Door 18 · Brain
Thong Pairs: Day 18 of Sunburnt Santa
A memory pairs game played with a pile of thongs (flip-flops): flip two cards, match the pair, and clear the board before the 75-second clock runs out. Matches in a row climb fast, and every cleared board deals you a bigger one.
How to play Thong Pairs
- Tap two cards to flip them. Match the thongs and they stay up.
- Matches in a row build a combo: 100, 200, 300... A miss flips them back and resets it.
- Clear the board for a 500 bonus plus 10 per second left, then a bigger board. 75 seconds.
Scoring
| What | Points |
|---|---|
| 1st match in a row | 100 |
| 2nd match in a row | 200 |
| 3rd match in a row (and so on) | 300, 400, 500... |
| Board cleared | 500 + 10 per second left on the clock |
Each match is worth 100 times the number of matches in a row, so the combo climbs with no cap; one miss flips the pair back and resets it to zero. Boards grow from 12 cards (6 pairs) to 16, then 20. The 75-second clock pauses while a new board is dealt.
Stars: the three targets
Stars don't lock anything; they show how you're going, and doors with at least one star count towards the bonus games.
Tips for three stars
- The combo has no ceiling, so long runs pay off hugely: six straight matches is 2,100 points, ten in a row is 5,500. Once you know where two halves are, play them back to back rather than mixing in a guess.
- Use your first flips to scout. On a fresh board, turn over cards you haven't seen yet and remember every one; then cash in pairs you know in one unbroken run. A miss costs you the combo and about half a second while the cards flip back.
- Clearing the board quickly is worth more than it looks: the bonus is 500 plus 10 for every second left on the clock, and you get a bigger board with more pairs (and a longer combo) straight away. And the combo carries over from one board to the next, so a clean finish on one board starts the next one hot.
The real story: why Australians call flip-flops thongs
Ask for thongs in Australia and you'll be handed a pair of flip-flops. Fashion historian Lydia Edwards writes that the Australian name comes from the shoe's structure, the strap that sits between the toes, rather than the "flip flop" sound most other countries named it after [1].
The shoe is not quite as Australian as it feels. Its closest ancestor is the Japanese zori, a flat-soled sandal traditionally made of straw, and in Hawaii a thong-like version of the zori, the "slipper", grew out of the footwear of Japanese plantation workers who arrived in the 1880s [1]. Across the Tasman, New Zealand businessmen Maurice Yock and John Cowie both claimed credit for the rubber "jandal" around 1957 [1]. Here, Dunlop first imported thongs from Japan in 1959 and started making them locally in 1960 [1].
Whoever invented them, December is peak thong season: the beach, the barbie, the backyard cricket and the front door, where everyone's pairs end up in one big jumble. That pile is this level. If you're new to the lingo, our guide to Aussie Christmas slang has the rest.
Read more: Aussie Christmas slang: a dictionary for visitors.
When it opens
Door 18 opens on day 18 of your own calendar (your Day 1 is the day you first play), and for everyone by 18 December. Play the door before it to open it. Once it's open you can replay it as often as you like, and after Christmas Eve all 24 doors stay open. How the calendar works.
Play now
Same kind of game: Light Show, Secret Santa Shuffle, True Blue Quiz.
Sources for the real story
- Flip flop: the un-Australian history of the rubber thong, The Conversation