I received these reader questions on cards and numbers memorization systems:
QUESTION – 1 – FOR YOUR CARD MEMORIZATION – DO YOU USE PAO? (3 CARDS AT A TIME, OR BIGGER JUNKS?)
QUESTION – 2 – FOR YOUR NUMBER MEMORIZATION – DO YOU HAVE IMAGES FOR 0 THROUGH 1000?
DO YOU USE PAO FOR NUMBER MEMORIZATION TOO?
I LISTENED TO YOUR YOUTUBE CREDIT CARD PRESENTATION (THANKS – I’VE JUST BEEN USING THE MAJOR SYSTEM WITH A CREDIT CARD PALACE BUT I JUST HAVE IMAGES FOR 0-100 AND DON’T USE PAO; SOUNDS AS THOUGH YOU MAY BE ADDRESSING THESE QUESTIONS IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.
My Answer
I answered a similar question a while back, but I have a lot of new readers so I’ll share it again 🙂
For those wondering what PAO is…it just means that each of the 52 cards in a deck is assigned a unique Person, doing an Action, using an Object. PAO = Person Action Object.
For example: the King of Hearts could be your Grandfather drilling a hole in a block of wood.
P = Grandfather
A = drilling a hole
O = block of wood.
The 2 of Spades could be Michael Jordan dunking a basketball
P = Michael Jordan
A = dunking
O = basketball
8 of diamonds could be Madonna singing into a microphone
P = Madonna
A = singing
O = microphone
To remember the order of cards (in groups of 3), you “mesh” the Person from card 1 with the Action of card 2 plus the Object of card 3…all into 1 mini story.
SO, to remember this sequence:
King of Hearts + 8 of Diamonds + 2 of Spades…
the story would be Grandpa singing into a basketball
I started by learning PAO in 2014 and used it for the first 2 years. It’s a GREAT system for beginners and advanced.
When I used PAO, yes, I did it in chunks of 3. Some people do 2 cards at a time in the form of PA (Person Action) or OA (Object Action).
Then, 2 years ago I “upgraded” to a bigger 2-card system.
My 2-card system is the same system as my friend Alex Mullen (another 3x World Champ). It’s a combination of the Shadow System (innovated by Lance Tschirhart) and the Block System (Johannes Mallow).
The 2-card system consists of 1,352 premade images. Like my numbers system, it is based on the Major System phonetic code. Fellow USA national team member Lance Tschirhart wrote a detailed description here (https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/a-new-2-card-system/28633) (my system is Part 1 of his system). My system uses a variable number of loci each deck.Â
Alex Mullen also does a really good job explaining it on his website. Here is his explanation (link: https://mullenmemory.com/alex-mullen-memory-sports):
…and also in an interview with Nelson Dellis, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2P1JnSbTGs&feature=youtu.be&t=17m11s).
If you don’t fully understand it, that’s normal. I had to reread that post MANY times to understand it before I made it.
For my numbers system, yes I now have 1,000 premade images.
One image for each number from 000 to 999.
It is made using the major system (a phonetic system where each digit has a different phonetic sound.)
For example:
1 = T
2 = N
3 = M
So the number 321 = M+N+T
I combine the sounds to make a word.
For example: MNT = Mint
Then I use that image (Mint) to remember the number 321
992 of my 1000 number images are the exact same images as 992 of my 1352 card images.
I used to have a PAO system for numbers. I changed my number system to 1000 images at the same time I changed my card system.
Number PAO is the same idea as card system PAO.
For example: the number 83 could be your Grandfather drilling a hole in a block of wood.
P = Grandfather
A = drilling a hole
O = block of wood.
The number 23 could be Michael Jordan dunking a basketball
P = Michael Jordan
A = dunking
O = basketball
The number 70 could be Madonna singing into a microphone
P = Madonna
A = singing
O = microphone
SO, to remember this number 837023
the story would be Grandpa singing into a basketball
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