The Simon Says Game is a compact in-browser sequence exercise built around four drum controls, five fixed rounds, and a hard ceiling of 1,000 points. Every run uses the same disclosed sequence fixture, the same per-round award of 200 points, and the same two terminal states — so a player who reaches the ceiling on one device can reproduce the same result on another by following the same inputs. This guide walks through the five rounds, the scoring formula, the replay and deadlock rules, the input methods, and the limits of what the game actually measures.
Why the Sequence Is Disclosed and Fixed
Most Simon-style games randomize their sequences so each run is different. The Simon Says Game does the opposite on purpose: the five sequences it draws from are disclosed on the page and never change. Round one is control 1. Round two is 1, 3. Round three is 1, 3, 2. Round four is 1, 3, 2, 4. Round five is 1, 3, 2, 4, 1. Every run follows that fixture in order.
A fixed fixture does three things at once. First, it makes local practice predictable — a player who learns round three today sees the same 1, 3, 2 tomorrow. Second, it makes production verification easy, because a tester can replay the same five sequences and check the score after each round. Third, it makes accessibility checks repeatable, since the visual and audio cues can be evaluated against the same input every time. There is no hidden daily seed, no clock-based variation, and no server-side shuffle that quietly changes the difficulty between visits.
The pure state transition function that runs the game takes one of five fixed sequences and compares each submitted cue id against the current position. That separation keeps the rules auditable: the visible interface reflects the same logic a tester would find by reading the state function directly.
The Five Rounds and Their Exact Cues
The fixture grows by one cue at a time. Round one has a single cue; round two adds a second; round three a third; round four a fourth; round five a fifth. No round ever replaces a previous round's full list — each new round extends the chain rather than starting over. The exact cues for each round, in the order they must be entered, are listed in the table below.
| Round | Cues in Order | Number of Cues | Points Awarded on Completion |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 200 |
| 2 | 1, 3 | 2 | 200 |
| 3 | 1, 3, 2 | 3 | 200 |
| 4 | 1, 3, 2, 4 | 4 | 200 |
| 5 | 1, 3, 2, 4, 1 | 5 | 200 |
Because the rounds grow by one cue, a player who learns the fixture can rehearse each round in isolation before chaining them together. Restart always returns the run to round one, so the same opening round is available at the start of every attempt.
Scoring: From 200 Points to the 1,000-Point Ceiling
The scoring contract is short and fully disclosed. Every completed round awards exactly 200 points, no matter which round it is. There is no bonus for streaks, no multiplier for finishing under a clock, and no carry-over from a previous run. The award is added the moment the final cue of a round is entered, and the round counter then moves up by one.
Adding the five round awards together — 200 + 200 + 200 + 200 + 200 — gives exactly 1,000 points. That is the ceiling for a perfect run, and the page does not offer any path past it. After the fifth round is completed, the cue buttons, the replay action, and the keyboard inputs are all frozen. Successful completion is itself a terminal state, so a later click or key press cannot add points twice or trigger another round.
The best-score field on the page stores the highest total reached across all runs in the current browser profile. Because the ceiling is 1,000, the best score either climbs toward that number with each clean run or stays where it was after a deadlock.
Replay Rules After a Wrong Cue
The first thing to know about errors is that one wrong cue does not end the run. When a submitted cue id does not match the current position in the round's sequence, the matched position resets for that round, the round counter stays where it is, and an error counter goes up by one. The error count remains visible for the rest of the run.
From that point, the player can replay the same round by choosing Play round again, watch the same sequence, and start re-entering from cue one of that round. The round award — 200 points — is held back until the round is completed correctly. No points are lost on the first wrong cue; the only cost is the attempt and the slot in the two-error budget.
This design keeps a single slip from wiping out a near-perfect run. It also keeps the rules easy to audit: a tester can deliberately enter a wrong cue at any round, confirm that the matched count drops to zero, confirm that the round counter stays the same, and then complete the round to recover.
Two Terminal States: Success and Deadlock
The game has exactly two terminal states, and both freeze further input until Restart is pressed.
The first terminal state is success. After the fifth round is completed correctly, the score reads 1,000, and the cue buttons, the replay action, and the keyboard inputs are all disabled. Pressing number keys 1 through 4 from this state does not change the score, does not retrigger sound, and does not reset the round. Only Restart returns the run to round one.
The second terminal state is deadlock. When the error counter reaches two — meaning the player has entered two cues that did not match the fixture during the same run — the same controls freeze. The visible score reflects whatever was earned before the second error, the error count shows two, and the run is over. Like the success terminal, the only way back to round one is Restart.
The pure state transition function enforces both endings: a complete state returns unchanged on further input, and a deadlocked state returns unchanged on further input. The shared Restart control is the only input that breaks either freeze.
Input Methods: Pointer, Touch, and Keyboard
The same four drum controls respond to three completely different input methods, and the method can switch mid-run without resetting anything. The page is laid out in two columns of drums, which gives generous touch targets on narrow phone screens.
| Input | Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mouse or trackpad | Click a drum to enter the cue | Pointer events are native to the page; no driver is needed. |
| Finger on a touch screen | Tap a drum to enter the cue | The two-column layout gives generous touch targets on narrow phone screens. |
| Number keys 1, 2, 3, 4 | Press the matching digit to enter the cue | No focus shift required; works while the body has focus. |
| Tab and Shift+Tab | Move focus across Restart, Replay, and the four drums | Standard keyboard focus order; no accessibility plugin required. |
| Double-Escape | Toggle the boss-key spreadsheet view | Built into the shared game shell; no extra download. |
During playback, all four controls are temporarily disabled so a touch or key press cannot be confused with the demonstration. When playback ends, control returns and the matched position resets to the first cue of the current round. The shared Restart control is always reachable through normal Tab navigation.
Audio, Visuals, and the Boss Key
Each drum combines several signals: a number, an English label, a geometric symbol, a site-token color, a visible pressed state, and a short synthesized tone. That combination means the sequence remains readable when sound is muted, when the device has no audio output, or when the player prefers to play silently.
The tones themselves are produced with the browser's Web Audio API using short local oscillator notes. They are not calibrated instruments, hearing tests, musical references, or statements about standardized pitch. They are optional reinforcement for the visual cues that drive the actual game state.
The double-Escape boss key lives in the shared game shell, not in the Simon Says logic. Pressing it twice in a row swaps the visible game for a neutral spreadsheet view; pressing it twice again swaps back. That switch is useful when a quick practice round happens near other people. It does not change the run state, the score, or the matched count, and it does not require any download.
What Stays on Your Device
The page does not call any remote game service. Every cue you enter, every mistake you make, every score change, and every best-score update is computed locally inside the same browser tab. The only value written to your device is the best score, and that write happens only when browser storage is available, only for your own browser profile.
The audio engine does not fetch recordings either. The Web Audio API generates short oscillator notes on demand, so the page loads no background audio files and no music library. Nothing in the run requires an account, an upload, a paid API key, a package install, a server-side random generator, or a clock-driven daily seed.
The same self-contained approach that keeps the run private also keeps it portable — anyone who wants a quick browser-based puzzle between tasks can open the Simon Says Game page the same way they would open a download-free Water Sort session: a URL, a page, and zero installation overhead.
What This Practice Game Is — and Isn't
The Simon Says Game is a fixed entertainment and practice activity. The five-round fixture is disclosed, the 200-points-per-round formula is disclosed, and the rules around errors, replays, and terminal states are explicit. The page does not introduce adaptive difficulty, a daily seed, or any claim about cognitive performance.
A perfect 1,000-point run only means that the disclosed five sequences were entered correctly under these game rules. A deadlocked run only means that two entries differed from the fixed fixture. Neither outcome should be read as a measurement of memory, attention, hearing, intelligence, age-related change, learning ability, or fitness for any task. The intentionally small scope keeps the result understandable, and the disclosed rules let you replay any active round, restart at any time, and verify the score from the cue count without ever leaving the page.
For a deeper look, see How Does Star Battle Award Exactly 1,000 Points?.