Halloween Memory

The oldest rule set there is: turn two cards, keep them if they match, turn them back if they do not, and remember where everything was. What the Halloween art adds is deliberate near-resemblance — two pumpkins differing only in the carving become a memory trap on their own.

Strong play usually means remembering places rather than pictures. Holding the thought that the top-left corner contains two unmatched cards, and going there when the right partner turns up, cuts wasted flips dramatically, especially early on while most of the grid is still face down.

Larger grids in the later rounds do not raise the difficulty in a straight line, because the number of pairs held in mind at once grows faster than it appears to. The point where most attempts fall over is when half the layout is remembered and guessing quietly replaces working through positions in order.