This is the first part of your guide to become a memory like an elephant. Over the next weeks, Memory-Sports.com will give you an insight in the amazing techniques of all mental athletes. You will learn how to memorize numbers, cards, names and words and discover the fascinating world of Memory Sports.

The Method of Loci

It is as old as ancient democracy: The method of loci, used by Greek and Roman senators to hold their intoxicating speeches in front of the senate. It was proscribed to use any kind of notes, so they were using this brilliant technique to jack up their memory. Rhetorical geniuses like Cicero went through their palaces, gardens and any other kind of locations (Latin: loci) and memorized  the order of every single object in their paths.

To remember a speech, they broke it into peaces and created symbols for every single part. Then they put those symbols into the different loci . To recall them they visualized the path and went from one station to another, where they remembered the symbols and translated them back into the speech. According to Cicero in “De Oratore”, the method of loci was invented by the Greek poet Simonides about 500 BC.

Quote Wikipedia:

Cicero (De oratore, ii. 86) tells the story of the end of Simonides relations with the Scopadae. His patron, Scopas, reproached him at a banquet for devoting too much space to a praise of Castor and Pollux in an ode celebrating Scopas’ victory in a chariot-race. Scopas refused to pay all the fee and told Simonides to apply to the twin gods for the remainder. Shortly afterwards, Simonides was told that two young men wished to speak to him; after he had left the banqueting room, the roof fell in and crushed Scopas and his guests (XXV. c. Simonides). During the excavation of the rubble, Simonides was called upon to identify each guest killed. He managed to do so by correlating their identities to their positions at the table before his departure.

What Simonides did is easy to reproduce, since remembering a route from A to B in its detail has once been part of the survival strategy of mankind. You can try it yourself: Close your eyes and remember the objects in your room. You will know exactly where your bed, your sofa, your table and your computer are. Imagine to go outside your room – can you see the corridor and the other rooms? Can you even leave the house and wander through your garden? Maybe you can jump to your workplace and see your office. You just discovered the method of loci!

The Power of the Elephant Path

Why is the method of loci so powerful?

1. On one hand it is using your natural memory for locations. Even if you have the feeling to easily loose orientation, you still are able to remember your own room in its detail.
2. On the other hand it provides a logical order. You just have to walk through your room clockwise or counterclockwise and all the objects will be in a specific order.

I will call each route we create with this method an “elephant path” (or just “path”). It is a track created by animal footfalls and represents the most easily navigated way between an origin and a destination. Each time it is used, it becomes stronger and grows wider. A memory athlete is using his paths over and over again, too. And since the elephant is also a symbol for a strong memory, it seems like a perfect name for the easiest way to a better memory.

A beautiful harmony, don’t you think?

Step 1 – Pick your Location

To use this technique and become a memory athlete, you have to choose your first location. It can be anywhere you like but you should pick the one you know best for your first elephant path. That could be your room, your flat, your house or your workspace. If you like, you can also create an imaginary path. But it is harder to memorize in the beginning, so I advise you to choose a real location first. A memory athlete creates several paths for championships. But for starters one should be fine.

Step 2 – Define the Way-Points

If you picked your first location, you have to define all the objects you want to use as way-points in your elephant path. They will be the stations you have to pass, each time you are memorizing any kind of information with it. The number of way-points will determine the length of your route – and therewith the amount of information you can store on it. You can have ten stations or a thousand. One single room can easily include twenty way-points. I suggest that your first elephant path should have about fifty stations. If you stick to some rules, your path will become more efficiently. But those rules are just a guideline – you can break them whenever you like. Since every person got a different mind and different affinities, you probably have to bend the rules to make them match your personality. By the way: This regards every single aspect in memory techniques!

• Do imagine your way-points in every detail
• Pick the way-points you first think of – they are in most cases the best
• Keep a certain order of the way you walk your path (i.e. clockwise)
• Use noticeable way-points every 10 steps to create proper segments
• Don’t make your way-points to small (i.e. a pencil)
• Don’t make your way-points to big (i.e. a house)
• Don’t make them to close together
• Don’t make them to far away from each other
• Don’t use similar way-points in the same path

Step 3 – Memorize your Path

Don’t be afraid of memorizing your path – it is as easy as taking candy from a baby!

Since you already know the location and you’ve finished defining the way-points, it will be very easy to memorize your new elephant path. Just try to recall it in your imagination. If you miss a few points, try to imagine yourself walking through your path and count each and every single way-point on it. Do that repeatedly and you will strengthen your path each time. After a while you can increase your speed dramatically: With a well trained path you wont need longer than a split second for each way-point. This process is quick and natural.

Step 4 – Use it!

With your new elephant path you are able to associate information like words with every way-point. It will help you to remember the correct order and can easily be used over and over again for different purposes. This is because you are naturally forgetting your associations after a while, if you are not recapitulate them again. This happens in a short period of time and depends on your memory. Some brilliant memory athletes will remember their images for up to two weeks without repeating them. Personally I have the mindset to never recall my associations a second time after training or a championship. I don’t need the information any more so I can let my brain forget it. That sounds counterproductive but it helps a lot to use my paths as soon as possibly again (in my case about a day). If you are looking to memorize something for the rest of your life, a simple path wont probably be enough, because you could not use it again for other information. There are different methods to do so, like Mind-Maps or the Self Enhanced Memory Matrix (SEM³) by Tony Buzan or the Wardrobe System by Dr. Ullrich Voigt.

If you are asking yourself, how the whole association thing works, be patient – I will soon describe it to you. In the meantime play around and get ready with your first path.

Thanks to Smashing Magazine for their perfect timing to give away free hand drawn illustrations. I was just looking for an elephant.

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She was a lovely and normal teenager. But about two years ago Dorothea Seitz started to train memory techniques. Now she is still lovely but stands out of the crowd: In October 2008 she went to Bahrain and competed against 43 memory athletes from all over the world – and became Junior World Memory Champion. Dorothea is able to memorize 189 words in 15 minutes and is not afraid to turn eighteen to compete against the adults. Memory-Sports.com spoke with the sixteen years young lady:

A competition is always a struggle against yourself. It is not about what others think of you, it is about achieving what you aspire.

Memory-Sports.com: When did you first hear about memory sports?

Dorothea Seitz: It was in early 2007. I read something about it online and wished for a book according to the techniques. The one I got was “A Sheep Falls Out of the Tree” by Christiane Stenger. I was fascinated how quick my progress was.

Memory-Sports.com: Did you imagine to follow Christiane’s footsteps and become Junior World Memory Champion?

Dorothea Seitz: No, but I always thought about how great the feeling must be, to be some kind of champion.

Memory-Sports.com: What is your favourite discipline?

Dorothea Seitz: In the beginning I trained binary numbers exclusively. Although it is the discipline with the least daily meaning, I really liked it somehow.

Memory-Sports.com: Did you have any expectations for the North German Championship 2009?

Dorothea Seitz: I always expect too much from myself and get disappointed. My goal was to reach the 4.000 points, but I didn’t. And I wanted to compete with the adults, to prepare for next year, when I become eighteen.

Memory-Sports.com: So you keep on memorizing and don’t stop on top of your success?

Dorothea Seitz: No, it would be to easy to call it quits and keep the title. A competition is always a struggle against yourself. I want to accomplish my personal goals and prove it to myself. It is not about what others think of me, it is about achieving what I aspire.

Memory-Sports.com: Since it is your last year as a junior, which championships are you planning to visit?

Dorothea Seitz: I will go to Hamburg this summer and compete at the German Championship. And of course I will fly to Bahrain once more to the World Memory Championship – to try my luck again.

Memory-Sports.com: You would have placed third, nearly second in the adults event at the North German Championship, if it wouldn’t have been noncompetitive. Are you confident to get into the act, when you will join the adults events next year?

Dorothea Seitz: I am pretty encouraged, especially since I thought about giving up the memory sport on the first day of the competition. But that’s the case at every championship I compete. Now I am highly motivated to go on, since I got a few results I never accomplished before at a tournament. Actually I am satisfied with every discipline except Speed Cards.

It’s fun to train my brain and seek for bigger and better challenges.

Memory-Sports.com: With some of your scores you are already able to hold the candle to the most of adult memory athletes in the world. In Random Words for example, you memorized 189 words in 15 minutes – that’s rank 5 in the world. What do you think about that?

Dorothea Seitz: Words are something I am good with, because you don’t need so much of a technique rather than your natural memory. With numbers and binaries you need much more training, to become excellent. I prefer language orientated disciplines, like Poem, where your techniques don’t have such an impact on your results.

Memory-Sports.com: What are your goals in Memory Sports?

Dorothea Seitz: To get better in the world ranking list, which is difficult in the moment, since the junior scores are not part of it. Apart from that I will go on, because the other athletes are great. And of course it’s fun to train my brain and seek for bigger and better challenges.

Memory-Sports.com: Did you experience anything negative because of the sport?

Dorothea Seitz: Most of the people don’t know it and think strangely about what I’m doing. My classmates call me “World Memory Champion” and “Super-Brain”. They don’t mean it basely, but it’s very annoying. People who don’t know me better, define me through this accomplishment.

Memory-Sports.com: Do you think, there is any potential for memory sports to become a sport for masses?

Dorothea Seitz: I wish it very much. But even on my school, with many highly skilled students and a special class for memory training, there are only a few interested in it. It would be great if the sport would make it big.

Memory-Sports.com: Would you like to compete against your inspiration Christiane Stenger?

Dorothea Seitz: Sure, but I don’t think that she still is in training. She is not competing any more and I doubt getting the chance to match with her.

Memory-Sports.com: You are following Christiane Stenger in other aspects, too: There is a rumor, that you are writing a book about memory techniques – is that right?

Dorothea Seitz: Yes, I was asked to write one and I agreed and signed the contract.

Memory-Sports.com: Do you have any help?

Dorothea Seitz: No, I will work on it allone. On one hand I will write about the history of the techniques and my personal experience. On the other hand I will go into detail about mental arithmetics, speed reading and other possibilities to train the brain. It will probably be called “Neurons on the ready, go!” because that’s the start signal on the championships. I want to popularise Memory Sports and show to the people, who are always missunderstanding me, what I am doing. It will be released in April, 2010.

Memory-Sports.com: We are looking forward to it. Thank you for your time.

Dorothea’s Memory Statistics

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With the official launch of Memory-Sports.com, it is in my duty to keep you posted about upcoming memory events. But what‘s about the past two decades of stunning championships? I gathered ten interesting facts about the dawn of memory sports:

1. When did it all started?

In the year 1991 Tony Buzan, father of the Mind-Map, and Raymond Keene, the British Chess Grand Master set up the very first World Memory Championship.

2. Who is the most successful memory champion?

That depends:

• Most World Memory Champion Titles: The British author Dominic O’Brien has won the World Memory Championships eight times altogether and became a memory legend.
• Best Brain: The No.1 memory champion of all time is the British athlete Ben Pridmore. With seven world records in 18 different disciplines he is dominating the sport.
• Financially: One of the most financially successful memorizers is the American journalist Joshua Foer. He only competed once at the USA Memory Championship in 2006 and won. After that, he sold his first book, Moonwalking with Einstein, for a reported $1.2 Million to Penguin for publication in 2009.

3.    How many different championships are there?

There have been 26 different competitions altogether. Six are taking place regularly for five years and more.

• World Memory Championship (since 1991)
• German Memory Championship (since 1997)
• USA Memory Championship (since 1998)
• Australian Memory Championship (since 2001)
• North German Memory Championship (since 2003)
• South German Memory Championship (since 2003)

4.    How many countries have national championships?

There are thirteen different nations with either national only or open championships. The youngest among them are France, Poland, Thailand and England (although the British had the World Memory Championships taking place there from 1991-2006).

5.    What kind of disciplines are there?

On a memory championship you have five to ten different disciplines. The common standard for regional events like the North German Championship is seven disciplines. The common standard for national and international events is ten disciplines (the decathlon).

The fastest discipline with one second for each number is:

• Spoken Numbers

Then you have the speed disciplines with five minutes memorisation time:

• Speed Cards
• Speed Numbers
• 5 Minute Binary Numbers
• 5 Minute Words
• Historic Dates
• 5 Minute Names & Faces

The only discipline with ten minutes is:

• 10 Minute Cards

The medium range disciplines with 15 minutes are:

• 15 Minute Numbers
• Abstract Images
• Names & Faces
• Poem
• Random Words

The long disciplines with 30 minutes are:

• 30 Minute Binary
• 30 Minute Cards
• 30 Minute Numbers

And the World-Memory-Championship-only disciplines with one hour are:

• Hour Cards
• Hour Numbers

6.    How can I become a Memory Grandmaster?

There are three different conditions for a Grandmaster:

• Memorize a deck of cards in less than two minutes
• Memorize ten decks of cards in an hour
• Memorize 1.000 Numbers in an hour

7.    What can I win at a Memory Championship?

You can win national honour and a bigger self confidence. You also train your brain for good and keep yourself focused. That’s not enough? At the World Memory Championship the total prize fund is US$ 30.000.

• The Winner receives $10.000
• The Silver Medallist receives $5.000
• The Bronze Medallist receives $3.000
• Rank 4 to 10 are receiving $1.000 each

For each of the 10 disciplines:

• $250 First Prize
• $150 Second Prize
• $100 Third Prize

8.    What is the most famous discipline?

That depends on the preferences of each competitor, but altogether I would say Speed Cards. This discipline is always the last one at a competition and also the only one (except for the other card disciplines), where you hold something other in your hands than a sheet. It is also the most fascinating discipline to watch, since every competitor gets his own competition timer (sponsored by Speed Stacks) and a big digital display for the audience. The official out-of-this-world-record is 26.28 seconds (for 52 cards!). Congratulations Ben.

9.    Are there any children competing in memory championships?

Of course there are: Germany arranges special championships for children (age 6-12) and juniors (age 13-17). At all the other championships they compete against the grown-ups. The children and junior World Memory Champions are Konstantin Skudler (10) and Dorothea Seitz (16).

10.    How will I know about upcoming championships?

Relax, I will keep you posted. In the next weeks I will put up a competition calendar, where you can check all officially announced championships. Another way is to visit the “Upcoming Championships”-page on the Memory Sports Statistics.

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Far away from the western hemisphere, on the other side of the planet, a beautiful piece of land harbors an incredible flora and fauna. The Romans called it “terra australis incognita” – “the unknown land of the south”. Nowadays it’s not that unknown anymore and so it’s not that inconvenient that excellent memorizers like (nearly) 36 years young Simon Orton hold up the Australian National Flag to the world of memory sports. The four times Australian champion is the founder of the Memory Sports Statistics – the official home of the world memory ranking list. Further more he is also the creator of the Online Memory Challenge. Memory-Sports.com spoke with him about the Australian community and his influencing websites:

The advantage of my Online Memory Challenge is that you don’t have to remember a password. You can put all your energy in memorizing the numbers and words.

Memory-Sports.com: When did you first hear about memory techniques?

Simon Orton: I bought the book ‘How to develop a perfect memory’ by Dominic O’Brien. That was ten to twelve years ago. I saw the book in a shop and found it interesting but I had no intention whatsoever to compete in a tournament. When I first found out about the Australian Championship, that was at the beginning of 2003 and the competition was in August. So I trained about six months for it.

Memory-Sports.com: What is your favourite discipline?

Simon Orton: Speed Cards, although I’m not great at it. It’s fast, it’s colourful and I think it’s easier for non memorizers to understand what you’re doing. I guess it’s kind of an impressive party trick.

Memory-Sports.com: How would you describe a memory championship to outsiders?

Simon Orton: We have ten disciplines, each testing a different area of memory. In general we have a limited period to memorize as much as possible. And then we get points for how much we can recall.

Memory-Sports.com: Do you think that typical championships are interesting for visitors?

Simon Orton: Probably not, unless they know the people who are competing. My Mum has come down with me for the Australian Championship a couple of times. And even for her it’s not that exciting. The scores are interesting, but watching the competitors for half an hour isn’t.

Memory-Sports.com: Do you have any suggestions to make a competition more fascinating for visitors?

Simon Orton: I guess the shorter disciplines are more interesting. The long recall periods, where there is nothing happening, are pretty boring. I remember my Mum once said: ‘After about twenty minutes one of the competitors stretched his arms – that was the highlight of the discipline’. Things like Speed Cards and Spoken Numbers are good to watch, because people get involved.

Memory-Sports.com: What do you think about the American system with the heads-up situation in the Championship Round?

Simon Orton: I guess that’s a good approach. But it may be more luck involved in something like that. But it’s definitely more interesting for spectators.

Memory-Sports.com: You have been Australian Champion three times in a row. Why didn’t you compete last year?

Simon Orton: It was a combination of reasons: One was the cost of getting to the championship. Another one was the training time. If I went to the championship, I would want to do better than the year before. And that would take a reasonable amount of training. I didn’t have the time to put that effort in. But I think another reason was that I didn’t really felt challenged and wanted to let someone else win. I lost the motivation after winning three times in a row.

Memory-Sports.com: Are you thinking about competing this year?

Simon Orton: I’m thinking about it, but I haven’t decided whether I will or not. The same consideration would apply, I guess. With the Online Challenge I got more training this year – that’s much more than I normally do. So yeah, I probably would like to go back to compete.

Memory-Sports.com: How is the Australian community?

Simon Orton: Small – small, but a good group of people. There are really only a handful of people who compete regularly. I just see them once a year because they live in different states in Australia. But it’s always fun to catch up with them.

Memory-Sports.com: Why are there only so few competitors in the Australian Championship?

Simon Orton: I think I have just been too dominant and obviously intimidated everyone.    The last time I competed in 2007 there was a lot more publicity. They hired a PR person and I had quite a few Interviews and TV appearances after winning. That was good but the next year in 2008 there were only two Australian competitors. For some reason the promotion of the Australian Championship isn’t working at the moment.

“I like Speed Cards because it’s fast, colourful and easier for non memorizers to understand what you’re doing – and it is an impressive party trick.”

Memory-Sports.com: Let’s come to your website, the Memory Sports Statistics. How did it start?

Simon Orton: Ben Pridmore suggested the idea for a site with a page for each competitor, showing their personal details and best scores in each discipline. That was in 2005 when Ben started the Yahoo Memory Sports Group. Soon after that I started putting together a database of all the results, because they hadn’t all been in one place. And once I had the database, the next logical step was to make a site to show all these results. It all happened about three and a half years ago. Gradually I added bits and pieces here and there since then.

Memory-Sports.com: Do you work on the website just by yourself?

Simon Orton: Yes. A lot of people helped me in the beginning, mainly in terms of providing the competition results. But it’s just been me doing the work on the site.

Memory-Sports.com: You have not just the one and only official ranking list in the world. There is a Score Calculator, you can compare competitors with each other and you inform about battled and upcoming championships. Any other plans for features like this?

Simon Orton: I had a few ideas but lately I have been focussing on the Online Challenge site. One of my ideas was a Grandmaster page, which would show who is a Grandmaster. And for the competitors who are not yet Grandmasters, how many of the three requirements they already have. I think that would be a good addition. The other thing I had thought about is translating the site into different languages.

Memory-Sports.com: Tell us a little bit about your Online Challenge.

Simon Orton: The idea is that people from around the world can compete simultaneously on the Online Memory Challenge website. I started it at the end of 2007. It worked well, but the first version wasn’t very flexible and had just three disciplines: Words, Speed Numbers and Speed Cards. Since then I build a second version of it, which included the training functionality. People can now train on the website any time they want. And I included Binary Numbers as well. It’s been something I have enjoyed working on and it has become quite popular. I have about 50 registered competitors and 30 regular competitors. Over the last year I was working on that in a lot of my spare time.

Memory-Sports.com: How does it work exactly?

Simon Orton: The regular competition is every Sunday at 10 AM Greenwich Mean Time. But just in the last couple of weeks I opened it up, so that competitors can schedule competitions at any time they like. Since then there have been a lot more challenges, sometimes once a day and sometimes even more than once – in general maybe three or four times a week. Whoever is available at the time can compete. There is also a ranking list with the idea to compete regularly.

Memory-Sports.com: So if I want to compete against a friend on the other side of the world, I can create a challenge and begin?

Simon Orton: That’s right. The other thing is the option to receive an email, when anybody is creating a challenge and be informed about the time. So if you are available you can come and compete.

Memory-Sports.com: Can everybody join a competition?

Simon Orton: Yeah, I tried to cover most of the common languages in the world. The random words can be in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, French, German – there are about eleven languages available. The idea is that everyone interested in memory sports can compete. I don’t think we have anyone from China yet, but we have a competitor from Japan, plenty of Germans, Russians and a couple of English.

Memory-Sports.com: What do you say about the easy way to cheat in such a competition?

Simon Orton: There are definitely some elements of trust in there. But since there is no prize money, there is no great incentive to cheat. People keep it honest in general – I don’t think anyone’s been cheating so far. But certainly it’s very easy to cheat if you want to.

Memory-Sports.com: What can I do, if I want to join the challenge?

Simon Orton: You can email me at simon.orton@gmail.com and just send me your name. I will set you up as a competitor and email you a personal link to the challenges website. The site for outsiders is http://web.aanet.com.au/memorysports/omc/challenge.php. The registered competitors have an extra ID at the end of their link, which tells the system who they are. If you are not registered you can still see the challenges as they happen as a spectator. But you can’t do the training and compete. The reason I’ve done it like that, is that I don’t know how to make a login page. But the advantage is that you don’t have to remember a password. You can put all your energy in memorizing the numbers and words.

Memory-Sports.com: Good one, Simon! Thank you for your time.

Simon’s Memory Statistics

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There are few people in the world with such a brilliant memory like him. Although everybody can learn and train the same techniques Johannes Mallow is using, only a handfull of athletes juggle their images as skilled like the postgraduate from Magdeburg, Germany. Suffering from a cureless desease, the young man is phisically handicapped. Memory-Sports spoke with the sparkling mind:

It is equilibrium to be able to compete with others

Memory-Sports.com: When did you start to train your brain?

Johannes Mallow: In 2003 I watched the „Grips Show” (Grips means savvy in German) in television. Former German champion Dr. Gunther Carsten has shown the technique to memorize 20 digits to a celebrity. When I heard, that everybody could learn it, I searched online, found MemoryXL and started to train.

Memory-Sports.com: How long did you prepare before you entered your first championship?

Johannes Mallow: It was about a year. On the MemoryXL-Website you can download a free tool to train the techniques and compare your results with other users. I thought it was pretty cool, because it is a big difference than train for yourself. Since I was quite good with it and reached a high rank, I wanted to try it on a real competition. In addition it was a chance to meet the people behind their online aliases.

Memory-Sports.com: You are suffering from a physically limiting affliction?

Johannes Mallow: Yes, it is called muscular dystrophy. There are different types of it. In my case it affects my skeletal muscles, which are reducing over time.

Memory-Sports.com: Has your affliction been a motivation to train your brain, since you aren’t able to compete physically with other people anymore?

Johannes Mallow: Not originally, but in retrospect it is equilibrium to be able to compete with others. Back then I played table tennis in a club, which wasn’t possible anymore at a certain point. Therefore it is likely, that subconsciously I am motivated to give my best.

Memory-Sports.com: Does the memory sport help you to deal with your handicap?

Johannes Mallow: Probably not only the sport itself, but the whole community behind it. I’m getting great self-confidence from the positive feedback for my classes and performances.

Memory-Sports.com: Tell us more about your classes.

Johannes Mallow: I work for the Verein für Hochbegabtenförderung e.V. – a German club for intellectually gifted children. Twice a month I teach them the memory techniques, with a strong focus on tournaments. Right now we are preparing for the North-German-Championship. Furthermore I speak in schools, adult education centers and in private seminars. It is sort of my second foothold.

Memory-Sports.com: What do you do for your living?

Johannes Mallow: Last year I finished my studies in communications technology. Currently I work as a Ph.D. student at the University of Magdeburg. Originally I am responsible for the magnetic resonance tomography. But since I work for a brain research study, I do a combination from both of it.

Memory-Sports.com: How did the training help your daily memory?

Johannes Mallow: Actually it didn’t help much. If I want to remember something and consciously use the techniques, I can memorize much more than before. But partly I am still as scatterbrained as always and forget my keys or appointments. If I don’t use it consciously, I don’t have any advantage.

Memory-Sports.com: How much do you train each week?

Johannes Mallow: It depends on an upcoming championship. But normally I train about half an hour a day.

I don’t set limits to myself and automatically get better and better.

Memory-Sports.com: How long did it take you to learn the master system with 1.000 images (3-System)?

Johannes Mallow: The learning process itself didn’t take much time. But to find proper varying images was a good deal of trouble. Having rum and vodka in your system confuses you. You’re only remembering being drunk in your story – but not with whereby. The first memorizing of the system took me about two weeks. Over the years the recall picks up the pace.

Memory-Sports.com: Do you think that you would have come so far with the normal Master-System with 100 images (2-System)?

Johannes Mallow: Definitely not! Especially with Historic Dates it helped me a lot. You can memorize a whole date with only one image. Otherwise it would be two images – that’s twice as much to remember. When your 3-System is running properly, there is no difference with the recall of your images compared to a 2-System. It’s definitely worth the effort. On the other hand you can become pretty successful with a 2-System, as you can see with athletes like Boris Konrad and Clemens Mayer.

Memory-Sports.com: You have two world records: Historical Dates (110 ½ dates) and Speed Numbers (405 digits). Are those two your favorite disciplines?

Johannes Mallow: Yes, especially the Historical Dates. But with both disciplines I recognize an ongoing amplify in my results. I don’t set limits to myself and automatically get better and better. This is fascinating and a lot of fun.

Memory-Sports.com: Are your training results close to your records?

Johannes Mallow: Pretty close, yes. The 405 digits at the World Memory Championship last year have been my personal best at this time. A year ago, I could safely memorize 320 digits. Today – with a bit of luck – it is far more then 400. I think there is still a lot of potential.

Memory-Sports.com: You have been North-German Champion three-times in a row, German Champion and placed third at the World Memory Championship last year. Do you aim for the crown?

Johannes Mallow: Of course – at least I’ll try. Last year it was a close heads-up for the second place. But on the other hand there are many strong opponents in the field, like Ben Pridmore, Dr. Gunther Carsten, Simon Reinhard and Cornelia Beddies – just to name a few. It will be a hard battle, but I’ll give my best.

Memory-Sports.com: What do you think about the World Memory Championship being hold in Bahrain for the third time in a row?

Johannes Mallow: Personally I don’t like it very much. I’ve been to Bahrain twice now and it was a great experience. But the location should change more regularly. On the other hand I can see their point: Their sponsor is really generous and funds the World Memory Sports Council the Championship and the high prize money.

Memory-Sports.com: What did change in the world of memory sports since your first competition?

Johannes Mallow: There is a big community effect, thanks to the different platforms. The German Brainboard for example is great to exchange knowledge. And then of course the Memory Sports Statistics and the Online Memory Challenge. Once a week you can meet people in the internet and compete against each other. Everything grows together. Back then the athletes saw each other only at the competitions. Nowadays it intertwines much more.

Memory-Sports.com: Do you have any suggestion how to make the sport more popular for visitors?

Johannes Mallow: I philosophized with Simon Reinhard once about creating more heads-up situations like in the US Championships. Imagine duels where the opponents surpass each other, like one is memorizing 80 digits in a minute and the next one 100. That would be pretty interesting for any visitor. But the old disciplines shouldn’t be neglected. A good mix would be perfect. Something like this should happen.

Memory-Sports.com: What do you wish for the future of the sport?

Johannes Mallow: More and bigger competitions. It would be nice, if more people would start with memory sport and compete regularly at championships, so that there would be a necessarily preselection. I would love to see a growing community.

Memory-Sports.com: Thank you for your time and good luck with the crown!

Johannes Memory Statistics

Images with Johannes Mallow: Dirk Mathesius

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