Step Back

Does this item match the one from a few places back?

Squares light up on a small board, or letters appear on a card, one every two and a half seconds. Press Match when the current item is the same as the one a set number of steps back. Otherwise, do nothing. It is a quiet game that asks you to keep a short list moving in your head.

How to play

Choose position (squares) or letter mode, and a level: one, two or three steps back.
Watch each item. The first few are only to remember.
If the item on show is identical to the one that many places back, press Match. If not, simply let it pass.
Twenty scored items plus the first few; exactly six of them are matches.

Levels and modes

1 back1 back: is it the same as the one just before?
2 back2 back: is it the same as two steps ago?
3 back3 back: is it the same as three steps ago?

Mode: Position · Letter

What your result means

Accuracy counts matches found and non-matches left alone equally. Pressing Match on every item, or never pressing it, both come out at fifty percent, so only real answers lift the score. The card lists matches found, false taps and missed matches.

Tips from the tea table

Say the last items under your breath and drop the oldest each time: ‘K, R’ becomes ‘R, T’.
In position mode, give the squares names like clock positions; names are easier to shuffle along than places.
Do not chase a missed match. The next item is already on its way.
Start at one back until it feels dull, then move up. The jump to two back is the big one.

Questions

What does 2 back mean exactly?

Compare each item with the one shown two items earlier: in C, K, C the second C is a match.

Why did pressing all the time give me 50%?

Accuracy is the average of matches found and non-matches left alone, so pressing on everything finds all matches but leaves no non-match alone.

Can there be matches I did not intend, like a repeat right after?

In 2 back and 3 back an item never repeats the one just before it, so look-alike repeats do not muddle the count.

Which key is Match?

The space bar, or the big Match button under the board.

Tea sets with Step Back

These sets pour Step Back as one of their three cups: