Matching Pairs is the classic memory game for 1 to 4 players: every picture hides under two face-down tiles, you turn over two tiles a turn, and a matching pair is yours to keep. Play it here for free on one phone, tablet or computer, with family and friends or against the computer, which only remembers what it has seen. It works offline once the page has loaded and a game on the default grid takes two to four minutes. You may know it as the memory game, the matching game or simply Pairs.
How to play Matching Pairs
- Choose a grid in the setup: 4×3 (6 pairs), 4×4 (8 pairs) or 6×5 (15 pairs), and the pictures: Shapes, Numbers or Animals.
- All the tiles start face down. Every picture is on exactly two tiles, shuffled anywhere in the grid.
- On your turn, tap one tile to turn it over, then tap a second tile.
- Same picture? The pair is yours. It stays face up with your colour and your player number, and you go again.
- Different pictures? Both stay up for a moment so everyone can see them, then they turn back and the next player goes.
- The game ends when every pair has been found. Most pairs wins; players with equal pairs share the win.
That is the standard version, played on a grid of pictures instead of playing cards. Under More options you can switch off the extra turn after a match, so every turn is exactly two tiles. For all the rules, the grid sizes and the card version, read the Matching Pairs rules.
Play Matching Pairs on one device
This game is made for one screen on a table with everybody around it. A turn is just two taps, so nobody has to pass the phone, and the bar above the grid always says whose turn it is.
- Clear tiles: a tile turned over this turn has an outline in the game colour. A pair you have won keeps your colour around it and your player number in its corner, so colour is never the only clue.
- 1 to 4 players: play alone, with a friend, or with three or four people. With three or four, each seat can be a person or the computer.
- Playing alone: the game counts your turns, two tiles each, and keeps your best for each grid and picture set on this device. Try to beat it.
- Keyboard play: move between the tiles with the arrow keys and press Enter or Space to turn one over.
- Rematch and score: Rematch deals a new grid and the next player starts. Wins are kept for the session.
- No Undo: once a tile has been seen, taking a move back would hand out a free look, so Undo is switched off. Restart deals a fresh grid.
Play against the computer
Choose vs Computer for a game for two, or make any seat a computer in a game for three or four. The computer only uses the tiles that have been turned over, and the level decides how well it remembers them:
- Easy remembers only a few of the last tiles it saw and sometimes turns over a tile it already knows. A friendly level for young children.
- Medium remembers most of the recent tiles, takes the pairs it can and plays sensibly.
- Hard remembers every tile that has been shown. Leave a pair face down after both halves have appeared and it will take it.
Quick tips
- Turn over an unknown tile first. If its picture matches a tile you remember, you can take the pair straight away.
- Don’t waste your second tile. If the first picture is new and you don’t know its match, turn over another unknown tile rather than one you have already seen.
- Watch every turn. The other players’ tiles count too. Say the pictures quietly to yourself, or link each one to a corner or a row.
Our Matching Pairs strategy tutorial explains these habits in more detail, with a turn-by-turn example. If your family likes quick games on one screen, try Hangman, Dominoes or Snakes and Ladders, or see the games for kids.
