Memory Games: Simple Techniques to Remember More Cards

Random flipping is the most common habit that wastes moves. If you always turn over new cards in the same order, for example left to right along each row, you remember positions as a sequence instead of as scattered points. Your brain is much better at remembering 'the third card in the top row' than 'that one somewhere on the left'.

Naming what you see, even silently, helps it stick. 'Star, top row, second' is easier to recall than an image you only glanced at. With young children, saying the names out loud together also turns the game into a vocabulary exercise.

When you flip your first card of a turn and you have already seen its partner, go straight for the partner. When you have not, use your second flip on a card you have never seen. That way, even a miss adds new information instead of repeating something you already know.

Spot-the-difference and odd-one-out puzzles use the same skills: careful scanning and holding an image in your head while you compare it with another. Summer Spot the Difference asks you to compare two beach scenes, and Contrast shows four or five nearly identical objects with one subtle difference. Both reward slowing down and looking in sections rather than all at once.

A few rounds a day helps more than one long session. Try beating your own move count on one difficulty before moving up. If your moves stop improving, take a break, since tired memory makes more mistakes than fresh memory.