gamesblog

Word recall

Words flash past one at a time; then pick out the ones you saw. Lists grow longer, words come faster, and the lures get closer.

  • Memory
  • Timed
  • 137 levels

How it plays

Watch the words go by — one at a time, each for a moment. Then you are tested: pick every word you saw from a mixed set, say whether one word was there, or say which of a few came first.

Levels lengthen the list, shorten the time each word is shown, and from a point on draw the words you did not see from the same kinds as the ones you did — after "trout", "salmon" is the dangerous lure.

Picking a word that was not there costs as much as missing one that was, so picking everything earns nothing.

Keys

Space starts and skips ahead · 1–9 pick · Enter submits · Esc stops. On a phone, tap.

What it trains

This practises holding a list in mind and recognising it again. Gains in one memory task are not, on the evidence, gains in memory in general.

Learn

How to get better at word recall: the method, the techniques, what each new level asks of you, and the traps the wrong answers are made of.

Your approach to each question

  1. As each word appears, picture the thing it names — the real object, not the written word. Every word in this game is a concrete thing you can see.
  2. Link each new picture to the one before with an action, so the list becomes one running story: the horse kicks a kettle, the kettle boils on a cloud.
  3. At the test, for each word ask “is it in my story?”, not “does it feel familiar?”. Familiar is what the lures are built to be.
  4. Answer the ones you are sure of first. For “Pick all the words you saw”, you must pick exactly the number asked, so the last picks go to the words you are least sure were absent.

Techniques and tricks

  • The link story

    Chain each word to the last with a quick, odd action. The story holds which words were there and, for free, the order they came in.

    e.g. horse, kettle, cloud, chisel: a horse kicks a kettle, the kettle steams into a cloud, the cloud rains chisels.

  • Picture, do not read

    Spend the moment each word is shown seeing the object, its colour and size. A word you only read blurs into others of its kind; a picture of the exact object keeps it apart from them.

  • Note the kind and the exact one

    Notice each word’s kind as it passes — a fish, a tool — and tie the exact word to it: “the fish was a trout”. When the lures come from the same kinds, knowing “there was a fish” is not enough.

  • Exactly half are lures

    In “Pick all the words you saw”, the options are the words to find plus the same number of words that were not shown. Pick your sure ones, count what is left to find, and fill it from the ones you can best place in your story.

    e.g. A 9-word list asks for 6 out of 12 options. Sure of 4? Two more to find among the other 8, of which 6 are lures.

  • Walk the story for order

    For “Which came first?”, run your story from the start and stop at the first of the offered words you meet. Do not trust which word feels oldest.

As the levels climb

  • With the settings as they come, three things rise in turn: one more word, less time per word, and — once, three levels up from the first — near lures. After that the levels alternate between a longer list and less time, until the time reaches its floor.
  • Time per word falls from 1.5 s to 0.5 s, with a short gap after each. Below about 0.8 s a full scene is hard to build: see just the object and join it to the last with one verb.
  • Near lures are words you did not see, drawn from the same kinds as the ones you did: after “trout”, “salmon”. From then on, a story of exact things is what separates them.
  • In “Pick all”, the number to find grows with the list: three plus a third of the list, never more than the list and never more than 12, mixed with as many lures.

Traps to avoid

  • The same-kind lure: you saw trout, and salmon is offered. It fits the story’s kind of thing, but it was not in the story. Picture the exact fish.
  • Familiar from an earlier round: the bank is finite and words come back in later lists, so a word can feel “seen” because it was in the last list. Trust only this round’s story.
  • Picking on familiarity: a word you pick that was not there cancels one you got right, so picking every familiar word earns nothing.
  • In “Which came first?”, picking the word you remember best. The most vivid word is not always the earliest; walk the story from its start and take the first you meet.

How to practise

  • Use “Test” to train each kind of question: “Was this one word there?” is one quick judgement, “Which came first?” needs the order your story gives you, and “A mix of all three” keeps you honest.
  • Set “Fixed time per word (ms, 0 = by level)” to hold the pace still, so the ladder only lengthens the list while you learn the link story.
  • Set “Lures” to “Any word” while you learn to picture the words, then to “Same kinds as the list” to make every round a near-lure round.
  • Raise “Words at level 0” once the short lists are automatic, so each session starts at a length that stretches you.

Levels

Each question has a clock that comes from the work it asks for. There are 137 levels with the default settings, and the counter stops at the real top. Your level is judged on your last ten answers, every ten: 90% moves you up, below 80% moves you down, which holds most people near four in five right.

All of it is in the settings beside Start — how many answers a judgement looks at and how often it recalibrates, the thresholds, the time, which questions, how many options, and whether you see each verdict at once or review them together at the judgement. You can also jump to any level.

More memory

All games →