Lover's Memory

A heartfelt twist on the classic Memory card game — a tense two-sided duel where a single wrong flip can break a kingdom.

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What is this?

Lover's Memory is a compact, elegant reimagining of the familiar Memory / Concentration card game with one decisive, dramatic mechanic: among the cards sit a King of Hearts, a Queen of Hearts and a Joker — and how those three are revealed can change everything. The goal for both sides is simple: prevent the Heart King from "losing hope." Every choice matters, and a single unlucky flip can cost the match.

Key ideas

• Special trio: The deck always contains exactly three "heart" special cards — the King, the Queen and a single Joker. They are the heart of the game's tension.
• Pairs and timing: The remainder of the deck is composed of classic matching pairs. Finding matches scores points; timing and memory are crucial.
• Hidden risk: If a player pairs the King with the Queen, that is normally harmless — but if the Queen is revealed together with the Joker (a mistaken pair), the King "loses hope" and the player who made that mistake immediately loses the match.
• Victory conditions: Most of the time the game is point-based. However, special situations can create an instant-win condition (see Rules).

How to play (summary)

1. At the start, place the special trio (King of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, Joker) into the deck along with twoadditional matching pairs (five cards) — these nine special/paired cards are shuffled into the deck and placed face down. The rest of the matching pairs are briefly revealed face up, then flipped face down to begin the match.
2. On your turn, flip two cards:
• If they are a matching pair (non-special), you score a point and take another turn.
• If you reveal the King + Queen as a pair during normal play, that is fine — it counts as a pair for scoring. But watch out: if you pair the Queen with the Joker by mistake, the King will "despair" and the player who revealed that mistaken Queen+Joker immediately loses.
• Special rule: if both the King of Hearts and the Queen of Hearts remain face-down after a long portion of play, there is a last-resort instant condition — should one side reveal both the King and Queen in the same turn as part of a finishing move, they win outright. (That can shift strategy: do you hunt points, or hunt for that guaranteed win?)
3. Play continues until all pairs are found or an instant-loss / instant-win condition is triggered.

Deck layout & numbers

The game is designed so that the total number of cards on the table is 21, of which 5 are face-down (including the three special heart cards hidden among the deck). This balance preserves tension while keeping matches fast and strategic.

Scoring & winning

• Each matched pair gives +1 point to the player who found it.
• If the King and Queen are both discovered by the same player in the final decisive move described above, that player wins immediately.
• If a player flips the Queen + Joker (mix-up), they lose instantly — the King "despairs" and the opponent wins the match.
• Outside these scenarios, the player with the most points when all pairs are matched wins.

Why this version?

Memory is timeless because it rewards attention and memory. Lover's Memory keeps that core, but adds a single, dramatic social mechanic — the heart trio — that turns routine pairs into tense choices. The result is a compact game that plays quickly but carries emotional weight: every flip could be the one that saves or breaks the King.

Features

• Fast, accessible rules — perfect for short competitive sessions.
• Simple UI and pixel-friendly visuals inspired by classic card art.
• Subtle strategic depth from the "special trio" mechanic and the late-game instant-win/instant-loss situations.
• Single-player AI or pass-and-play local multiplayer (depending on build).

Tips & strategy

• Mark the positions of revealed cards in your head — the specials are what change the stakes, so track any visible Queen, King or Joker.
• When the Queen is uncovered, be cautious: pairing it hastily risks finding the Joker instead of the King.
• If both the King and Queen are still unknown late in the game, they become high-value targets that can convert a losing game into a win — but they are also traps if the Joker is nearby.
• Play reactively: if your opponent focuses on scoring points, sometimes hunting the special pair or forcing a defensive flip is the correct play.

Controls & platform notes

The controls are intentionally simple: click / tap to flip a card. Lover's Memory is optimized for keyboard & mouse and touch devices — the art and UI scale cleanly for different screen sizes.

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Credits

Big thanks to the creators of the assets used in this project:

• Card art / card assets: Caz
• Music: Olivia Cirilla

If you are the owner of either of these assets and want a different credit format or to add a link, please contact me and I'll update the credits immediately.

Licenses & thanks

The code and game rules here are © wTheos. Third-party assets are credited above and used under the license terms provided by their authors — please reach out if any credit needs to be changed.

Contact / Follow

Want to give feedback, report a bug, or request a feature? Message me on itch.io or e-mail (network654x@gmail.com). Follow the project page to get updates about new builds and balance tweaks.

Changelog (short)

• v1.0 — Initial release: core mechanics, local multiplayer, scoring and instant-win/instant-loss rules implemented.

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Play a short game, remember the cards — but keep your heart on edge. Lover's Memory is small, sharp, and built around the question: will you find love or trigger disaster first?