Pocket Games
Simon
Four coloured buttons, a sequence that grows by one colour every turn, one mistake and you start over. Simon dates from 1978 and ever since almost everyone stops around seven colours — which is exactly what working memory holds.
How it works
Four coloured pads. The game lights one, you repeat it. Then it lights two, you repeat them in order. Then three, and so on: the sequence grows by one colour each turn and always restarts from the beginning. One mistake ends the game, and your score is the length you reached.
Pocket Games has three speeds, which change how long each pad stays lit and how much silence there is between them: Easy is comfortable, Medium matches the pace of the original Simon, Hard is roughly twice the speed of Easy and goes past what the eye can consciously follow. Each speed keeps its own record.
Why people stop at seven
It is not a coincidence, and it is the most interesting thing about this game: human working memory holds about seven items, give or take two. Up to six or seven colours you really are remembering them one by one. Past that, the method that got you there stops working — and squeezing it harder will not help.
To go further you have to change which kind of memory you are using.
The techniques that work
Chunk it. Instead of seven separate items, remember two groups of three and one of one. It is the same reason phone numbers are remembered in groups rather than digit by digit: the capacity is seven units, and a group of three counts as one.
Use the rhythm, not the colours. With practice the sequence stops being a list of colours and becomes a cadence, with its own accents and pauses. Memory for rhythm has more room than visual memory and, crucially, it survives speed: on Hard there is no other way to keep up.
Repeat at the speed you saw it. Going slower feels careful and actually breaks the rhythm, which is the only thing you are really remembering. People who repeat in stops and starts make more mistakes than people who repeat in one flow.
Do not look at the pads while you answer. It sounds absurd and it is the tip that helps most: after a few turns your fingers know where to go. Watching the colours as you press makes you consciously double-check, which is slow, and makes you lose your place.
The fragile part is the beginning. At high turns people almost always fail in the first three colours, not the last ones: the new ones are fresh, the first ones you have been recalling for twenty turns. It is worth mentally rehearsing the opening while the game plays the sequence.
Frequently asked questions
How far can you get?
Ten colours is a good result. From fifteen up you are no longer remembering colours one by one, you are remembering the cadence. On the physical Simon the records are past thirty.
Is the sequence always the same?
No, it is generated fresh every game. You cannot learn it between games: you learn the method, not the sequence.
Is the hard speed actually playable?
Yes, but only by feel: the pads flash too fast to name the colours in time. It is the difficulty that rewards anyone who has learned to memorise the rhythm.
Is there sound, like the original Simon?
No, this version is silent: the rhythm comes from the flashes and, on a phone, a short vibration on each tap. So the "rhythm" above is visual, but it works the same way — it is the cadence that is memorable, not the note.
More games to try
See the full list of games, or open Pocket Games in your browser: they are free and you don’t need an account.