🧠 How to play Memory

Easy rules, to read aloud 🔊

1. Lay all the cards face down in rows.
2. On your turn, flip over two cards.
3. If they match, keep them and go again.
4. If not, turn them back over.
5. Try to remember where each card was.
6. The most pairs wins.

The full rules

1. Shuffle and lay the cards face down in neat rows. A full deck makes four rows of 13. For younger players, use only a few ranks, like aces through fives.
2. On your turn, turn two cards face up where everyone can see them.
3. If they are a pair, meaning the same rank and the same color, like the seven of hearts and the seven of diamonds, keep them and take another turn.
4. If they do not match, give everyone a moment to look, then turn them face down in the same spots. Play passes to the left.
5. Keep going until every pair has been taken.

How to win: When the last pair is picked up, everyone counts their pairs. The most pairs wins, and a tie is fine.

Tips

• Say what you see out loud, like "red seven, top corner."
• Turn over a new card first; if it matches one you remember, go find its partner.
• Start with just a few pairs, then add more as you get better.

What it practises

remembering where things are, matching, taking turns, patience.

Other ways to play

• Any color. Any two cards with the same number count as a pair. This is easier.
• Scatter. Spread the cards loosely across the table instead of in rows, so spots are harder to remember.
• One flip. After a match you keep the pair, but your turn ends anyway.