How to play
- All the cards start face down. Tap or click any two cards to turn them over.
- If the two pictures are the same, you have found a pair and both cards stay face up.
- If they are different, take a good look: they turn back over after a moment. Try to remember where each picture was.
- Keep going until every pair is found. The counter shows how many moves you needed; fewer moves means a sharper memory for where things are.
Easier or harder
Start small. The easy game has six pairs on a grid of twelve cards, which is a comfortable first round for most people. Medium adds two more pairs and hard uses all twelve pictures.
Take a peek. The “Show all cards for 3 seconds” button turns every card face up for a moment before they flip back. It is a gentle way to begin, and helpful for anyone who finds the game frustrating at first.
Play face up. For memory care groups, lay the printed cards out face up and simply ask people to find the matching pictures. Naming each picture together (“a red apple, a blue umbrella”) turns the game into a conversation.
Make it harder. Try to finish the hard game in fewer than 30 moves, or switch to things that go together, where you match two different words, such as salt and pepper.
Playing in a group
The printed cards work like the classic tabletop game. Shuffle them, lay them face down in rows and take turns: each player turns over two cards, keeps any pair they find and goes again. When all the cards are gone, the player with the most pairs wins. In a senior center or care home, two or three players per set keeps the waiting short, and a tablet passed around the table works just as well as cards.
Printing the cards
- Print pages 1 and 2 at 100% (“actual size”). Each card is 2.3 inches square.
- So the pictures do not show through, print page 3 on the back of each card page (double-sided, flip on the long edge), or glue the pages onto colored card stock before cutting.
- Cut along the dashed lines. Laminating the cards makes them last for years of games.
Questions
Is the memory game free?
Yes. You can play on screen and print the cards for free, at home or for senior centers, care homes, libraries and classrooms. No sign-up.
Does it work on a tablet?
Yes. The cards are large buttons that are easy to tap, and the game also works with a keyboard: press Tab to move between cards and Enter to turn one over.
Do memory games improve memory?
Many people enjoy matching games as a way to stay mentally active and to spend time with others. Research on whether games like this protect memory is mixed, so we offer them as a pleasant activity, not a treatment.
Can children play too?
Of course. The pictures are simple and familiar, so the easy game suits children from about four, and grandparents and grandchildren can play on the same team.