The USA Memory Championship is an annual competition that took place every spring in New York City until 2016, and is currently held in Orlando, Florida, after an online qualifier. It was founded by Tony Dottino, President of Dottino Consulting Group, Inc., and Marshall Tarley in 1997. Designed to test the limits of the human brain, the USA Memory Championship is an organized competition in which Memory Athletes (MAs) attempt to memorize as much information as possible in events such as Names and Faces, Cards, Random Numbers, Images, and guest information at a fictional "Tea Party". Since 2018, there is also often an event called Long-Term Memory in which the MAs are given reams of data a month in advance about a wide variety of subjects such as the Periodic Table of the Elements, Space Shuttle missions, NFL Hall-of-Famers, etc. Participation is open to US citizens who are at least 12 years of age. The competition currently consists of 9 total events, 5 of which are online qualifying events, while the last four events are held at a live event to determine the champion.[1][2][3][4][5]

Events

Until 2020, there were four qualifying events in the first part of the competition:[6]

After the first four events, eight mental athletes then advanced to the final round of Championship events. A round-robin tournament style was used for elimination. Three Competitors were eliminated after the first event, two after the second, and two during the third to determine the Memory Champion.

Since 2020, the format of the event has changed. There is now an online qualifier consisting of five events: two from the popular brain-training site Lumosity, and three events from the online memory competition website Memory League. The two events from Lumosity have typically been Memory Match Overdrive and Rotation Matrix, while the events from Memory League have been Images, Names, and Numbers. Usually, 12 MAs qualify to advance to the live event, typically held several months later. The live event is similar to the championship round of prior years, with the exception of the addition of a new event, Long-Term Memory. As in prior years, the MAs are eliminated through the first three events until three MAs remain for the last event, the Double Deck 'O Cards, where the champion is crowned after the elimination of the runners-up.

Preparation

Although the competition is open to US citizens over the age of 12, the winners tend to have prepared for years. By learning how to create a loci (memory palace), and other methods such as the PAO (Person Action Object) system,[7][unreliable source?] and Major system, MAs are able to memorize randomized digits, cards, and poetry and much more. A competitor, Joshua Foer was able to win the 2006 competition with only one year of preparation by using these techniques and practicing every day. He wrote about his journey under the wing of a British Mental Athlete Ed Cooke who set him on his path of memory in his book Moonwalking with Einstein.

Champions

This is a list of USA memory champions since 1998:[8][unreliable source?]

Records

Records for the fastest times and the most points in individual events.

See also

References

  1. ^ "USA Memory Championship® – Official Olympiad for Mental Athletes".
  2. ^ Goudreau, Jenna (March 23, 2012). "U.S. Memory Champion On How To Remember Names, Faces And Where You Put Your Keys". Forbes.
  3. ^ Pinola, Melanie (March 30, 2012). "How to Train Your Brain and Boost Your Memory Like a USA Memory Champion". Lifehacker.
  4. ^ Verger, Rob (April 1, 2012). "Following Joshua Foer to the USA Memory Championship". The Daily Beast.
  5. ^ Salazar, Cristian (March 25, 2012). "Nelson Dellis Wins USA Memory Championship". Huffington Post. Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 13, 2014.
  6. ^ "Events – USA Memory Championship®".
  7. ^ "Person-Action-Object (PAO) System - Memory Techniques Wiki". mt.artofmemory.com. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  8. ^ "List of USA Memory Champions - Memory Techniques Wiki". artofmemory.com.
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