How to play

Several squares light up at once, go dark, and get found again. Tap to pause.

Watch the flashSeveral squares light up together, then all go dark.
Click every lit squareAny order works. Clicking a square you already found costs nothing.
Misses cost a lifeA wrong square costs one of three lives. Lose all three and the run ends.
One more square per levelThe grid grows from 3×3 to 6×6. Your score is the last level you cleared.

What this test measures

This test checks your short-term picture memory. That means holding a layout in your head for a few seconds when there is nothing left to look at. Once the squares go dark, the only copy of the pattern is the one in your head.

Everything depends on how well that copy survives the two or three seconds before your first click. Your eyes take in millions of pixels at once, but once the squares vanish you keep only a handful of items.

The result screen leads with how many tiles you held at once on the last level you cleared (the level plus two).

What counts as a good score

In Normal mode, the badge on your result follows this table. Harder modes raise your score a little before the badge is picked. We based it on research with the Visual Patterns Test, where adults typically hold about 8 to 9 squares. That task is not the same as this one, so treat the table as a rough guide.

Level · tiles at once	Badge	What it means
Level 16+ · 18+ tiles	Superhuman	Beyond the range the research test even covers.
Level 13-15 · 15-17 tiles	Pro tier	Holding the largest patterns that test uses, in one go.
Level 9-12 · 11-14 tiles	Skilled	Clearly more than the adult average.
Level 6-8 · 8-10 tiles	Standard	Around the adult average. A normal result.
Level 5 or lower · 7 or fewer	Needs practice	If you are memorizing squares one by one, try grouping them into shapes.

Real scores recorded on this site

So far, 212 runs of this test have been recorded here. Computers and phones score quite differently, so each gets its own table.

Computer (mouse)

141 runs · median level 8

Range	Share
Level 16+ · 18+ tiles · Superhuman	0%
Level 13-15 · 15-17 tiles · Pro tier	1%
Level 9-12 · 11-14 tiles · Skilled	41%
Level 6-8 · 8-10 tiles · Standard	50%
Level 5 or lower · 7 or fewer · Needs practice	8%

Phone (touch)

71 runs · median level 9

Range	Share
Level 16+ · 18+ tiles · Superhuman	0%
Level 13-15 · 15-17 tiles · Pro tier	6%
Level 9-12 · 11-14 tiles · Skilled	49%
Level 6-8 · 8-10 tiles · Standard	38%
Level 5 or lower · 7 or fewer · Needs practice	7%

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.

How this differs from Sequence Memory

The two tests look alike but use memory in different ways.

	Sequence Memory	Visual Memory
How it appears	Squares light one after another	All squares light at once
What you hold	Positions and their exact order	A set of positions, the overall shape
How you hold it	Rehearsing a sequence	Keeping one picture
Everyday version	Repeating a phone number in order	Recalling a snapshot

Since everything appears at once, there is no order to repeat to yourself. You store a shape instead, such as a diagonal, a cluster in one corner, or three along the top.

People often score quite differently on the two tests. That is not a contradiction. In our view, the gap shows which kind of memory does more of your work, so it is worth trying both.

Can this test tell you if something is wrong with your memory?

No. A browser game where squares light up all at once is not a diagnostic test. The clinical Corsi block-tapping task (Kessels and colleagues, 2000) is also a different task. There, an examiner taps real blocks one at a time. If you are worried about your memory, see a health professional rather than a website.

Research on picture memory puts the limit lower than most people guess. Luck and Vogel (1997) found that visual working memory holds about four items at once. Cowan (2001) gathered evidence that the limit is about four chunks once repeating and grouping are ruled out.

Yet on the Visual Patterns Test, the one our grade table is based on, adults usually hold eight or nine squares, well past four. That does not prove the research wrong. It shows that you are grouping.

How to beat the four-item limit

The limit counts chunks, not squares. Three squares in a row make one chunk if you see them as a line. So people who spot shapes spend one slot where others spend three.

Lines and edges first

Rows, columns and diagonals are shapes you already know, so they cost almost nothing to store.

Count by quadrant

Split the grid into four parts and count. "Two top-left, three bottom-right" is much lighter than six separate spots.

Name the shape

Call it an "L", an "arrow" or a "staircase" in your head. Word memory then backs up the picture when it starts to fade.

Remember the gaps

When most of the grid is lit, the dark squares are the smaller set. Four holes are easier than fourteen tiles.

Keep your gaze still

Moving your eyes around breaks the layout into pieces. Look near the center and let the edge of your vision take in the board as one picture.

Click sure squares first

The picture fades while you hesitate. Clear the squares you are certain of, then work on the rest.

What moves your score between runs

Five runs tell you more than one. Screen size also matters more than people expect. On a phone the whole 6×6 board fits in one glance. On a big monitor your eyes have to travel, and the picture breaks apart.

A notification during the flash does more than distract you. Whatever you see next takes over the memory slots your pattern was using.

Tiredness shows up in a specific way. You see the pattern clearly, then lose it in the second or two before your first click. Holding on is the first thing tiredness takes.

Visual Memory Test