Pattern Memory Tips: Holding More Squares in Less Time

Updated October 2026

Pattern flashes a handful of squares on a five-by-five board, hides them, and asks you to tap every one of them back. One wrong square ends the run, and every level adds another square while giving you a little less time to look. It is a visual short-term memory test, and like most memory tests it rewards technique far more than raw talent. This guide lays out exactly how each level is built, what the game does and does not punish, and the encoding tricks that keep working when the board fills up.

How a level is built

Level one shows three squares. Each level after that shows one more, so level n always shows n + 2 squares, up to a ceiling of 18 squares that is reached at level 16. The squares are chosen completely at random every time, with no connection to the previous level, so there is nothing to carry over except your technique.

The viewing time starts at 1.5 seconds and drops by 0.06 seconds per level until it reaches a floor of 0.7 seconds at level 15. A few reference points:

• Level 1: 3 squares for 1.5 seconds.
• Level 5: 7 squares for 1.26 seconds.
• Level 10: 12 squares for 0.96 seconds.
• Level 15: 17 squares for 0.7 seconds.
• Level 16 and beyond: 18 squares for 0.7 seconds.

Your score is the number of levels you cleared, so failing on level 9 scores 8. Your best is stored on your device, and any score above zero can be sent to the Hall of Fame.

What the game forgives, and what it does not

Knowing the exact rules removes a lot of needless stress.

• There is no clock on your answer. Once the squares disappear, you can take as long as you need. The only time pressure in the game is the viewing time.
• Taps during the preview do nothing. You cannot accidentally lose by touching the board while the pattern is still on screen, but you also cannot bank answers early.
• Re-tapping a correct square is harmless. Once a square has turned green it is locked in, and touching it again is ignored.
• Order is irrelevant. Any sequence that covers all the lit squares clears the level.
• One wrong square is final. Tapping any square that was not in the pattern ends the run on the spot. The game then marks the ones you missed so you can see what you forgot.

The combination of no answer clock and instant failure means the right attitude is unhurried precision. After the board goes blank, pause, rebuild the picture in your head, and only then start tapping.

See shapes, not coordinates

Remembering twelve separate positions in under a second is close to impossible. Remembering three or four shapes is not. The brain naturally groups nearby items, so let it: as soon as the pattern appears, look for clusters such as a domino of two squares, a corner of three, a straight bar, or a diagonal step.

A useful way to work is to describe the board as a few strokes. "A bar across the top, an L in the bottom left, and a lone square in the centre" is three items, which comfortably fits in working memory, even though it may represent eight or nine squares. Isolated squares are the hardest to keep, so tie each one to the nearest landmark: a corner, an edge, the centre square, or one of the clusters you already have.

Switch to the gaps when the board is crowded

From level 11 onward, the pattern contains 13 or more squares, which means more than half of the 25 are lit. At that point it is easier to remember what is dark. At the 18-square ceiling, only 7 squares stay unlit, and seven gaps are much easier to hold than eighteen lights.

The same grouping rules apply to the gaps. Look for the dark holes as shapes, then, in the recall phase, tap everything except those holes. Around levels 10 to 12 the two counts are close, so decide per board: if the lights form a few solid blocks, keep them; if the dark squares are the tidier shape, keep those instead.

Count as a safety net

You always know how many squares there should be: two more than the level number. Use that as a check before your final taps. If you are on level 8 and you have confidently tapped nine squares, you know exactly one is missing and can concentrate on the area that felt fuzzy.

Resist the urge to guess wildly. When you are unsure of the last square, the odds of a blind guess are poor; with one square left on level 10, for example, there are 14 untapped squares and only one is correct. Spending extra seconds to replay the image is free, so do that first. If you genuinely cannot recall, choose the square that best fits the shape you remember, since partial memory beats a coin toss.

A related trick is to tap the squares you are surest of first. Each correct tap turns green and lightens the load, and the green squares serve as anchors that make the remaining positions easier to place.

Using the brief viewing time well

On early levels you have well over a second, which is enough to look carefully. On later levels you have well under a second, and the most common mistake is to try to scan square by square. There is no time for that. Instead, take in the whole board in one glance, with your eyes resting near the centre, and let the shape register as a single image. Saying the shapes to yourself silently right after the board goes blank helps to fix them before the image fades.

There is a 0.7-second pause between a cleared level and the next preview. Use it to clear your mind and focus on the middle of the board, so you are not still looking at the corner where your last tap landed when the new pattern flashes.

A practice plan

1. For a few runs, name every pattern aloud as a small set of shapes during the preview, even on the easy early levels, so the habit is ready when it matters.
2. Make a rule to pause for a full breath before your first tap on every level. Because there is no answer clock, this costs nothing.
3. From level 10, start judging each preview: is it easier to hold the lights or the holes? Practise both.
4. Use the count check on every level until it becomes automatic.

The New button also works mid-run: if you have cleared at least one level, pressing it ends the run and lets you save the score instead of throwing it away.