How to play Simon Says
Simon Says is a copy-the-pattern memory game. Press Start and one coloured pad lights up and sounds its note. When it goes dark it is your turn: tap that pad back. Get it right and the game replays the same pattern with one extra step added on the end, and you copy the whole thing again from the beginning. Round three is three pads long, round ten is ten pads long, and the sequence keeps growing until you break it.
Each pad has its own note as well as its own colour, so the pattern arrives as a little tune at the same time as a light show. That doubling up is the point - some children hold the colours, some hum the melody back, and having both routes available is what makes the game reachable for very different learners. A Status pill above the board always says which phase you are in: Ready, Watch, Your turn, or Oops after a mistake. While you are answering, a small counter shows how many of the steps you have played back correctly so far.
Controls
- Tap or click a pad. The pads are locked while the pattern is playing and unlock when it is your turn, so an early tap cannot end your run by accident.
- Keyboard: Q or 1 for red, W or 2 for blue, A or 3 for yellow and S or 4 for green. On the KS1 setting only the first three of those do anything, because only three pads are on the board.
- Enter or the space bar starts a game and starts a new one after a wrong answer, so a keen player never has to reach for the mouse.
- Sound on / Sound off is a button under the pads. Muted, the pads still light up and the game plays exactly the same.
Rounds, scoring and difficulty
The Round pill shows how many steps are in the pattern being played to you. One wrong pad ends the run, and the game then tells you the last round you completed - reaching round nine means you played a nine-step sequence back from memory. That number is your score. Your best is saved in the browser and shown beside the round counter, so the target is always your own previous attempt rather than a stranger's.
The working level changes both the number of pads and how quickly the pattern is played to you:
- KS1 (Years R to 2, ages 5 to 7): three pads instead of four. Each one lights for 0.6 seconds with a long gap between steps and a pause before the pattern begins, so there is thinking time built into the demonstration itself.
- Lower KS2 (Years 3 and 4, ages 7 to 9): the full four pads, lighting for 0.45 seconds with a shorter gap. The pattern now arrives quickly enough that you have to take it in as a shape rather than one step at a time.
- Upper KS2 (Years 5 and 6, ages 9 to 11): four pads at 0.35 seconds each with the shortest gaps. At this pace a long sequence plays back almost as a single phrase.
Stickers
Simon Says feeds the site-wide sticker book. Clearing round 3 unlocks Good Start, round 5 unlocks Good Memory, round 10 unlocks Sharp Mind and round 15 unlocks Mind Master. They land as each round is completed, so a run that ends at round 11 still keeps the first three.
Tips for a longer sequence
- Say the colours out loud as they light. Turning the pattern into words is the single biggest jump most players make, because a spoken list is far easier to rehearse than a remembered picture.
- Chunk it. Nine steps is impossible as nine things and quite manageable as three groups of three.
- Only the last step is new. If you know you had the first six right, the work each round is remembering one pad, not seven.
- Answer at your own pace. There is no clock on your turn, so pausing to think between taps costs nothing.
- If the tune is easier to hold than the colours, mute nothing and close your eyes for the playback. The notes alone carry the whole pattern.
Who Simon Says is for
Repeating a growing sequence is close to a pure test of working memory - holding a list in mind, keeping it in order and playing it back - which is why a version of this game turns up in so many assessment and intervention toolkits. It also drills sustained attention, because looking away for one step loses the whole round, and it gives immediate, unambiguous feedback without anyone having to mark anything.
There is nothing to read and nothing to type, the pads are large, and the round always ends politely rather than dramatically, which matters for children who find losing hard. The KS1 setting was added specifically so that a younger or more anxious learner gets a genuinely gentler game - three pads and slow playback - rather than the same game with a smaller expectation. It works over a screen share as well as it does in the room, and is a good candidate for a whiteboard where a whole small group can call the colours together.
Questions about Simon Says
Can it be played without sound?
Yes. The Sound on / Sound off button sits under the pads. With the tones muted the pads still light up, so the pattern is fully playable by sight alone.
How many pads are there?
Four - red, blue, yellow and green - at Lower and Upper KS2. At KS1 only the first three appear, which makes each step easier to hold in mind.
Is there a time limit on my turn?
No. Once the pattern has finished playing you can take as long as you like over each tap. The only pressure in the game is the speed of the demonstration, and that is set by the working level.
Is Simon Says free to play?
Yes. It is free to play in your browser, with no signup, no download and no in-game purchases. Built by a UK SEND tutor with QTS.