Memory Match in Python

Moves

Pairs

0 / 8

Stars

★★★

Best

—

⌨️ Controls

← → ↑ ↓ move the dashed cursor
Space or Enter turn a card over
Clicking or tapping a card works too
P pause • R new game
🎮 Xbox controller? Just plug it in or pair it — the stick and D-pad are the arrow keys, A is SPACE, Menu pauses and View starts again

🎯 How to play

Sixteen cards lie face down, hiding eight pairs.
Turn two over. If they match they stay up; if not, they turn back — so remember them!
A move is a pair of cards, not a single one.
Find all eight pairs to win.

🏆 Scoring

Eight pairs cannot be found in fewer than 8 moves.
12 moves or fewer = ★★★
18 moves or fewer = ★★
More than that = ★ — everybody who finishes gets a star.

🧑‍💻 This whole game is Python

There is almost no JavaScript on this page. The browser downloaded Pyodide — a complete Python interpreter compiled to WebAssembly — and then ran the .py files in funtime/pylib/. Python does the rules, the maths and the drawing.

File	What it does	Good functions to try re-writing
pylib/memory_rules.py	The rules: dealing, flipping, matching	`card_index`, `create_deck`, `is_match`, `flip_card`
pylib/memory_draw.py	Painting the cards — Python calling the canvas	`draw_symbol`, `draw_card`, `card_at_pixel`
pylib/memory_web.py	The glue: clicks, keyboard, the loop	`do_action`, `on_board_click`, `frame`

🔍 Compare the two versions. Open lib/memory-rules.js and pylib/memory_rules.py side by side — same ideas, two languages.

🛠️ Build it yourself: Build Memory Match in Python walks you through the functions one at a time.

⚠️ If the game never starts: the page has to read its .py files, which a browser will not do for a page opened straight off your disk. Use the live site, or run python3 -m http.server in the project folder.