Sketchy memory

How to play Sketchy memory

A simple line drawing appears for three and a half seconds: a house, a sailboat, an umbrella, a snail. Look at it properly, because when the timer runs out it disappears and you have to draw it from memory on a blank canvas. Draw with your finger or the mouse, undo strokes you regret, and submit when you are done. The game then lays your version over the original and scores the overlap pixel by pixel, so shape and placement both matter. Three figures make a round, drawn from a library of nearly fifty, so you can play a lot of rounds before anything repeats. If you are truly lost you can take a quick peek at the original, at the cost of twelve points on that figure.

Tips

• Memorise the big shape and the proportions first, details are worth very little
• Start your drawing in the same spot on the canvas, position counts as much as shape
• Long confident strokes score better than lots of short scratchy ones
• A peek costs points but a blank canvas costs more

About Sketchy memory

Drawing from memory is humbling. Most people can picture a bicycle perfectly and then produce something that could not possibly roll. It happens because we remember concepts rather than shapes, so the moment the reference disappears the brain hands you an idea of a house instead of the house you just looked at. Sketchy memory makes that gap visible: the overlay at the end of each figure shows exactly where your version drifted. The scoring is deliberately forgiving about wobbly lines and strict about proportion, which nudges you towards looking properly rather than drawing well. It is a decent five minute warm up if you draw, and quietly funny if you do not.

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