About the Wizard of Oz Sequence Memory Game
L. Frank Baum's 1900 book is fully in the public domain. Follow the yellow brick road through a deck of scarecrows, emerald palaces, tornadoes and friendly lions — drawn from the original novel, not any later film adaptation.
What's on the Wizard of Oz pad
The tiles the sequence is drawn from — 12 in all: 🌪️ Tornado🌾 Scarecrow🦁 Lion🤖 Tin Man🧙 Wizard💚 Emerald🌈 Rainbow🍎 Apple🏰 Palace🐕 Dog🎈 Balloon👠 Slipper
Study tip: give the first three tiles — tornado, scarecrow and lion — fixed positions in your head ("top-left", "middle", "bottom-right"). Sequence memory is about position as much as pictures.
How to memorise a classics board
Classic decks — board games, timeless toys, household evergreens — memorise well by function. Ask of each item: what is it for? Rolling dice moves a piece; a playing card deals a hand; a toy train carries cargo. Function gives every picture a tiny verb, and verbs, again, are the memory's favourite handle.
Then link the functions into an afternoon: you play the game, shuffle the cards, wind the toy. A board that tells you what a rainy Sunday felt like in object form is a board you can replay from memory after one pass.
How to Play
- Press Start and watch the tiles light up in order.
- When the sequence finishes, tap the same tiles in the same order.
- Each round adds one more step to the sequence.
- One wrong tap ends the run — your best round is your score.
Fun Facts About Wizard of Oz
- Baum wrote 13 sequels after the first Oz book.
- The book describes silver slippers, not ruby — the ruby colour is a later film choice.
- Dorothy is named after Baum's niece.
- The book won early praise for featuring a brave female child protagonist.
Classics deck questions
Are these decks good for reminiscence activities?
Very. Recognisable everyday objects from decades past are the standard material for memory sessions with older family members, and a matching game gives the conversation a light, no-pressure frame.
The board looks easy — should I skip to hard?
Familiar items are easier to recognise but not necessarily easier to locate. Try medium first: if your first game lands under the excellent benchmark, move up.