Hour Numbers training: the 60-minute numbers marathon

Hour Numbers is the longest numbers event on the programme. Competitors commit digits to memory for 60 minutes, in complete rows of 40, and at World level get 120 minutes to recall them. Standard mode here runs exactly that:

The sheet is paged like the paper original: 1,000 digits to a page, with page tabs above the grid. In recall each tab shows how many digits you have written on that page, and typing past the end of a page carries straight on to the next.

Every row of 40 is judged on its own, so one weak row can't sink a strong hour. The rules below are the WMSC Speed Numbers rules. The published rulebook leaves out the Hour Numbers section, and the event is described in the same terms — complete rows of 40, recalled perfectly — so the same scoring is applied here.

• 40A perfect row of 40Full marks for the row.
• 20One wrong or missing digit in a rowHalf the row. Two or more mistakes score 0.
• 0A blank rowNo penalty — skip a row you've lost and move on.
• 17Last row: 33 written, one mistakeHalf of 33 is 16.5, rounded up.

The record pace is steep: 4,620 digits in an hour is about 77 digits a minute, while writing them back in two hours needs about 39 a minute. The hour is a planning problem as much as a memory one.

• Size your journey to the target. With two-digit images and two images on each location, every 1,000 digits needs 250 loci in your memory palace. Running out of locations mid-hour is an avoidable failure.
• Schedule your reviews. Memorising for 60 minutes straight and reviewing nothing leaves the early pages to fade. Plan when you go back — after each page, say — and practise that rhythm in Custom runs.
• Recall page by page. A lost row costs 40 points and nothing more, so leave it blank and keep going rather than stalling on it.
• Build up in Custom mode. Two full hours of recall is a lot to rehearse. Set the digit count and times to a fraction of the event and increase them as your pace holds.

For choosing and building a digit system, see How to memorise numbers for competition, and for pacing, journeys and review plans across the full hour, How to train for the hour events.