Memory Skills’ from Zephyr Toymakers (Mumbai) was a pleasant surprise. The packaging wasn’t too bad. The price was very reasonable (under Rs 200). And the product design and finish was impressive, notwithstanding my spectacularly low expectation levels.
My earliest recollection of memory games is laying out a deck of cards neatly into rows and columns. For some reason, the first player would get to turn over three cards. Playing alternately, each player would then turn over two cards at a time. The cards would be left exposed in their places for a moment, and then be flipped over face down. Successful pairings meant an extra turn. Good players would mop up the last four to five pairs in quick succession.
‘Memory Skills’ from Zephyr is based on that classic, but with a few happy extras. Play sheets are arranged in five visual categories (identical visuals/ front and back of visuals/ half visuals/ mother and child — as in a large and small version of the same visual/and associate visuals.)
Shuffle the ten double-sided play sheets and slide the selected one into the game board tray. The 6x6 window grid is now masked with individual bright yellow pegs. It would have been nice if the designers had allowed for a firmer grip of the pegs on the board.
Instead of flipping cards, as described earlier, in this case, you pick up two pegs at a time to reveal the visuals below. On getting a match, the two pegs are removed from the board. The player who collects the most pegs, wins!
The ‘front & back’ play sheet has sweet illustrations. The ‘associates’ sheet is clever (think letter and post box, hammer and nail, and so on. ‘Memory Skills’ is a great buy. Long before we were taught that such games are important to keep aging grey cells ticking, I enjoyed playing memory. I’ve seen versions of the game developed with flash cards. This plastic game board / tray / windows, has a substantial feel to it, and the moulding is smooth, without jagged edges and protrusions!
I have developed my own version of Memory, using cards with family pictures on one side. One suite per person, with four different pictures of the person in the suite. It was wonderful playing with that customised set. And it also made a great gift for each of the people featured in the deck!
— The author may be contacted at arup_kavan@yahoo.com [1]
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[1] mailto:arup_kavan@yahoo.com