What Echo is
Pads light in a randomly generated order, each paired with a distinct musical tone, and you repeat that order back by tapping them. Get it right and the next round adds one more step. Your score is simply how long a sequence you managed. The order is new every run: seeing it played to you first is what makes it fair, not any pattern you could learn in advance.
There are two modes, and the default is the forgiving one. In Normal you have three lives: a wrong pad costs one, and the same sequence is then replayed to you from its beginning rather than resuming at the step you missed. Strict ends the run on the first mistake. You switch between them from the mode button, and your choice is remembered.
There is also a clock on your reply, which is easy to miss at first. Each tap has a time window that starts around six seconds and tightens as the sequence grows, down to a floor of about three and a half. The window resets with every correct pad, so it is a per-tap budget rather than one countdown across the whole sequence.
How it plays
Watch the pads light in order, then tap them back in the same order. On a keyboard, 1 to 4 or the arrow keys select pads. P pauses and M mutes, though muting removes the tone half of each pad.
Getting better at it
Each pad is tied to its own pitch, so with the sound on the sequence arrives twice over: once as a position and once as a note. Muting leaves only the positions, so turning sound on is one thing to try if you are stuck.
Start in Normal rather than Strict. Normal is the default and gives you three lives: a slip costs one, and the same sequence is then played to you again from its beginning rather than resuming at the pad you missed. Strict ends the run on the first mistake. Strict carries no scoring advantage, so there is little reason to switch until you want the harder failure condition.
Do not rush, but do not dawdle either. Each tap has its own time window, and because it resets after every correct pad you are never racing the whole sequence at once — you simply need to keep moving. A steady, deliberate rhythm both stays inside the window and leaves room to enter a pad you have correctly remembered.
Who it suits
A good game for a short break, and one that uses sound as well as colour. There are four pads and one rule, so there is nothing to learn before you start. The sequence itself is generated at random, but it is always played to you in full before you are asked for any of it.
Questions
Can I play it with the sound off?
You can, and the game is fully playable muted. Each pad has its own tone as well as its own colour, though, so playing with sound gives you the sequence in two forms rather than one.
Is there a time limit on my answer?
Yes, on each tap rather than on the sequence as a whole. The window starts around six seconds and tightens to about three and a half as the sequence lengthens, and it resets after every correct pad.
What happens when I get one wrong in Normal?
You lose one of three lives and the whole sequence is shown again from the start. You do not pick up from the pad you missed.
At a glance
- Genre
- Memory, audio sequence
- Players
- One, with friend-code score challenges
- Modes
- Normal (three lives, replays from the start) and Strict (one mistake)
- Controls
- Tap the pads on touch; 1–4 or arrow keys on a keyboard
- Saves
- Best sequence length kept in this browser
- Cost
- Free, no account, nothing to install