diff --git a/src/backend.memory.js b/src/backend.memory.js
index c75f6f6f..ece95bd2 100644
--- a/src/backend.memory.js
+++ b/src/backend.memory.js
@@ -142,9 +142,12 @@ this.recline.Backend.Memory = this.recline.Backend.Memory || {};
     this._applyFreeTextQuery = function(results, queryObj) {
       if (queryObj.q) {
         var terms = queryObj.q.split(' ');
+        var patterns=_.map(terms, function(term) {
+          return new RegExp(term.toLowerCase());;
+          });
         results = _.filter(results, function(rawdoc) {
           var matches = true;
-          _.each(terms, function(term) {
+          _.each(patterns, function(pattern) {
             var foundmatch = false;
             _.each(self.fields, function(field) {
               var value = rawdoc[field.id];
@@ -155,7 +158,7 @@ this.recline.Backend.Memory = this.recline.Backend.Memory || {};
                 value = '';
               }
               // TODO regexes?
-              foundmatch = foundmatch || (value.toLowerCase() === term.toLowerCase());
+              foundmatch = foundmatch || (pattern.test(value.toLowerCase()));
               // TODO: early out (once we are true should break to spare unnecessary testing)
               // if (foundmatch) return true;
             });
diff --git a/test/view.map.test.js b/test/view.map.test.js
index 1efd3d83..698c22e6 100644
--- a/test/view.map.test.js
+++ b/test/view.map.test.js
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ test('Popup - Custom', function () {
   assertPresent(popup);
 
   var text = popup.html();
-  ok((text.indexOf('<h3>3</h3>y: 6') != -1))
+  ok((text.indexOf('<h3>1</h3>y: 2') != -1))
 
   view.remove();
 });