Power-ups and Rewards

Cosmic Memory has ten rewards: seven that change how a level plays and three cosmetic card backs. This page lists what each one does, how you get it, and when it is actually worth spending.

Last reviewed: 28 July 2026

How rewards are earned

Completing any level gives a 50% chance of receiving one reward, chosen at random from the ten available. The roll is independent each time, so three levels in a row without a reward is unremarkable, and so is getting two in a row.

Rewards are announced in the level-complete panel and added to your inventory, which you can view from the Rewards page. Duplicates stack, so having four Extra Times means you can use it on four separate levels.

Nothing in the reward system is required. Every level in the game, including level 100, is designed to be completable with no boosts at all.

The functional boosts

Extra Time

Adds 15 seconds to the countdown.

When to use it: Best on levels 61 to 100, where the timer is the binding constraint rather than the board size.

Reveal Peek

Flips every card face-up for about a second and a half, then hides them again.

When to use it: Strongest at the very start of a 6×6 board. Used mid-level it mostly re-shows cards you already know.

Freeze Timer

Pauses the countdown for five seconds while you keep playing.

When to use it: Useful in the final scramble, when five seconds is two extra considered moves.

Hint Spark

Highlights one matching pair on the board for a moment.

When to use it: Good when you are one stubborn pair from a clear and cannot place it.

Shuffle Swap

Reshuffles the positions of all unmatched cards.

When to use it: A reset button. Worth it when your mental map is a mess and you would rather start the tracking again.

Level Skipper

Completes the current level instantly and unlocks the next one.

When to use it: Save it. On a wall you have failed five times, it is worth more than any other reward.

Memory Booster

Doubles the streak increase for the level you use it on.

When to use it: Cosmetic in practice — it affects the streak counter, not the board.

Cosmetic card backs

Three alternative card backs — Galaxy, Nebula and Starlight — can drop as rewards, and three more come with Premium. They change the artwork on the reverse of every card and nothing else. There is no gameplay advantage, and switching between them is free once unlocked.

Card backs and how they are obtained
Card backHow to get it
GalaxyEarned as a reward
NebulaEarned as a reward
StarlightEarned as a reward
CosmosPremium
SupernovaPremium
AuroraPremium

Using a boost during a level

Boosts are used from inside a level, not before it. The Boost button in the game header opens a panel listing everything you own with the quantity remaining. Selecting one applies it immediately and closes the panel.

  • Without Premium you can use one boost per level attempt. Restarting the level gives you the allowance back.
  • Using a boost consumes one from your inventory.
  • If you own none of a boost, selecting it offers the Premium upgrade rather than doing nothing.
  • Boosts do not exist in any multiplayer mode.

Optional ad rewards

Alongside earned boosts, the game offers a small number of advantages in exchange for watching a short advert with a ten-second countdown. These are always opt-in — nothing interrupts a level uninvited.

  • Extra time — adds 30 seconds to the current countdown.
  • Reveal — shows the whole board briefly, like Reveal Peek.
  • Reclaim — after a failed level, restores the exact board you lost on, with your matched pairs and move count intact, plus time back on the clock.
  • Bonus wheel — a spin for a random reward.

Reclaim is the one worth knowing about, because it is the difference between losing two minutes of careful mapping and losing nothing. Premium removes adverts entirely and grants the same effects directly.

What Premium changes

Premium is an optional one-off upgrade. Its effects on this system are:

  • The one-boost-per-level cap is removed.
  • Boosts no longer consume inventory, so every boost is effectively unlimited.
  • Adverts are removed, and ad-gated advantages are granted directly.
  • Three additional card backs are unlocked.

Premium does not add levels, does not change the difficulty curve and does not affect multiplayer. It removes friction rather than adding content. The full list of benefits is on the Premium page.

Spending strategy

The most common mistake is spending boosts as soon as they arrive. Because they drop randomly and the difficulty rises in steps, the natural pattern is to accumulate quietly through the middle levels and then draw on that stock at the tier boundaries.

  1. Never spend below level 10. Those levels have no timer, so there is nothing to save yourself from.
  2. Hold Level Skipper indefinitely. It is the only reward that solves a level you genuinely cannot beat.
  3. Open a 6×6 with Reveal Peek rather than saving it for later. Its value is highest when there is the most unknown information on the board.
  4. Keep Extra Time for levels 81 to 100. Fifteen seconds on a 75-second level is a 20% increase; on a 150-second level it is barely noticeable.
  5. Treat Shuffle Swap as a recovery tool, not an opener. It is for when your mental map has collapsed.