Visual Memory

How to play

A handful of tiles light up on the grid, hold for a moment, then go dark. Click every tile that lit up. Clear the board and you move up a level, which adds another tile to remember and, every few levels, grows the grid itself. You get three lives, and a level costs a life if you miss a tile or click one that never lit. Your score is the highest level you reached.

Tips

• Look at the shape the tiles make, not the individual squares. Four tiles in an L is one thing to hold, not four.
• Split the grid into halves and count the lit tiles in each. Recalling '3 left, 2 right' catches misses.
• Click the tiles you are least sure about first, before the memory decays.
• Keep your eyes near the middle of the grid so the whole board stays in peripheral vision.
• Do not rush the click phase. There is no timer once the tiles go dark.

Remembering a pattern rather than a list

Visual memory is a different capacity from digit or word memory. A grid of lit tiles is held as a picture, and the useful trick is that pictures compress: four tiles in an L shape are one thing to remember, not four. That is why the tips push you to see shapes rather than count squares.

The grid grows every third level, from 3 by 3 up to a maximum of 7 by 7, and the number of tiles to remember grows with your level too, capped so that most of the board always stays dark. Three lives cover the run, and a level costs a life whether you miss a tile or click one that never lit.

Holding more tiles

• See the shape. A line, an L, a diagonal. Named shapes survive; scattered squares do not.
• Split the grid into halves and count each. Recalling three left and two right catches the tile you would otherwise drop.
• Click the tiles you are least sure of first, while the memory is freshest.
• Keep your eyes near the centre so the whole grid stays in view. Looking at one tile costs the others.
• There is no timer once the tiles go dark. Take your time on the click phase.

Common questions

How big does the grid get?

It starts at 3 by 3 and grows every third level to a maximum of 7 by 7.

What costs a life?

Missing a tile that lit, or clicking one that did not. You have three lives for the run.

Is there a time limit to click?

No. The flash is timed, but once the tiles go dark you can take as long as you like.