Memory Match
A card-flip minigame — players find all the matching pairs in a grid, optionally against a countdown timer.
Memory Match is one of the five minigame challenge types. Players flip face-down cards two at a time and try to find every matching pair — optionally before a countdown timer runs out. Matching all pairs completes the challenge automatically.
What players experience
The challenge screen shows the clue as usual, then a "Memory match" panel with a grid of face-down cards (sparkle icons on the backs). When a time limit is configured, a countdown appears next to the panel title once the game starts, turning red in the final 10 seconds.
The player taps Start. The deck is shuffled and (if configured) the countdown begins.
Tapping a card flips it face-up. Flip two cards: if they show the same image they stay revealed with a green border; if not, both flip back after a short pause (about 0.8 seconds).
Matching every pair before time runs out shows All pairs found! and the
app submits the completion automatically — no answer typing, no submit
button.
If the timer hits zero first, the player sees
Time's up. Reshuffle and try again. with a Reshuffle button.
Reshuffling deals a fresh
shuffled deck and restarts the timer. Retries are free and unlimited.
If the challenge is opened before it has at least two card images, players see "This memory game isn't fully configured yet — at least two card images are required." instead of the game.
Scoring & answers
Memory Match is answerless — there is no correct answer stored on the
challenge and no Answer Type field in the editor. The mobile app computes
the win locally and, on a win, submits the sentinel answer
minigame_completed; the server marks the submission correct if and only if
it receives that sentinel.
Points awarded on completion follow the standard challenge formula:
- Base points = the challenge's Points value (default 100), minus the hint deduction if the team used the hint, floored at 0.
- Speed bonuses apply for the first teams to finish, when configured.
- An active Double Down artifact effect doubles the whole award.
The outcome is client-trusted
The server cannot watch the cards being flipped, so it trusts the win signal from the app — the same pattern as every minigame.
Configuring in the admin
In the challenge editor, set Type to Memory Match. A Minigame Setup section appears with the config panel on the left and a Live preview on the right, so you can play the grid yourself before saving.
| Field | Constraints | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card images | 2–50 image URLs, required | — | Each image becomes one pair. The panel tells you how many you need — e.g. "A 4×4 grid needs 8 unique images" — and requires at least that many. |
| Grid size (NxN) | Whole number, 2–8 | 4 | Side length of the grid. 4 means a 4×4 grid of 16 cards = 8 pairs. |
| Time limit (sec, 0 = none) | Whole number, 0–3600 seconds | 60 | Countdown for the whole game. Set 0 for an untimed, can't-lose game. |
The number of pairs is gridSize × gridSize / 2, rounded down. If fewer
unique images are supplied than pairs needed, the app cycles through the bank
so the game still works — but duplicate pairs make matching confusing, so
upload the full count the panel asks for.
Invalid config blocks publishing
You can save a Memory Match challenge without a config and fill it in
later, but the event cannot be published or started while any minigame
challenge has a missing or invalid configuration — the readiness check
invalid-minigame-config fails with "N minigame challenges have a missing
or invalid minigame configuration." See
Creating & Configuring Events.
Tips
- Prefer even grid sizes. An odd grid (3×3, 5×5…) has an odd number of cells, so one cell can't belong to a pair — 2×2, 4×4, and 6×6 read cleanly.
- Difficulty = grid size × time limit. A 4×4 grid in 60 seconds is a brisk default; 6×6 in 60 seconds is genuinely hard. A time limit of 0 makes the game unloseable — good for welcome or kids' events.
- Use visually distinct images. Cards render small (the grid fits a phone-width panel), so similar-looking photos at thumbnail size cause frustrating mis-matches.
- Losses cost nothing but time. Since reshuffles are free, the timer pressures speed rather than gating completion — pair it with speed bonuses if you want the clock to matter on the leaderboard.