How to play Color Memory
The board has four coloured pads: green at top left, red at top right, yellow at bottom left and blue at bottom right. Each pad plays its own musical note when it lights up.
Press Start and the game plays a sequence. In round one it is just a single flash. When the message says it is your turn, repeat the sequence by pressing the pads in the same order. Get it all right and the next round begins: the game replays the whole sequence from the start and adds one new step on the end. The round number is shown in the centre of the board and in the score bar.
The pattern also speeds up a little each round, with shorter flashes and shorter gaps, so later rounds test both memory and focus. There is no time limit while you are entering your answer, so you can think between presses.
Press a wrong pad and the game ends. The correct pad and the one you pressed both light up so you can see what went wrong. Your best score is the longest sequence you have completed, and it is saved on this device. Use the Sound button to mute or unmute the tones; the game works just as well silently.
Controls
| Desktop | Click the pads, or press 1 (green), 2 (red), 3 (yellow) and 4 (blue). Q, W, A and S also work. Enter starts a game when none is in progress. |
|---|---|
| Mobile | Tap the coloured pads in the same order they lit up. |
Tips and strategy
Use the sounds
Each pad has its own note, and a sequence of notes is easier to remember as a little tune than as a list of colours. Even if you are mostly watching, keeping the sound on gives your memory a second way to hold the pattern.
Chunk the sequence
Most people can hold only a handful of separate items in short-term memory. Grouping helps a lot:
- Break long patterns into groups of three or four, such as "green-red-red, blue-yellow".
- Notice shapes: a clockwise sweep around the board or a back-and-forth between two pads is one idea, not four.
- Only the final step is new each round, so focus hardest on the end of the replay.
Name the colours quietly
Saying the colours under your breath, or thinking of them as letters (G, R, Y, B), turns a visual pattern into words. Some players prefer positions instead, such as "top, top, bottom". Pick whichever feels natural and stick with it.
Stay relaxed and steady
- You have unlimited time to enter your answer, so pause if you need to rebuild the pattern in your head.
- Keep your eyes on the centre of the board during playback so you can see all four pads at once.
- Avoid distractions; one glance away during a fast round can cost you the game.
Practise in short bursts
Memory span improves with practice, but tired eyes make mistakes. A few focused games are more useful than a long session, and beating your best by even one or two rounds is a real improvement.
About Color Memory
Pattern-repeating games with coloured lights and tones became a popular kind of handheld electronic toy, and the idea has been copied and reinvented many times since. Before electronics, similar memory challenges were played aloud, with each person repeating a growing list and adding one item of their own.
The appeal is that the rules take seconds to learn, but the challenge grows with every round until it reaches the limit of your short-term memory. Psychologists have long used similar sequence-recall tasks to measure memory span, which is why the game can feel like a genuine workout.
Color Memory is our own take on the idea, built for PlayNook to run in any modern browser. The pads, tones and speed curve were all designed for this version, and the sounds are generated live by your browser, so there is nothing to download.
Frequently asked questions
Why is there no sound?
Browsers only allow sound after you interact with the page, so tones start once you press Start. Also check that the Sound button is not set to Muted and your device volume is up.
Is there a time limit to answer?
No. You can take as long as you like between presses. Only the playback gets faster as rounds go by.
What does my best score mean?
It is the longest sequence you have repeated correctly, in rounds. It is saved in your browser on this device.
Can I play with the keyboard?
Yes. Press 1, 2, 3 and 4 (or Q, W, A and S) for green, red, yellow and blue after clicking on the game once.
