Cheerio from Suffolk, England! I spent 80% of today watching Rugby and Snooker on Sky Sports, haha. I now sortof understand the rules. Sortof. Anywho, tomorrow is the annual Cambridge Memory Championship. Its a small competition, usually only 10-15 competitors, but fun and kindof a gateway into the more serious competitions. I've only competed in American competitions and the differences between them and the rest of the world's competitions are huge! Here is what the world competitions offer:
1. You get ranked world-wide afterwards.
2. There are 10 main events (as opposed to only 4).
3. The winner is crowned based on their overall score throughout 10 events (rather than surviving elimination rounds)
So, this is my chance to get ranked and maybe win a competition. I also have the chance to be the highest ranked American ever. Wish me luck :D. For now, let me give a quick run down on all 10 events for the wondering (i'll also include the world record for some perspective)
5 Minute Words - given a list of random words, you get 5 minutes to remember as many as you can in order. The world record is 109 words. I'm aiming for 60-70.
5 Minute Binary Numbers - given a huge binary number (aka a number made from 1's and 0's only), you get 5 minutes to memorize as many digits as you can. The world record is 930 digits (amazing). I'm going for 450-500.
5 Minute Names and Faces - given a sheet with pictures of random people with random names, you get 5 minutes to recall as many first and last names as possible. The world record is 94 points (1 point is awarded for each first or last name). I'm aiming for 50).
15 Minute Numbers - this is known as a "marathon event" since it is longer. You are given a huge number and given 15 minutes to memorize as much of it as possible. The world record is 819 digits (insane). I'm aiming for 450-500. This event can kill your brain. It's exhausting.
10 Minute Cards - also a "marathon event." You get 10 minutes to memorize the order of as many shuffled decks of playing cards as possible. The world record is 7 decks. I am aiming for 3. I'd go for 4 but chances for mistakes are higher, we'll see how i feel.
Speed Numbers - given a huge number, you are given 5 minutes to memorize as much of it as you can. This will be fun. I do pretty well at this and I hold the US record in it. The world record is 405 digits though (wow). I'm aiming to go over 200.
Abstract Images - given sheets of papers with rows of abstract "blob" like pictures (5 per row), you get 15 minutes to memorize the order of each row. Some people hate this event, others can kill it. Takes a good amount of practice. The world record is 319 points (1 point is awarded for each "blob" put in its correct place). This will be a crapshot for me. Practiced a couple times, so we'll see. 100 points would be nice.
Historic Dates - this event is probably the funnest. It's deceptively hard though to get a really high score! Given a year between 1000-2099 and a specific random (and made up) event (ie. 1256 -the pope eats a slice of pizza), you have 5 minutes to memorize as many years as you can. The record is a whopping 118 dates, I'm hoping to break 30. haha.
Spoken Numbers - this is a crazy event. Instead of reading numbers and memorizing them on paper, you are recited numbers aloud: 1 PER SECOND! There are 2 trials of this. One is 100 seconds long (thats a hundred recited digits) and the second is 200 seconds long (two hundred recited digits). The world record is 202 (at other competitions sometimes there is a 3rd trial with 300 digits). I am excited to do well here. I can do 100 digits pretty solidly. If i slam that on my first trial, I will aim for 140-150 on the second try :D.
Speed Cards - probably the coolest event of them all. Memorize the order of a shuffled deck of cards as fast as possible. I train this one every day, so hopefully I will break 60 seconds. The world record is 25 seconds.
Anyways, thats the rundown. If I get anywhere near the scores I anticipate, I should place pretty well. We shall see. I have never attempted so much memorizing in 9 straight hours so we'll see how fast my brain turns to mush. I will say that I AM used to long sessions of using my brain (doing a set of quantum mechanics physics homework is an example LOL).
I will post scores as soon as I can after the competition! Thanks for all your best wishes!