How to Play Pelmanism

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Pelmanism is a memory card game for 2 to 6 players in which a full deck is laid face down on the table and players take turns attempting to find matching pairs. Every card turned and replaced must be memorised, because the player who recalls where cards lie will almost always win.

It is loved for its simplicity: no reading is required, the rules take under a minute to explain, and a single standard deck is all the equipment needed. It travels well, scales across ages, and works as well at a kitchen table as on a picnic rug, which is why it remains a staple family game across the UK.

A little history

The game's origins are unclear, but it takes its name from the Pelman Institute of London, a correspondence school founded in 1898 that promoted memory training and mental improvement. The association between the institute's methods and this matching exercise led to the name becoming widely used in British English through the early twentieth century. Beyond that connection, the precise path by which the game reached its modern form is not well documented.

Setting up

1. Shuffle the deck thoroughly.
2. Spread all 52 cards face down on the table in a grid or random arrangement, ensuring no cards overlap.
3. Decide who goes first, for example the youngest player or by cutting the deck.

How to play

1. On your turn, flip any one face-down card so all players can see it.
2. Flip a second face-down card so all players can see it.
3. If the two cards match (same rank, regardless of suit in the standard game), you take both cards, place them face down in your personal pile, and immediately take another turn.
4. If the two cards do not match, turn both cards face down again in exactly the same positions. Your turn ends and play passes to the left.
5. All players must be able to see the cards briefly before they are turned back: do not rush the reveal.
6. Continue until every card on the table has been claimed.
7. Count each player's pairs. The player with the most pairs wins.

Winning and scoring

The player who has collected the most pairs when all cards are gone wins the game. With a 52-card deck there are 26 pairs available. In the event of a tie, the tied players share the win; there is no standard tiebreaker in the traditional rules, though players may agree in advance on a sudden-death playoff round using a small separate set of cards.

The fine points

The most common dispute is whether a player may pick up a card they have already seen during the same turn and then change their mind before picking the second card. The standard ruling is that once a card has been fully flipped and seen by all players, it counts as that turn's first card and cannot be swapped for a different one. A card is considered fully flipped the moment its face is visible to the table.

A second regular issue arises when a card is accidentally exposed or knocked face up during another player's turn. The standard resolution is to allow all players to study it briefly, then return it face down before play continues: the player whose turn it is does not gain any penalty or bonus. For younger players it is also worth agreeing before the game starts whether suits must match as well as ranks, since some households play that way, though the traditional and more widely played rule requires rank only.

How to win more often

• Watch every card your opponents turn over, not just the ones that are relevant to your current turn. The information is free and forgetting it is the most common mistake.
• When you turn over an unmatched card, fix its position by quietly associating it with something nearby, such as its distance from a corner or its neighbour.
• If you already know where a matching card lies, go for that pair immediately rather than speculating on an unknown second card. Certainty beats hope.
• In the early game, when you must turn two unknown cards, prefer areas of the grid you have not yet explored so you reveal new information even on failed turns.
• Against weaker opponents or younger children, resist clearing every pair the moment you know it. Keeping the grid populated longer slows the game and gives others more turns to make mistakes you can exploit later.

Variations

Suit Matching

Players must match both rank and suit, meaning only identical cards count as a pair. This variant is not playable with a standard 52-card deck because each card is unique. It works with a double deck of 104 cards, which also extends the game and increases memory demand considerably.

Concentration (Turn Three)

Each player turns over three cards per turn instead of two, keeping all three if they match. With a standard deck this works cleanly only if you use sets of three identical cards, so it is better suited to purpose-made decks with triplets. The extra card raises the difficulty sharply and suits experienced players looking for a stiffer challenge.

Solitaire Pelmanism

A single player works through the entire deck alone, counting the total number of turns taken to clear all pairs. The goal is to beat your previous score. There is no penalty for unmatched pairs beyond the extra turn they cost, making this a clean and measurable solo memory exercise suitable for any age.

Team Pelmanism

Players pair up into teams of two. Partners sit opposite each other and may not communicate verbally or signal during a turn, but all cards seen during any player's turn count as shared team knowledge. Pairs are scored to the team rather than the individual. This works well with five or six players when an odd number would otherwise be awkward.

Pelmanism: frequently asked questions