A word appears. Have you seen it already in this run, or is it new? The list keeps growing.
Half of runs end before 35
One word appears at a time, drawn from a bank of 282. Answer SEEN if that word has already come up during this run, or NEW if it has not. Every word you are shown joins the list, so what you are holding in your head keeps getting longer. Three wrong answers end the run.
This is recognition memory rather than recall — you are not asked to produce anything, only to know whether you have met a word before. Half of all runs here end before 35 words. People who do well tend to describe trusting a feeling of familiarity rather than searching a list, which is both faster and, oddly, more accurate.
From 770 tests played on this site since August 2026. Higher is better.
| Players | Computer | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| Top 10% | 84 words or more | 79 words or more |
| Top 25% | 58 words or more | 52 words or more |
| Median | 35 words | 32 words |
| Bottom 25% | 17 words or below | 13 words or below |
Over 55 words. The middle score here is 35 words on a computer and 32 on a phone; 58 puts you in the top quarter, and 84 in the top 10%.
A word appears. Say SEEN if it has already come up in this run, or NEW if it has not. Every word you are shown joins the list, so the list you are holding in your head keeps growing.
Number memory asks you to recall something exactly. This asks you to recognise it, which is a different and much longer-lasting kind of memory — and the difficulty comes from the list growing, not the words getting harder.
Do not try to hold a list. Most people who do well say they get a feeling of familiarity from a word and trust it, which is faster and more reliable than searching your memory each time.
More to play: Number Memory Test, Visual Memory Test, or all solo games.
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