Echo: Morse code memory game
A pattern of dits and dahs plays and lights up two pads. Key it back in order. Each round adds one more element and a little more speed; one wrong element and the game is over.
- Round
- –
- Longest echoed
- 0
- Speed
- 12 WPM
- Best
- 0
Echo the pattern
- Listen: a pattern of dits and dahs plays and lights the pads.
- Key it back on the straight key: a short press for a dit, a long one for a dah.
- Each round adds one element and a little speed. One wrong element ends the game.
Short press for dit, about three times as long for dah. With the key area focused, Space or Ctrl work too.
- 1Choose how to answerStraight key or Tap buttons
- 2Press Start and listenLeft pad lights for a dit, right for a dah
- 3Key the pattern backSame order: short for a dit, longer for a dah
How to play
- Choose how to answer: Straight key or Tap buttons. Touch screens start on Tap buttons.
- Press Start and listen. The left pad lights for a dit, the right pad for a dah.
- Key the pattern back in the same order. On the straight key, press and hold: short for a dit, about three times as long for a dah.
- Get it all right and, after a short pause, the pattern plays again with one more element on the end.
- One wrong element ends the game. The end screen shows how many you echoed and the pattern you missed.
What the game does
Echo is Simon in Morse code. It plays a run of the two Morse sounds and asks you to send it back, one element longer every round.
- Sound and light together. Each element plays as a 620 Hz tone and lights its pad, so you can follow by ear, by eye or both.
- A real straight key. Press and hold the key on screen, or Space or Ctrl with the key area focused. The tone sounds for as long as you hold it, like a practice oscillator.
- Tap buttons. Two big pads for dit and dah, with keyboard keys for each.
- It gets faster. The pattern starts at 12 WPM and speeds up every three elements, up to 24 WPM.
- Your best on this device. The longest pattern you have echoed is kept as your best.
- A daily challenge. On days when Echo is the featured game, the daily challenge from the games page gives everyone the same patterns.
How it works
Every round keeps the old pattern and adds one random element, a dit or a dah with even odds. So round 5 is round 4 with one more sound on the end, and you only have to learn the new tail.
Timing follows the PARIS standard: one unit lasts 1,200 ms divided by the WPM. A dit is one unit and a dah three.
Echo sends each element as if it were its own letter, so the gaps between them are three units long. That makes each sound distinct, unlike the one-unit gaps inside a real letter.
The speed rises by 2 WPM every three elements: 12 WPM for the first two, 14 WPM from three, and so on, until it reaches 24 WPM at 18 elements.
On the straight key, each release is read as a dit or a dah. At first a press longer than two units of the pattern's speed is a dah. Once your dits and dahs fall into two clear groups, the reader follows your own rhythm instead of the clock.
Examples
The speed and lengths at each stage of a game:
| Elements | Speed | Dit | Dah | Gap between |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | 12 WPM | 100 ms | 300 ms | 300 ms |
| 3 to 5 | 14 WPM | 86 ms | 257 ms | 257 ms |
| 6 to 8 | 16 WPM | 75 ms | 225 ms | 225 ms |
| 9 to 11 | 18 WPM | 67 ms | 200 ms | 200 ms |
| 12 to 14 | 20 WPM | 60 ms | 180 ms | 180 ms |
| 15 to 17 | 22 WPM | 55 ms | 164 ms | 164 ms |
| 18 and up | 24 WPM | 50 ms | 150 ms | 150 ms |
A game might grow like this: -, then - ., then - . ., then - . . - as the fourth round. Heard as a rhythm, that last one is “dah di di dah”: the same marks as the letter X, but Echo leaves a letter gap between each one, so it is slower than an X.
Tips for longer echoes
Hum it, don't count it. Hearing “dah di di dah” as one tune is easier than remembering long, short, short, long.
Break long patterns into chunks of three or four. Many chunks will sound like letters you know, such as S (...) or O (---), which makes them easy to hold.
On the straight key, keep your dahs clearly long. A dah that is only twice a dit may be read as a dit until the reader has learned your timing.
Good questions
Frequently asked questions.
About Echo
Is Echo like the game Simon?
Yes. Simon plays a growing run of colored lights and you repeat it.
Echo does the same with the two sounds of Morse code: a short dit and a long dah. Each round adds one element, and one wrong element ends the game.
What is the difference between a dit and a dah?
Length. A dit (dot) lasts one unit and a dah (dash) lasts three, by the international standard ITU-R M.1677-1. At 12 WPM, where Echo starts, a dit is 100 ms and a dah 300 ms.
Operators say dit and dah because Morse is learned as sound, not as printed dots and dashes.
How does the straight key know a dit from a dah?
It first reads each press against the pattern's speed: anything longer than two units counts as a dah. Once you have keyed a few of each, it follows your own timing instead, so a steady hand at your natural pace is read correctly.
Can I play Echo on a phone?
Yes. Touch screens start on Tap buttons: two large pads, dit on the left and dah on the right. You can switch to the on-screen straight key and press and hold it instead.
What keys work on a computer?
With Straight key chosen, focus the key area and hold Space or Ctrl. With Tap buttons chosen, press ., Z or the left arrow for dit, and -, X or the right arrow for dah.
What is a good Echo score?
Your score is the longest pattern you echoed in full, and your best is kept on this device. Beat it by hearing the pattern as a few short rhythms rather than one long list of sounds. Past 18 elements the speed stops rising, so from there it is memory alone.
Does Echo teach me letters?
Not directly: the patterns are random runs of dits and dahs, not letters. What it trains is hearing the two lengths apart and keeping them in order, which is the base of copying letters by ear. Learn the letters themselves with the Koch method course.
Trust and limits
Private by design.
Honest about limits.
On your device
Runs in your browser
Echo runs in your browser: the tone is made on your device, and your best score is saved on this device only.Know the limits
Good to know
Patterns are random dits and dahs, not letters. On an iPhone, if there is no sound, check the silent switch.Who keeps it
Independent site
Maintained by Translate Morse Code, an independent site; last updated November 2026.