Memory Games for Adults: 8 Types, and Where to Play Them

Memory isn’t one thing

“Memory games” covers very different skills. Remembering where things are is not the same as remembering words, and both differ from juggling information in your head while you use it (psychologists call that working memory). The best way to choose a memory game is to know which kind you’re practicing. Below are the main types, what each one trains, and where you can play. Three of them you can play free right here, no sign-up.

1. The Chimp Test: remembering positions in order

Numbers appear on a grid. You tap 1, the rest turn blank, and you tap the hidden tiles in order. Each round you clear adds a number. It trains visuospatial working memory, holding several locations and their order for a few seconds. It’s named after Ayumu, a chimpanzee in a 2007 Kyoto University study who beat students at a fast version of it.

Play it: the free Chimp Test. Memo’s version gives you 3 lives and no timer while you memorize. Tip: trace one path from 1 to the end before you tap.

2. Word recall: remembering a list

You study a list of words, then write down as many as you can remember. It’s a classic test of verbal short-term memory, and the skill is close to everyday tasks like remembering a shopping list. In Memo’s version you get 16 words, four from each of four categories, up to 60 seconds to study, and then you type what you recall.

Play it: the free word recall test. Tip: sort the words into their categories as you read. Four groups of four are far easier to recall than sixteen loose words.

3. Card matching: the “concentration” game

The game most of us played as kids: cards face down, flip two at a time, find the pairs. The adult version gets harder with abstract patterns you can’t name. In Memo’s Mind Flip, 12 cards (6 pairs) are shown for 2.5 seconds and then flipped. You score by finding all pairs in the fewest flips.

Play it: the free memory matching game. Tip: in that first glimpse, try to lock in just two or three pairs rather than the whole board.

4. N-back and dual n-back

You see (or hear) a stream of items and press a button when the current one matches the one n steps back. In dual n-back you track a position and a spoken letter at the same time. It is hard, and that’s the point: it’s a pure working memory workout. Dual n-back became famous for claims it could raise intelligence. A 2015 meta-analysis found a small effect. A re-analysis found it shrank further and wasn’t reliable once studies with active control groups were considered. Play it because you like the challenge, not to raise your IQ. Memo doesn’t include an n-back game.

5. Digit span

Someone reads a string of digits, and you repeat them. Then you try repeating them backwards. It has been used in psychology for over a century. Most adults manage around six or seven digits forward and fewer backward. Backward span leans more on working memory, because you have to rearrange as you go. Tip: group digits in threes, the way you remember phone numbers.

6. Corsi blocks and Simon-style sequences

In the Corsi block test, an examiner taps a sequence of blocks and you repeat it. The span you reach is your spatial memory span. The electronic game Simon does the same with colors and sounds, adding one step each round. Both are cousins of the Chimp Test, which shows everything at once and lets you set the pace.

7. Schulte tables (a focus game, often lumped in)

A 5×5 grid of shuffled numbers. You find 1 to 25 in order as fast as you can, keeping your eyes on the center. It’s mostly visual attention and search rather than memory, but it shows up in a lot of memory-app lineups. If attention is what you want to practice, the Stroop test trains a related skill: ignoring the obvious answer to give the right one.

8. Mental math (memory in disguise)

Adding 47 and 38 in your head means holding a carried digit while you do the next step. That’s working memory under load. Memo’s mental math games build from warm-ups to two-digit carrying and three-number chains.

Memory techniques that work outside games

• Chunking: group items (digits in threes, words by category). It works in games and in life.
• Testing yourself: trying to recall something strengthens it more than re-reading.
• Spacing: review the same thing over several days, not all at once.
• Memory palace: picture items placed along a familiar route. It’s the technique memory competitors use.
• Sleep: memories consolidate overnight. A bad night shows up in every score.

The best memory game apps for adults

If you want these games on your phone with progress tracking, here are the main options (ratings and prices from the US App Store, October 2026). We make Memo.

Memo: three memory games in a five-minute set

Memo bundles the Chimp Test, word recall and Mind Flip with a Stroop test, mental math, geometry and two calm-down timers. That’s a mix of memory types rather than one drilled over and over. A full round takes about five minutes. There’s no adaptive difficulty: the games stay the same, so your chart shows real change against your first try. Breathing and Do Nothing are free. Premium unlocks the other six games for $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year, after a 7-day free trial.

• Play free
• App Store
• Google Play

Good

• Three different kinds of memory: spatial, verbal, visual
• Daily best score per game, charted against your first try
• Leaderboard for today, this week and all time

Not so good

• Only 8 games in total
• No n-back or digit span
• Brand new: 3 App Store ratings

For broader comparisons, see the best brain training apps and, for older players, brain games for seniors.