Concentration Card Game Rules

Concentration, also known as Memory, is a great family card game. It's easy to make the game easier or more difficult, and younger players tend to be able to compete with older players because they generally excel at memory-based games.

Players

1 to 6 players.

Deck

Standard 52-card deck.

Goal

To collect the most pairs of cards.

Setup

Shuffle the cards and lay them on the table, face down, in a pattern (e.g. 4 cards x 13 cards).

Gameplay

The youngest player goes first. Play then proceeds clockwise.

On each turn, a player turns over two cards (one at a time) and keeps them if they match numbers. If they successfully match a pair of numbers, that player also gets to take another turn.

When a player turns over two cards that do not match numbers, those cards are turned face down again and it becomes the next player’s turn.

Variants

To make the game easier, cards can be removed in sets of 4 (e.g. all of the 2s and 3s).

To make the game more difficult, require players to match both numbers and colors, as opposed to just numbers. (e.g. The King of hearts would match the King of diamonds – but neither of those cards would match the King of clubs.)

Scoring for 1 player

Time yourself to see how fast you can find all of the matching pairs. Compete with yourself by trying to get a faster time in a second game.

Scoring for 2 to 4 players

Players keep each pair they find. At the end of the game, each pair scores one point.

Winning

When all the pairs have been found, the player with the most points wins.

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