Cosmic Memory Game Modes

The campaign is the main mode and the reason most people open the game. It runs from level 1 to level 100, starting with a four-card board and ending with 6×6 grids under a 75-second countdown and a 50-move cap.

Solo is the only mode with a timer, the only mode where boosts can be used, and the only mode that saves progress. Best times are recorded per level, and completed levels display them on the level map so you have something to beat on a replay.

If you have five minutes and want a clear sense of getting better at something, this is the mode. Read Levels and Progression for the full difficulty curve.

Two players share one device and take alternating turns. Each player enters a name, picks a grid size, and then passes the phone, tablet or laptop back and forth. The active player is highlighted, and matching a pair earns another turn immediately.

There is no timer. The game ends when the last pair is matched and the higher score wins. Because there is nothing to install, no connection to wait for and no account to create, it is the fastest way to get a second person playing — it works on a train, in a waiting room, or across a kitchen table.

The trade-off is honesty: both players see the whole board every turn, so nobody can claim not to have noticed where a card was.

Online matches pair you with another player over the internet. You can enter open matchmaking and be paired with whoever is waiting, or create a private invite link and send it to someone specific. Once a match is running, either player can request a third participant, and accepting generates a short code the third player enters to join.

Online matches also include:

• A real-time text chat panel alongside the board.
• A live scoreboard showing each player's matched pairs.
• Turn enforcement on the server, so the board is locked for everyone except the active player.
• Abandonment handling: if someone closes the tab, the match resolves on the remaining scores rather than hanging.

No account is needed. Your identity is a random ID stored in your own browser, and the only thing other players see is the display name you type before the match.

The bot is a deterministic, rule-based opponent. It remembers the last two cards it has seen and plays a known pair when it can, otherwise it picks at random. It also pauses briefly before each move so the game reads at a human pace rather than resolving instantly.

Because its memory is deliberately tiny, the bot is beatable by any attentive player. It is the right choice when you want the structure of a versus game — turns, an opponent taking pairs off the board, the extra-turn rule — without needing another person or a connection. It also works entirely offline.

The AI opponent sends the current board state to a large language model, which chooses which two cards to flip and returns a short explanation of its reasoning. That explanation is displayed in a thought bubble, so you can watch it work rather than just seeing cards turn over.

There is also a chat panel: you can talk to the AI during the match and it will reply in character. This mode needs an internet connection because the model runs on a server.

The AI is less predictable than the bot. It reasons about the board rather than following a fixed rule, so it will sometimes make an excellent read and sometimes a strange one. Playing With AI covers both computer opponents in detail.

Every multiplayer mode lets you pick the board size before starting, from 2×2 up to 6×6. Your last choice is remembered, so you do not have to set it again each session.

• 2×2 and 2×3 — over in under a minute. Good for showing someone how the game works.
• 3×4 and 4×4 — the sweet spot for a casual match. Long enough for the lead to change hands, short enough to play several in a row.
• 4×5 and 5×6 — a proper memory test. Expect long chains once someone starts converting.
• 6×6 — 36 cards and 18 pairs. Genuinely demanding, and the extra-turn rule can produce dramatic swings near the end.

Larger grids favour the player with better recall; smaller grids give luck more say. If you are playing against someone much stronger or much weaker, adjusting the grid size is the simplest way to make the match close.

• You want to improve. Solo campaign. It is the only mode that measures you against yourself over time.
• Someone is sitting next to you. Local pass and play.
• Your friend is somewhere else. Online match with an invite link.
• You have no connection. Solo or the bot. Both work offline once the game has loaded.
• You are curious how a machine plays. Versus AI, and read the thought bubbles.