Memory Mill
Free lesson · ~10 minutes

The Major System (Easy)

Humans are great at remembering sounds and objects, and bad at remembering bare digits. This is the system memory champions use to turn numbers into things you can picture. See it in action below.

First, feel it

Twelve digits, or one story?

Look at each for a few seconds. Which one could you still say back tomorrow?

52 44 77 96 95 58
Twelve loose digits. Nothing to hold on to.

A LION ROARS and KICKS a BEACH BALL into LAVA.

The same twelve digits. By the end of this page you'll read one straight off the other.

Step one · Hear

All ten sounds - seven for today.

Every digit keeps one consonant sound for good. The story only needs the seven highlighted - the rest are here so you can see the whole system, but they can wait until you want them.

0
S · Z
a circle is smooth
1
T · D
straight up, like a 1
2
N
count the two legs
3
M
count the three legs
4
R
four is a roar
5
L
L is Roman for fifty
6
J · SH · CH
C + lowercase h makes 6
7
K · G
two sevens make a K
8
F · V
8 looks fancy
9
P · B
nine innings: baseball
5

Which sound does 5 keep?

Tap the sound that belongs to it.
Step two · Build

Two digits, two sounds, one thing.

Take the digits two at a time. Each pair gives you two consonant sounds; add any vowels you like until it's a word you can picture. Vowels, W, H and Y don't count, so they're free.

5
2
→
L
N
→
LION
4
4
→
R
R
→
ROAR
ROAR has two R sounds, so it's 44 - the O and A are free.
7
7
→
K
K
→
KICK
9
6
→
B
CH
→
BEACH
It's sounds, not spelling: the CK in KICK is one K sound, and CH is one sound too.
9
5
→
B
L
→
BALL
5
8
→
L
V
→
LAVA
A doubled letter (the two L's in BALL) is still one sound.

A LION ROARS and KICKS a BEACH BALL into LAVA.

Six things, in order: 52 44 77 96 95 58. The story keeps the order for you - each thing does something to the next.

Step three · Recall

Before you look - rebuild it.

No scrolling up. Play the story in your head and let the sounds hand you the digits. This is the actual proof the method works.

What does the LION do first?

No peeking - four quick questions, then the reveal.
You remembered it

Twelve digits, from one silly story.

LION, ROAR, KICK, BEACH, BALL, LAVA were six pairs out of a hundred. Forge the rest and any number becomes a story.

Major System - the next level

Every pair from 00 to 99 has a word waiting. Learn them and any number becomes a picture on sight.

Forge more pairs →

Method of Loci

Pictures need somewhere to go. Once you're building more than one story, a route keeps them all in order.

Give them a home →
Memory Mill for iPhone

This lesson, as a daily practice.

The same sounds-to-story loop, with a new number every day. Free core, no ads.