Pairsleuth is a matching-pairs puzzle for iPhone in which the cards carry clues instead of pictures. Turn one over and it tells you where its partner sits: a row, a column, a distance, a square it can never be next to. Read enough of them and you can prove where a pair is before you touch it, so a board is won by reasoning rather than luck. Your score is how few wrong flips it took.
There is one board a day, the same for every player, and a ladder of generated boards behind it. Pairsleuth has no accounts, no ads and no timer, and makes no network call except to the App Store for the one optional purchase.
Getting help
If a board seems impossible, a clue looks wrong, or anything else is off, email me and I will answer personally.
Email: [email protected]
Please include your iPhone model and iOS version, and say where it happened: the daily board (with its date) or the ladder (with the tier). A screenshot of the board is the fastest way for me to see exactly what you saw.
Common questions
How do I play?
Each card you turn over shows a clue about where its partner is. When the clues on the board prove where a pair must be, claim it: a pair you can prove costs nothing. A flip that turns out wrong counts as a wrong flip, and the number of wrong flips is your score. A board finished with none is a clean solve. The How to play round teaches the rule on a four-card board, and you can replay it any time from Settings.
Can every board really be solved without guessing?
Yes. Every board is generated with exactly one solution and checked, before you see it, to be solvable by deduction alone. When a pair becomes forced, Pairsleuth draws the chain of clues that proves it on the board, one step at a time. It never reveals anything the cards had not already said.
If you ever meet a board you believe needs a guess, send me the date or the tier and a screenshot. That would be a bug, and I want to know about it.
When does the daily board change?
The daily board is built from the calendar date in UTC, so every player in the world gets the same board on the same day. It changes at midnight UTC: in the evening in the Americas, overnight in Europe, and in the morning in Asia and Australia.
What is free, and what does the purchase add?
The daily board and ladder tiers 1 to 7 are free, and they stay free. One optional, one-time purchase adds the expert clue set, with negative clues that narrow the board by ruling squares out and chained clues that say nothing until another pair is down. It also opens the ladder above tier 7, where it no longer ends. There is no subscription, and the purchase restores on any iPhone signed in to the same Apple Account (Settings → Restore Purchases).
Can I play with the sound off?
Yes. Sound and haptics both switch off in Settings, and every pair, elimination and wrong claim is also drawn on the board, so the game plays the same with your iPhone on silent.
Where are my results stored?
On your iPhone, and nowhere else. Your daily results, clean solves, streak, average wrong flips and ladder progress never leave the device, because Pairsleuth has no server and no sync. They are included in your normal iPhone backup (iCloud Backup, or an encrypted backup to a Mac) like any other app’s data. Deleting the app deletes them; your purchase is kept by the App Store and can be restored if you reinstall.
Does it work on iPad?
Not in this version. Pairsleuth is an iPhone game.
Contact
Questions, bugs, or ideas for the game:
Email: [email protected]
For privacy questions specifically, see the Pairsleuth Privacy Policy or email [email protected].
See also our Terms and Conditions.