Concentration (game)

Pairs is a more familiar term for, among others, under the name of Memory by Ravensburger widespread social game and the English word for couples. In the game it is about the simultaneous uncovering of image pairs of cards. Pairs is a globally used term for games of this type, which does not enjoy trademark protection relative to other names used for this game.

Other common names:

• Remember
• Uncover pairs
• Memo Game

History

The game comes in all probability from Japan and was there since the 12th century as Kai- Awase (貝 合わせ, dt "joining shells " ) are known. This is a gold leaf were placed over both halves of a shell inside and it drew a scene. Both halves were in different containers. The player is first subjected to a container from the one they put on the board and then tried the right half in the other container to find. Overall, there were 360 shell halves. In the Edo period, the game was associated with getting married and has become a popular dowry.

Evidence of a well-known in England and the USA game with cards called Pairs and Pelmanism from the 19th century also point to a similar gameplay.

In the 1940s, the kindergarten teacher Bertha von Schroeder brought Basel in the body designated by it as a twin game forerunner of today's memory with two decks of cards out, and in a very small edition of 500 copies.

The twin game inspired Heinrich Hurter to create a children's version. He brought his grandchildren in London in 1946 with a homemade game. This called it simply the memory game ( the memory game ). They were cut out of catalogs and magazines and pasted images. Heinrich Hurters son William Hurter, Swiss military attaché in London, took after his return to Switzerland in 1958, the new edition in the hand and is considered the inventor of the modern memory.

William Hurters first attempt to market the game by the game company Edition Carlit failed because Edition Carlit already led a similar game called Punta.

Success was finally the Contact Erwin Glonnegger by Ravensburger. The graphic designer Manfred Burggraf revised the images, and thus the first Pairs game was released in February 1959 under the name of Memory by Ravensburger. This game is now widely used and is considered a leader in this area. There are also other productions under other brand names as well as online versions as a browser game. Digitization and personalization possible to now and on- demand production by means of your own photos as in the game Pairsonally or by means of self-made blank cards and your own photos as Pikso.

The gameplay

A number of cards on which pairs of the same pictures or symbols are mapped respectively, is mixed and laid out face, so that the beginning is not known which card is where. One of the players starts to turn any two cards so that they are visible for a short time for all players. If the images are not equal, it is necessary to turn the two cards again and the next player 's turn. If the images of the two cards are identical, the player may keep these two cards (in this case, he may also begin again two more cards turn over ). The game is played until all the cards have been successfully uncovered.

The winner is the player who was able to uncover the most pairs.

Game success

What is decisive in pairs, to remember where the pictures or symbols are concealed. A player with good memory can bring so many couples in his possession.

Published in 1991 Uri Zwick and Mike Paterson an essay in which they are described on the basis of a perfect card memory optimal strategy that maximizes the expected number derived pairs. If known of n pairs k cards, the player should play shown in simplified as follows:

• In a situation with at least a known card, and if the sum of the number of known cards and leftover pairs is an even number, should be detected first, and then a new an old card. This also applies in a situation with exactly six remaining pairs and a known map.
• In a situation where the three times of the known card has twice the value of the higher one- number of the remaining pairs at least, and the number of the known card added to the number of the remaining pairs of an odd value is obtained, two old maps reveal, so the train right leave.
• In all other cases, two new cards are revealed.

In games between amateurs, however, children can play this game easily win against adults, while they usually lose by a lack of strategy in tournament play in practice due to higher (short-term ) memory.