Circus Dancer Memory Match

Why We Picked Circus Dancer Memory Match

Circus Dancer Memory Match is a tidy little problem: sliding tiles into the gap, with every mistake visible only after the fact. A small game with a strict rule and no interest in flattering you. The loop is sliding tiles into the gap, and the board gives you room for one mistake, not two. We kept it because the board stays readable from the first move to the last, which is rarer than it sounds. On the record: 157 plays, 5.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings, and 159 of 172 on the puzzle shelf.

How to Play

What you actually do, in order:

• Slide the tile beside the gap; the rest of the board stays put.
• There is no fail state beyond an unusable board, and an unusable board is usually your own doing.
• Check what a move opens for the next piece, not just what it clears now.

Editor’s Note

One board per visit is the natural unit, and stopping mid-board costs only the board. Because the genre runs on rules rather than reflexes, a puzzle stays playable on a trackpad and an old browser.

Written by the UGFJD editorial team for this page. The publisher’s own description follows below, unedited.