, the game shows your moves and time next to your best for that grid size.
Two players: players take turns on the same screen. Finding a pair scores a point for the player whose turn it is, and that player goes again. A miss passes the turn to the other player. When every pair is found, the player with more pairs wins, or the game is a draw.
Tips for memory match games
Turn a new card first. On each move, start with a card you have never seen. If you already know where its twin is, turn that twin second for a sure pair. If you do not, turn another unseen card: you learn two new cards, and sometimes they match by luck.
Never waste the first card on a known one. Turning over a card you have already seen as your first card tells you nothing new, unless you also know where its twin is. In that case, take the pair whenever you like; it costs one move either way.
Search in order. Work through the grid row by row, or column by column. Positions are much easier to recall when you know you turned them in a fixed order, and you will not lose track of which cards are still unseen.
Give the cards names. Saying to yourself something like blue square, top row, third card, links the symbol to a place. The symbols in this game each have their own outline and their own colour, so you can remember them by shape as well as by colour.
Clear the board as you go. Each pair you find removes two cards from the puzzle and makes the rest easier to hold in mind. When you know a pair, take it on your next move.
In a two-player game, think about what you show. If your first card is new and you have not seen its twin, turning a second new card also shows that card to your opponent. Late in a game, turning a card you have already seen as your second card gives nothing away, at the cost of a certain miss.
Grid sizes and ways to play
Matching Pairs has five grids: 4 by 3 with 12 cards, 4 by 4 with 16, 5 by 4 with 20, 6 by 5 with 30 and 6 by 6 with 36, from 6 to 18 pairs. The small grids suit young children and quick games. The 6 by 6 grid is a real test of memory, since there are 18 different symbols to keep apart.
You can play alone for the fewest moves and best time, or in two-player mode, which is for two people sharing one phone, tablet or computer. There is no online play. Other variants of the memory game exist, such as matching cards that show related items in place of identical ones, or playing with more than two players.
Where the memory game comes from
Matching face-down cards in pairs is a traditional card game, played with an ordinary deck long before special picture cards existed. It is known by several names: Concentration in the United States, Pelmanism in Britain, after a memory-training system popular in the early twentieth century, and simply Pairs.
An American television quiz show called Concentration, first broadcast in 1958, was built on the same idea of uncovering matching pairs on a board.
Play Matching Pairs on Hevagames
Matching Pairs runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers, with nothing to download. Tap or click a card to turn it over. On a keyboard, Tab or the arrow keys move between cards and Enter or Space turns the focused card. The 18 symbols are simple shapes drawn for this game, each with its own outline, so colour is never the only difference.
The game in progress is saved in your browser and continues after a reload. In single-player games, your fewest moves and best time are kept for each grid size. A cleared grid scores 100 points per pair, minus 5 per move and 1 per second, with at least 10 points.
How to play
- 1Tap a card to turn it over, then tap a second card.
- 2If both show the same shape they stay face up. If not, they turn back over after a moment.
- 3Playing alone, find every pair in as few moves and as little time as you can.
- 4With two players on one device, take turns. Finding a pair scores a point and gives you another turn; a miss passes the turn.
Controls
Tips
- Turn over cards you have not seen yet before guessing at ones you half remember.
- Go through the grid in order, row by row, so positions are easier to recall.
- Each shape has its own outline, so you can match by shape as well as colour.