About Pairs
The matching game — memory, concentration, pelmanism — on the sorting table of the Westmark Academy's Letter-Hall, where an apprentice is set the ward-marks face down and told to pair them before they are allowed near a real Aurensh fragment. Every mark has exactly one twin among the thirty-six the Academy cuts, and no two pairs on a tray ever wear the same face.
There is no score, because the genre's own reviewers keep pointing out that points per card reward the bad run. There are two numbers and both of them are lower-is-better: moves, and time. Six trays keep a board of ten for each, so there are twelve boards; nothing sends a number, a finished run is sent as its replay and played again on the server.
And nothing on this table ever waits for you. There is no flip-back timer — a missed pair stays face up until you turn your next mark, and that one action closes the miss and opens the new mark together. Study for as long as you like, or carry straight on; the clock is yours either way.
After the last pair, the game replays your own deal against a reader who never forgets and tells you what it cost them. Every memory game shows you your moves; this is the one that tells you how much of the number was the deal you were handed.
How to play
- Pick a tray — the Letter-Hall is twelve marks, the Mother Hall seventy-two — and press Play. The table is dealt face down and the clock starts.
- Turn two marks. The same ward and the pair seals into the table, ringed in gold and still face up, so the map in your head is never taken away. Different, and they stay up until you turn your next mark.
- There is nothing to lose and nothing to wait for. A run ends when the last pair seals, and that is the only ending there is.
- When you have a choice, turn the mark you are least sure about first: if it misses, you have not also spent the one you knew.
- The clock starts when the table is dealt and does not stop for anything. A pause does stop it, and gives up the run's place and its personal best to do so; leaving before the last pair keeps nothing either. If something interrupts you, deal again — it costs nothing but the deal.
Controls
| Click · Tap | Turn the mark |
|---|---|
| ↑ ↓ ← → | Move the cursor |
| Enter · Space | Turn the mark under the cursor |
| Esc | Pause — which gives up the run's place |
Twelve boards of ten — six trays by two axes — each one replay-verified on the server. Your own best time and best moves per tray are kept in this browser and nowhere else, along with sound and motion.
