Ask a memory champion

  1. By accident. Back in 2000, I was going to the Mind Sports Olympiad every year and competing in all the different mind sports there, and that year I tried the memory competition. I expected it to be like everything else I tried my hand at - that I’d have a bit of fun but never come anywhere close to the level of the top competitors. But I found memory techniques fascinating, and the rest is history!

  2. I don’t honestly know. The German championship will give us the best indication of what kind of form everyone’s in, ask me after that! Jonas is certainly flying at the moment, but I’m not sure he’s up to the level of Johannes and Simon just yet.

  3. I really only use memory techniques for memory competitions - that’s what my system is specifically designed for. But I say if something seems like a fun idea to you, do it! That’s actually a pretty good philosophy for life in general, too… :slight_smile:

  4. Ed Cooke and Lukas Amsüss were always famous as memory’s leading comedy double-act, though we don’t see much of them nowadays. We need to get some more really funny guys into these competitions, don’t we?

  5. I’m a bit surprised by Helix’s idea that answering this question might get me into trouble, because it’s not something that’s debated among the people who go to competitions. It’s well known that he uses memory techniques like a ‘regular person’ - he was a regular at the world championships for years, slightly before my time (though we did meet in 2000), and always talking about the specific techniques he used. It’s not really that much of a secret…