Memory games, four ways to test recall.

These memory games train and test short-term memory with four quick games: a grid of tiles to remember, a number to hold in your head, a pattern to repeat, and a word list where you say whether you have seen each word. Pick a game with the buttons above. Each game keeps your best score and your last ten results in this browser, so you can compare yourself with yourself. They are games for fun and practice. They are not a clinical or medical test, and they say nothing about your health.

How to play each game

1. Visual: watch the tiles that light up, then click them. Three lives. A wrong tile costs a life and repeats the level with a new pattern.
2. Number: a number shows for a few seconds. When it hides, type it and press Check. It starts at 3 digits and grows by one. You have two chances.
3. Sequence: tiles light up one after another. Repeat them in the same order. Each round adds one step. One miss ends the game.
4. Words: a word shows. Press Seen if it has appeared before in this game and New if it has not. Press S and N on the keyboard, or use the buttons. Three lives.

What the score is

Three of these also have their own page with settings and a longer guide: the visual memory test, the number memory test and the sequence memory test.

Settings that change the difficulty

• Visual and Number have a setting for how long the tiles or the number show: Short, Normal or Long. A shorter time is harder.
• Sequence has a playback speed: Slow, Normal or Fast. It can also play a note with each tile.
• Compare scores only at the same setting.

Tips that help in all four

• Group things. A number such as 48215937 is easier as 4821 5937. A set of tiles is easier as a shape, such as an L or a line.
• Say it to yourself. Repeating a number or a word in your head, out loud if you can, helps it stay.
• Do not stare at one spot. Let your eyes see the whole grid at once.
• Rest between games. Tired scores tell you about tiredness.

How the games are built

Every pattern and number comes from the browser's secure random generator, so there is nothing to learn by heart. The word list is made of common English words from the SCOWL list, and a word you have already seen comes back about four times in ten. Scores and the last ten results are saved in this browser only, and the Clear button deletes them. The games use no sound unless you switch it on in Sequence.

For another kind of brain exercise, try the 2048 game or the . To measure speed instead of memory, use the reaction time test.