How to win a Survivor memory challenge

In Cagayan (season 28), three players reached the last tile of a 7-tile sequence. LJ, Tony and Tasha each gave a different color. Only Tasha said blue. She was right, and she won immunity.

Blue had already shown up once in that round. So had green, and green knocked out four players one tile earlier. The tiles that came back did the damage.

We found 15 US episodes with a memory challenge, from 2001 to 2015. This guide shows how the challenge works and teaches a method you can drill. Every board on this page is live.

How a memory challenge works

There are two kinds.

In the first, Jeff shows a sequence, one symbol at a time. Then you show it back in order. One wrong symbol and you’re out. Rounds go on until one player is left.

In the second, you study a board of symbols. Then it’s hidden, and you rebuild it from memory. On the show, players often had to run, swim or dive between the board and the place where they rebuilt it.

Our game has both. In the first kind, each symbol shows for just under a second. A miss counts, and you watch the round again.

Step 1: Say it in groups

Your memory can only juggle a few things at once. Wikipedia’s article on working memory puts it at about four “chunks” for young adults. A chunk is a group you hold as one thing.

So don’t try to hold six symbols. Hold two groups of three. Say them in your head with a beat between: “ship, barrel, compass. Crate, lantern, cannon.” People do the same with phone numbers. Ten digits are hard, but three or four short groups are easy.

Step 2: Watch for the symbols that come back

A symbol can show up more than once. Those are the traps. Your brain knows it saw the lantern, but not which time.

In Blood vs. Water (season 27), the second round had 7 symbols but only 4 different ones. It came down to Vytas and his brother Aras. On the last symbol, Aras showed a lantern. Vytas showed a cannon, the right answer, and won immunity.

When a symbol comes back, tag it. Think “lantern again” instead of just “lantern.” Try the exact round from that episode below.

Step 3: Study a board one row at a time

A board is too much to take in at once. Learn it in rows instead. Say each row as a short list, then go on to the next one. When you rebuild it, go row by row in the same order.

Step 4: Know what a mistake costs

In Palau (season 10), each player had a grid of 15 pictures to rebuild. After a mistake, they had to cross the course again to look. That walk was the price of a wrong guess.

Our game works the same way. “Look again” shows the board, but the clock keeps running. A wrong board counts as a miss.

In One World (season 24), a player pulled a lever once they had the pattern memorized. That dropped the curtain for both players. Studying longer meant the other player might drop it first. So learn just enough, then go.

What the winners did

They didn’t need to be perfect

In Africa (season 3), players studied 9 items and put them back from memory. Ethan placed 8 of them. That was the most of anyone, and it won him immunity.

They played when others sat out

In China (season 15), four players chose to sit out and eat cheeseburgers. Peih-Gee stayed in and beat the other three who played.

They kept the last symbol

In both recorded rounds on this page, the player who won got the last symbol right. In Cagayan it was blue, which had shown up two tiles earlier. In Blood vs. Water it was a cannon, which had shown up four symbols earlier.

A practice plan

1. Start in Practice mode on Climb. A hint shows the round again. Practice saying the symbols in groups.
2. Play the two show boards in Challenge mode. They are the exact rounds from Cagayan and Blood vs. Water.
3. Switch to the study boards. Start with 7 in a row, then 3×3, then 3×5.
4. Play the Daily. Everyone gets the same sequence, and only your first finish counts.

Play the memory puzzle