Pair Up

Pair Up is a memory game played with thick illustrated tiles on a felt mat, with a small themed scene around the table such as a steaming teacup, a potted plant, a lantern or seashells. Flip two tiles: if the pictures match they stay face up, and if they don't they turn back over. The aim is to clear the board with as few misses as you can.

The campaign has 120 levels in eight decks of 15: Meadow, Seaside, Orchard, Tea House, Forest, Winter, Festival and Starlight. Each deck has its own hand-drawn pictures, table and props, and each adds a twist that returns in later decks. Meadow begins with a first look, showing every face for a moment at the start. Seaside adds twins, the same picture in two colours, where only matching colours pair up. Orchard has padlocked tiles that open after a set number of matches, and Tea House adds a sand timer. In Forest two face-down tiles swap places after a few misses, and in Winter a row of the icy mat slides one step after a miss and wraps around. Festival asks for sets of three instead of pairs, and Starlight mixes everything. The last level of each deck is a bigger challenge board with a timer, and clearing every level of a deck with at least one star opens the next one.

Stars depend on how many misses you make, and the limits are tuned for each board by letting a computer player with perfect memory solve it many times, so three stars means remembering almost everything. Your level score is 100 points per match, plus 25 for every step of a combo of matches in a row and 5 for each second left on a timer. Acorns earned from levels buy eight card backs and six table cloths, or a peek that shows every face for a moment when you are stuck.

A few habits help. Start a turn with a tile you have not seen yet: if its partner is one you already know, you can match it straight away, and if not, you have learned another face. Work through the board in a fixed order, row by row, so positions are easier to recall. On padlock boards find the open pairs first, on wanderer and ice boards watch the tiles that move, and with the sand timer quick matches matter more than a perfect miss count.

A daily board with a streak gives you a reason to come back each day. The game plays in the browser on desktop with mouse or keyboard and on phones and tablets with touch, in either orientation.

Tap a card to flip it, then flip a second one to look for its match. Keep every picture you see in mind, because cards that don't match turn back over. When every pair is found, the level is done.

Each level gives one to three stars based on how few moves you used. Your score is the total of your best result on every level, and the level list keeps your stars, so you can go back to any level and try for a better result.