Learning
How a session works
A MemDecks session is one or more games played with cards from your collection. There is no fixed session length, no daily target, and no queue of cards that are "due". A game asks MemDecks for cards, MemDecks hands over the ones that qualify, and every answer reports a score change back that is added to the card you answered about.
The sequence, step by step
- You pick a game. The Games tab only lists games your collection can fill and your study language is supported by.
- MemDecks resolves the card set. It checks the game's declared requirements — a minimum card count, sometimes a maximum, sometimes a specific deck or topic pack — and selects qualifying cards from your collection.
- The game opens with those cards. It runs as a separate app inside a frame and receives the cards and a session token; it never sees your password or your account details.
- You answer. The game scores each answer. Each game decides what an answer is worth in its own terms.
- The game reports score changes. MemDecks adds each change to the matching card, clamps the result between zero and that card's card HP, and stores it.
- The session ends when you leave. Scores are sent as you play, so closing a game mid-way keeps what you already earned.
There is no due queue
MemDecks never computes a review date. It stores no interval, no ease factor, and no next-review timestamp, and no part of the app asks "what is due today". A card reappears because a game picked it out of your collection, and games pick from everything you own that fits their requirements.
The consequence is worth stating plainly: skipping days costs you nothing in MemDecks and gains you nothing. No backlog builds up while you are away, and no card degrades. What changes is only what you have not yet practised enough — and that is visible as a percentage on the card. See how MemDecks decides when a card comes back for why this design was chosen and what it gives up.
What a game receives, and what it does not
| Given to the game | Not given to the game |
|---|---|
| The selected cards: words, translations, images, audio references | Your password or authentication credentials |
| A short-lived session token scoped to this play session | Your email address |
| Your study language | Cards in study languages other than the current one |
| Its own declared settings, and match details for multiplayer | Your billing details — MemDecks has none, it is free |
Games are separate applications, and some are made by independent developers. The third-party game policy describes what that means for you.
Adding words during a session
New words and practice are the same session, not different ones. The Translator's Next word button hands you the next entry from the pump — an unseen word from a topic pack you are subscribed to, ordered by difficulty — and saving it drops a card straight into the collection the next game will draw from.
A card saved this way starts at zero score. It is available to games immediately; it has simply had no practice yet.
Multiplayer sessions
A multiplayer game runs the same loop with two differences: the cards come from the players involved, and the session is a match formed by the lobby before the game opens. Scoring still lands on your own cards in your own collection. Multiplayer covers the details.