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Memo: the memory card game

By Gleb Tkatchouk · last updated 2026-09-18

Memo is the memory game everyone has played at a kitchen table — cards face down, open two, keep the pairs — done with playing cards instead of pictures. Each card has a twin of the same suit and rank. The whole game is attention: where was the seven of hearts, three turns ago?

Memo with four board sizes, from ten pairs to twenty-six, and no ads between rounds. Free on the App Store.

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Rules of Memo

The board. Cards lie face down in a grid. Every card has exactly one twin — same suit, same rank — somewhere on the board.

A turn. Tap a card to open it, tap a second card to open that. If they match, both stay open and leave the board. If they do not, the table closes them again — and you are expected to remember where they were.

Winning. Open every pair. The score is the number of tries: fewer is better, and a perfect game takes exactly as many tries as there are pairs plus the ones you could not have known.

Four board sizes

The small board is a warm-up; the full board — fifty-two cards face down — is a real test of working memory and the reason people come back to it daily.

Why a memory game with cards

Pictures on memory tiles are easy to name and easy to confuse: two cartoon cats look alike at a glance. Playing cards are the opposite — a rank and a suit are exact, so what you remember is precise, and there are fifty-two distinct twins to hold in mind on the largest board. That precision is what makes the game useful as an exercise rather than a pastime: it rewards a strategy, not luck.

Strategy

1. Open unknowns first. When you have no known pair, open two cards you have never seen. Opening a known card as the first of a turn wastes information.
2. Second card: known or unknown? If the first card's twin is known, take it. If not, open another unknown — every new card is information for later.
3. Remember by position, not by order. "Bottom row, third from the left" survives longer in memory than "the card I opened after the queen".
4. Work in regions. Clearing one corner before moving on keeps the number of remembered positions small.
5. Do not rush. The score is tries, not seconds: the clock on the table counts, it does not judge. A slow correct turn beats a fast wrong one.

Memo in Decks

Four board sizes chosen on the game card, each with its own best score, and a history of every round. No ads, no account, works offline.

Frequently asked questions

How do you play the memory card game? Cards face down; open two per turn; matched pairs stay, mismatches close. Clear the board in as few tries as you can.

Is Memo good for adults and seniors? It is one of the few games that exercises working memory directly, with no time pressure and no reading. The small board is a comfortable start; the full board is demanding at any age.

How many cards are on the board? From twenty (ten pairs) to fifty-two (twenty-six pairs), depending on the size you pick.

Is there a timer? The table shows elapsed time, but the score is the number of tries.

Memo with four board sizes, from ten pairs to twenty-six, and no ads between rounds. Free on the App Store.

Scan with your phone to install