Cosmic Memory Game Rules

• Every board contains an even number of cards, arranged as a rectangular grid between 2×2 and 6×6.
• Each symbol appears exactly twice. There are no odd cards, wild cards or duplicates beyond a pair.
• The deck is shuffled independently each time a board is created, so restarting a level produces a new arrangement rather than the same layout.
• From level 26 onwards the game prefers symbols drawn from a single visual theme, so cards look more alike and are harder to tell apart at a glance.
• A card is in exactly one of three states: face-down, temporarily revealed, or permanently matched. Matched cards cannot be selected again.

1. Select a face-down card. It flips face-up and stays up.
2. Select a second face-down card. Selection is locked from this point until the comparison finishes.
3. If the two symbols are identical the pair is matched permanently and the lock releases immediately.
4. If they differ, both cards remain visible briefly, then return face-down and the lock releases.
5. Selecting a card that is already face-up or already matched does nothing.

A "move" is counted once per pair of selections, not once per card. Time continues to run during the comparison lock.

• Single-player levels are not scored with points. What is recorded is your finish time and the number of moves you used.
• The best time for each level is kept. Finishing faster replaces the record; finishing slower leaves it as it was.
• Completing a level unlocks the next one and marks the current one as complete.
• A streak counter increases by one for each completed level. It resets when a level is failed.
• Completing a level has a 50% chance of granting one reward. The result is independent each time, so rewards can arrive in clusters or not at all for several levels.
• In multiplayer, score is the number of pairs a player has matched. The highest score when the board is cleared wins.

• Levels 1 to 9 have no time limit. The clock counts upwards for your record only.
• From level 10 every level has a countdown. When it reaches zero the level ends in failure.
• A failed level does not lock anything you had already unlocked. You keep your rewards and your completed levels; only the streak resets.
• After a failure you may restart from a new shuffle, or reclaim the exact board state you lost on — same layout, same matched pairs, same move count — with time added back.
• From level 61 a move limit applies alongside the timer. Running out of moves ends the level in the same way as running out of time.

• Boosts are optional. Every level is completable without using any.
• Without Premium you may use one boost per level attempt. Restarting the level resets that allowance.
• Using a boost consumes one copy of it from your inventory.
• Premium removes the one-per-level cap and does not consume inventory.
• Boosts are single-player only. They are not available in any multiplayer mode.
• Cosmetic rewards, such as alternative card backs, are not boosts and have no effect on play.

These rules apply to pass-and-play, online matches, the bot and the AI opponent alike.

• Players take turns in a fixed rotation. Player 1 always begins.
• A turn consists of revealing two cards. If they match, the player scores a point and takes another turn immediately. This is the single most important rule in multiplayer, because a good run can clear several pairs unanswered.
• If the two cards do not match, the turn passes to the next player.
• You cannot flip cards on someone else's turn. The board is locked for everyone except the active player.
• Multiplayer boards have no countdown. The game ends when the final pair is matched.
• In online matches with three players, the rotation runs player 1, player 2, player 3 and back to player 1.

• When the board is cleared, the player with the most matched pairs wins. On an even board with two players, a 50/50 split is possible.
• If two or more players finish level on the top score, the game is recorded as a draw rather than picking a winner arbitrarily.
• In an online match, a player who leaves or closes the tab is removed from the game. The match is marked as abandoned and the highest remaining score is treated as the result; if the remaining scores are level, it is a draw.
• Leaving an offline or bot game simply ends it. Nothing is recorded, and no progress is lost.

Cosmic Memory does not attempt to police how you play. There is no leaderboard, no ranking and no reward for a fast time other than your own record, so there is nothing to gain from tampering with saved data other than removing the challenge you came for.

In online matches, the board layout is shared between players and the turn order is enforced by the server, so one player cannot flip out of sequence. Chat is unmoderated and text-only; treat other players decently and see Terms for what is not acceptable.