Pairs is a game of remembering. All the cards lie face down on the table, and your task is to find every matching pair by turning two cards at a time.

How to play

Every picture appears on exactly two cards. The goal is to find all the twins.

Your turn: tap one card to turn it over, then tap a second one.
A match: if the two pictures are the same, both cards stay face up for the rest of the game.
A miss: if they are different, both cards turn back face down after about a second. Try to remember what you saw and where it was.
No waiting: you never have to wait for the cards to turn back. If you tap again, the two wrong cards flip down at once and your tap counts as the first card of the next turn.
Winning: when every pair is face up, you win. The page shows how many moves you took and how long.

On a phone, tap the cards with your finger. On a computer, click them with the mouse. The cards are large, and the grid changes shape to fit your screen, so no scrolling is needed.

The levels

The levels change how many cards are on the table, and Expert changes the pictures and adds a limit.

Easy: 12 cards, which is six pairs. A relaxed warm-up.
Medium: 20 cards, ten pairs.
Hard: 30 cards, fifteen pairs. Take your time.
Expert: 36 cards, eighteen pairs. The pictures come from two whole families of nine, such as garden things and food, so every card has several look-alikes. The game also counts your misses, and your 19th wrong pair ends it. A counter shows how many are left.

Expert is the only level you can lose. The project tested the levels with a computer player that sometimes forgets what it has seen, so the miss limit is set to be a real challenge rather than a trap.

Today's game

The daily game is a Medium game. Everyone who plays on the same calendar day gets the same cards in the same places, and your moves and time are saved.

Tips

Turn over cards you have never seen first. A new card tells you something, and it can match one you already know.
When you know where a twin is, use that knowledge. Turn the known card first, then its partner, and the pair is yours.
Work in a pattern. Start at one corner and move across, so you know which cards you have not seen yet.
Say the pictures out loud or in your head as you turn them. A short name for each picture helps a lot.
On Expert, look closely at each picture. The look-alikes differ in small details, and a wrong guess uses up one of your misses.
Do not rush after a miss. The two cards you just saw are the most valuable ones on the table, so look at them properly.
Notice the rows and columns. Remembering "second row, third from the left" is easier than remembering a card's picture alone.

A bit of history

Face-down matching games with a deck of cards are a long-standing pastime, and they are often played with children.

Questions

Does it matter how fast I tap? No. The cards turn back by themselves after a moment, and you may also tap early to turn them back at once.

Can I lose on Easy, Medium or Hard? No. Only Expert has a limit on misses. The other levels let you keep going until every pair is found.

Why do some pictures look so alike? On Expert the pictures are chosen from the same family on purpose. Look at the small details.

Do the cards stay in the same places? Yes. Once the cards are laid out, they do not move until the game ends, so remembering a position is always reliable.

Pairs