How to play

Pressing 1 hides the other numbers, and 2, 3 and 4 are tapped from memory. Tap to pause.

See where the numbers areFour numbers appear scattered across a 5×5 grid.
Click the 1The moment you do, every other number is hidden.
Finish from memoryClick the hidden squares in order: 2, 3, 4 and so on.
Clear it, add oneA mistake costs a strike and deals a fresh board of the same size. Three strikes ends the run.

Where this test comes from

This is a browser version of a famous experiment by Tetsuro Matsuzawa's team at the Primate Research Institute in Kyoto. Chimpanzees learned to touch numbers on a screen in order, smallest first. In the best-known version, the numbers turned into blank squares the moment the first one was touched.

Young chimpanzees did very well, especially one named Ayumu. They stayed accurate even when the numbers showed for only 0.21 seconds. The story spread as "chimpanzees beat humans at memory".

That headline leaves a lot out. The chimpanzees had trained on the task for months or years, and the humans they were compared with had not. The viewing times were also extremely short, which suited the chimps.

In our view, the research shows that a trained primate brain can be very good at grabbing a snapshot of where numbers sit. It does not show that human memory is worse overall. We borrowed the name as a nod to the experiment, and we leave the teasing to the one-line verdict on your result.

What counts as a good score

The badge on your result follows this table. We set it around the size of Ayumu's task, nine numbers. The table is for Normal mode. Harder modes raise your score a little before the badge is picked, and each mode keeps its own record.

Numbers cleared	Badge	What it means
12 or more	Superhuman	Three more numbers than Ayumu's task.
10-11	Pro tier	Past nine, so "you beat the chimp" is actually true.
8-9	Skilled	Closing in on Ayumu's task size. Here, that is a compliment.
6-7	Standard	Decent for a human. The chimp is still a little ahead.
5 or fewer	Needs practice	If you are hunting for each number, take in the whole board at once.

Real scores recorded on this site

So far, 142 runs of this test have been recorded here. Computers and phones score quite differently, so each gets its own table.

Computer (mouse)

84 runs · median 7 numbers

Range	Share
12 or more · Superhuman	0%
10-11 · Pro tier	6%
8-9 · Skilled	27%
6-7 · Standard	48%
5 or fewer · Needs practice	19%

Phone (touch)

58 runs · median 7 numbers

Range	Share
12 or more · Superhuman	0%
10-11 · Pro tier	3%
8-9 · Skilled	21%
6-7 · Standard	41%
5 or fewer · Needs practice	34%

Every finished run counts, so someone who plays five times adds five runs. The numbers are recounted every day, and a device table shows up once it passes 30 runs. Last updated: 1 Nov 2026.

What it actually measures

The test is harder than it looks because your memory does three jobs at once. The first is spatial working memory, which holds the positions themselves. This part overlaps with the visual memory test.

The second is binding, which ties each position to its number. You have to remember "the 6 was in the top right", not just "something was in the top right". Tying a place to a label is much harder than remembering either one alone. This is where most people lose a board they thought they had.

The third is sequencing under pressure. Everything appeared at once, but you must answer in order. The rest of the picture keeps fading while you click. If you hesitate on 5, your memory of 6 and 7 fades in the meantime.

How the board escalates

The grid stays at 5×5, and only the count of numbers grows. So a rising score means your memory improved, not that the board changed.

A wrong click costs a strike and deals a fresh board of the same size. Your score is the largest board you completed, not the one you failed on. If you use up all three strikes on the first board of four numbers, you score 3.

In Normal mode you can study the numbers as long as you like before clicking 1. Hard hides them after three seconds. Chimp hides them after 0.65 seconds, the viewing time the Kyoto chimpanzees handled.

Can you compare yourself with the chimps directly?

Not directly. The published research studied trained chimpanzees. The human groups were small and were tested in lab conditions a browser cannot copy, with viewing times controlled to fractions of a second and a fixed distance from the screen.

A self-paced version on whatever screen you have is a different task. That is why this page compares you with your own best, your trend and the leaderboard.

You can still try the chimps' conditions yourself. Chimp mode shows the numbers for 0.65 seconds, the same exposure Ayumu worked with in the Kyoto experiments.

Getting further

Do not hunt in order

Finding 1, then 2, then 3 means scanning the board several times, and it all hides when you click 1. Take in the whole board as one picture, then work out the order.

Chunk by region

"Three along the top, two bottom left" is much lighter than seven separate spots. It also holds up better when you get nervous.

Say the hard ones

If two close numbers keep swapping, give them a silent label, like "seven is the lower one". Word memory backs up the picture as it fades.

Click deliberately

Clicking is not timed. Rushing only causes misclicks on squares you actually remembered. Your memory fades at the same speed either way.

Most people hit a wall somewhere between eight and twelve. That is roughly where tying numbers to places gets too heavy for working memory. We think getting past it takes better strategy more than extra effort.

Chimp Test