MAIDENARCADE

FREE IRON MAIDEN FAN GAME / Picture memory

Fear of the Dark

Fear of the Dark tests visual memory with distinct Iron Maiden album artwork and a live-performance picture. Turn over two cards at a time, find matching pairs and clear the board before the timer expires. This is a picture-matching game, so knowing release dates or song lyrics is not required.

PLAY FEAR OF THE DARK ↗

Free browser play · Keyboard and touch controls · No Flash or download

Artwork used for Fear of the Dark on Maiden Arcade

How to play Fear of the Dark

Use the preview on the first three tiers to remember a few anchor positions. After the preview, move through the board systematically rather than flipping at random. Matching the remaining pictures with fewer moves and more time left earns a stronger score. Nightmare removes the preview entirely and uses every picture in the deck.

Keyboard and touch controls

ControlWhat it does
Arrow keys / W A S DMove the highlighted card.
Enter / SpaceFlip the selected card.
Click / tapChoose a card directly.

In arcade games, use P to pause, H for the control guide, R to restart and Esc to return to the arcade. The bracket keys switch games. These shortcuts are disabled while you are typing in a form.

Choose your difficulty before starting

Every game offers Easy, Normal, Hard and Nightmare. A run keeps the difficulty chosen at the start, and personal bests are stored separately for each tier in your browser. To change an active run’s difficulty, return to setup and begin again.

DifficultyWhat changes
Easy4 × 3 board: six pairs, 120 seconds and a six-second preview.
Normal4 × 4 board: eight pairs, 75 seconds and a three-second preview.
Hard6 × 4 board: twelve pairs, 100 seconds and a short preview.
Nightmare6 × 6 board: eighteen pairs, 130 seconds and no preview.

A useful starting strategy

Name a picture to yourself when you reveal it and pair that name with its row and column. Distinguishing the artwork is more useful than remembering only its colors.

Do I need an account?

You can play this arcade game as a guest. A Maiden Arcade account unlocks daily rewards and the daily trivia challenge, badges, My Maiden collections and forum posting. Device-local arcade bests remain separate from account fan points.

This is an unofficial fan-made game. The title and artwork reference Iron Maiden; the band does not operate or endorse Maiden Arcade. See image credits and sources.

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