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Chimp Test

Click the numbers in order from memory — the famous chimp working-memory test.

  • 🧠 Brain Game
  • ✓ Free
  • ✓ No sign-up
  • ✓ Private — runs in your browser
  • ✓ Any device
Numbers
Best
Strikes

Memorize the order…

Now click them — first

✕ Wrong! Strike of — retry

✓ Cleared! Next: numbers

🐵

The Chimp Test

Numbers 1– flash on the grid, then turn blank. Tap them in order from memory. Clear a round and one more number is added.

Best level:

★ New best! ★
Level cleared this run
You held positions in working memory · No round cleared this time · best
🏆
★ Perfect — full grid cleared! ★
You out-memorized the grid.

Chimpanzees crush humans at this. Press space to start.

Why you’ll love Chimp Test

Instant & freeNo signup, no paywall, no limits — Chimp Test works the moment the page loads.
Completely privateEverything runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is ever uploaded or stored on a server.
Works on any deviceFully responsive and touch-friendly — use it on your phone, tablet or desktop.
Beat your bestYour scores and streaks save locally — come back to beat them.

How to use it

  1. 01

    Open it

    No download and no login — the tool is ready right at the top of this page.

  2. 02

    Use it

    Enter your details or start interacting. Everything updates live as you go.

  3. 03

    Get your result

    Copy, download or share your result in a single tap. That’s it.

About Chimp Test

The chimp test comes from a famous 2007 experiment at Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute, where a young chimpanzee named Ayumu memorized the positions of numerals flashed on a screen faster and more reliably than the university students competing against him. This version recreates that task in your browser: numbers appear scattered across a 40-cell grid, you get a brief look, then every tile goes blank and you must tap them in ascending order purely from spatial memory.

Each cleared round adds one more number while the preview time barely grows, so the difficulty escalates fast. You get three strikes: a wrong tap reveals the board so you can see what you missed, then the same level restarts with a fresh layout. Your best level is stored locally on your device, so you can chip away at your record over days.

What counts as good? Most people stall somewhere between level 7 and 10 — holding more positions than that in visuospatial working memory is genuinely hard, and reaching 11 or more puts you well above typical. The most effective strategy is not to read the numbers one by one but to take in the whole board as a single snapshot and trace the 1-2-3 path as a shape, the way you would remember a constellation rather than a list.

Popular uses

  • ✦ Warm up your brain before studying or deep work
  • ✦ Challenge friends to see who can beat the chimp
  • ✦ Track your working-memory best over daily attempts
  • ✦ Demonstrate the famous Ayumu chimpanzee study in class

Frequently asked questions

What does the chimp test measure?
It measures visuospatial working memory — your ability to hold the locations and order of several items in mind for a few seconds. That is a different faculty from verbal memory (remembering a phone number by repeating it), which is why strong readers and mathematicians are often no better at this than anyone else.
What is a good chimp test score?
The game starts at 4 numbers and adds one per cleared round. Most adults strike out between levels 7 and 10, so clearing double digits is a strong result and anything in the mid-teens is rare. The grid holds up to 40 numbers, but nobody realistically gets close to that ceiling.
Why are chimpanzees better than humans at this?
In the Kyoto study, young chimps like Ayumu recalled digit positions after seeing them for a fraction of a second, beating human adults. One leading explanation is a cognitive trade-off: humans may have given up some of this fast, photographic-style spatial recall as our brains specialised for language, while chimps retained it.
How can I improve my score?
Stop reading the digits individually. Relax your gaze, take in the whole grid as one image, and memorise the path between numbers as a shape or constellation. Chunking the sequence into two or three small groups also helps, and because your best level is saved on this device, a few attempts a day is an easy way to track progress.
What happens when I make a mistake?
A wrong tap costs one of your three strikes and briefly reveals the full board so you can see where the numbers actually were. You then retry the same level with a completely new layout. After the third strike the run ends and your best cleared level is shown.
Is Chimp Test free to use?
Chimp Test is 100% free — no signup, no watermarks and no usage limits. It’s one of 200+ free tools we build and give away.
Are my scores saved?
Yes — your best scores and streaks are stored in your browser, ready when you return. Most also let you share your result.

More brain & memory games

All brain & memory games
Verbal MemorySeen this word before? Keep a growing list in your head. Surprisingly hard. Visual MemoryRemember which tiles flashed, then click them back. It keeps growing. Number MemoryRemember the number as it gets one digit longer each round. What is your level?

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