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Memory is a fun card game to play with your children or grandchildren to teach them numbers, colors and shapes as well as a fun and useful game for us older adults to stimulate our brains and our memory. This card game is also referred to as Concentration or Match. It can be played alone or with several players.

The game requires a typical deck of 52 cards. If you have several players, you can shuffle together two decks of cards. The cards are placed as single cards face down on a playing surface in rows of 4 with 13 cards in each row or rows of 8 with 13 cards in each row if playing with two decks.

*Variation: If playing with very small children, you may wish to narrow the number of cards and use only aces, twos and face cards, making 5 rows of 4 cards to each row. Cards can be simply spread out without placing them in rows, or arrange cards in any shape like a circle or diamond shape.

The game can be played by matching numbers, such as 2 of diamonds with 2 of clubs, or matching numbers with colors, such as 2 of hearts with 2 of diamonds.

The game begins with one player turning over a set of two cards anywhere within the rows and allowing all players to see the turned over cards. If there is a match, the player collects them as a won set. If they do not match, the player turns them back over to face down, then the next player takes his turn by turning over the next set of two cards. Before the game begins, decide on whether a matched set wins another turn or simply passed to the next player. The challenge is to try to remember cards previously flipped so you can easily match a set when it is your turn.

*Variation: To make the game go faster, each player could turn over four cards at a time, increasing the chance of a match. To make it more challenging, each set could require matching all four numbers of a set before being able to win the set or a player has to have opposite colors with same numbers such as 2 of hearts with the 2 of clubs.

The game continues until all cards are matched. The player with the most sets is declared the winner, sometimes this may be a tied game. If you are playing alone, you can challenge yourself by setting a time limit to complete all matches.

If you are playing a series of games or keeping a running score from one game day to another, keep a score of your matched sets. If you are playing alone, keep up with your time and try to improve on it each game played.

Learn more about this author, Madison Briggs.
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