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Free memory championship guide: How to Memorize Like a Memory Champion

The systems competitors use, a guide to each of the ten events, how scoring works and how to enter your first competition. Search for a guide, or follow the course.

What memory sport isTrain the ten events
step-by-step guides
37
step-by-step guides
championship events
10
championship events
core systems
3
core systems
steps in the course
4
steps in the course
Memory championship course · 4 steps

Your path

Read in order, or jump to what you need

  1. 1Start hereWhat memory sport is, 4 guides
  2. 2Core systemsLoci, Major System and PAO
  3. 3The 10 eventsA guide and a drill for each
  4. 4CompetingScores and standards, 6 resources

37 guides in all, free to read.

Browse them all →

Step 1 · Start here

What memory sport is

Ten events, a clock and official scoring. Read what the sport asks of you before you choose where to begin.

Memory Sport and the World Memory Championship

What memory sport is, the ten events, how they are scored, and how to start.

How Memory Athletes Train

The systems champions build, a 30-minute daily routine, and what the research says about trained memory.

Which Event to Start With

All ten events compared by difficulty and what each needs, so you pick a first one that fits.

Memory Sport Glossary

The sport's terms explained, from PAO and journeys to the Millennium Standard.

MemoChamp Learn: a glowing brain with the MemoChamp crown logo above an open book, ringed by cards for the Method of Loci, Major System, PAO System, memorizing numbers, a deck of cards, names and faces, and historic dates
The MemoChamp memory techniques library: step-by-step guides to the Method of Loci, Major System and PAO, and to memorizing numbers, cards, names and dates.

The library at a glance

Memory techniques you will learn

Step 2 · Core systems

The three core systems

Every event runs on these three. Learn them in order — each one builds on the last.

  1. 01

    Method of Loci

    The memory palace — attach items to a route through a place you know, then walk it to recall them in order.

    Read the guide
  2. 02

    Major System

    Turn digits into consonant sounds, then words — so any number becomes something you can actually picture.

    Read the guide
  3. 03

    PAO System

    Person–Action–Object — compress whole chunks of digits or cards into a single vivid scene.

    Read the guide

Step 3 · Event by event

The ten championship events

A guide to each World Memory Championship event, and its timed drill in the official format. Read one, then train it.

Step 4 · Competing

Scores, standards and the day itself

How a championship is scored, what scores to aim for, and how to prepare for your first competition.

Upcoming competitions

Calendar

Real championships you can enter, national to world, with dates and official links.

World records

Guide

The record for all ten events, with holders, pace and what it takes.

Championship points calculator

Tool

Turn a raw score in any event into championship points.

Scoring rules and mistakes

Article

How each event is marked, and why one mistake can halve a row.

Millennium Standard targets

Article

The scores to aim for in each event, and how far off them you are.

Your first competition

Article

A preparation checklist for the weeks before, and the day itself.

Pull in as needed

Foundational skills

Not a sequence — each one supports the core systems above, so reach for it wherever it's relevant to what you're working on.

Visualization

The image-building skill every technique above actually depends on.

Linking Method

Chain a short list together, image to image, with no palace required.

Peg System

A fixed set of anchors you memorize once and reuse for random-access recall.

Chunking

Why grouping information is the idea underneath Major System and PAO both.

Active Recall

Testing yourself beats re-reading — and it's what every drill already does.

Spaced Repetition

Review a fixed system like a PAO deck just before you'd forget it.

The full library

Every guide

Search, or pick a group: the events and competing, the systems they run on, and how to train and review.

Memory championships

The ten championship events, scoring, standards and records.

Memory Sport and the World Memory ChampionshipWhat memory sport is, the championship's ten events, how they are scored, and how to start.World Memory Championship WinnersEvery World Memory Champion since 1991, WMSC and IAM, with the current champions and the records.Which Memory Sport Event to Start WithAll ten memory sport events compared, with a guide to choosing where to start.How to Memorize NumbersChunking, visualization, the Major System, PAO, and memory palaces — the full path from a phone number to a hundred-digit sequence.

Systems and techniques

The memory palace, the number and card systems, and the skills under them.

Method of LociThe memory palace — attach items to a route through a place you know, then walk it to recall them in order.Major SystemTurn digits into consonant sounds, then words — so any number becomes something you can actually picture.PAO SystemPerson–Action–Object — compress whole chunks of digits or cards into a single vivid scene.PAO vs Major SystemPAO vs Major System compared with real numbers: cost, images and pace.

Training and review

Where to begin, how to practise, and how to keep your systems sharp.

Memory TestFive short tests to take before you train: digits, words, patterns, cards and faces.Memory Training for BeginnersA four-week plan from your first memory test: images, a memory palace, numbers and names, fifteen minutes a day.How Memory Athletes TrainThe systems champions build, a 30-minute daily routine, and what the research says about trained memory.Do Memory Games Improve Memory?What large studies show about brain games, and the techniques that do improve memory.

Also in Learn

Tools, tests and reading

What the guides lean on, and a quick way to see where you start.