Memorizing Trivial Pursuit cards has been discussed a number of times here, particularly in connection with a challenge taken up by Dominic O’Brien, described in detail in his book How to Develop a Perfect Memory. But I don’t know that anyone has shared a description of their own systematic approach. So here goes.
The goal: Memorize the 3,600 trivia questions in the Trivial Pursuit: 40th Anniversary Ruby Edition, released in 2018. The 600 cards each contain six questions in six categories: Geography, Entertainment, History, Arts & Literature, Science & Technology, and Sports & Leisure.
Before reviewing O’Brien’s approach, I’d assumed I would need at least six large memory palaces, one per category. But after trying to shoehorn the important words from the questions and the key images for the answers, I realized this wasn’t going to work. My typical memory palaces have structure and order, even if the information I place there isn’t sequential. That wasn’t a good fit with the often-random kinds of questions that came up. Because of the nature of the trivia, there was no inherent value in using a journey to store it.
So I reread the short chapter on Trivial Pursuit in How to Develop a Perfect Memory and was surprised to see that O’Brien didn’t really use memory palaces at all (at least, not the way I define them). Here was how he approached the task:
- Seize on a key word (or words) in the question and let it suggest to you a random location….
- Take a look at the answer. Grab hold of any associated image that flashes across your mind….
- Using your imagination, link the location and image together.
This is now my approach as well.
For example:
Science & Technology: “Which of these is not found in the ear: labyrinth, anvil, or trapezium?” The answer is “Trapezium—It is a bone in the wrist.” Because this is a human body question, it made sense to make my body the location. Since the only word I really need to recall here is trapezium, I imagine a trapeze swinging from my wrist, which tells me the bone’s correct location.
Sports & Leisure: “How many gold-plated flags are on the World Series trophy?” The answer is 30. For me, this one doesn’t require a location. I simply picture a trophy with a baseball on it (it doesn’t matter what the actual World Series trophy looks like), covered in “moss,” my Major association for 30.
Sports & Leisure: “Who broke [the record] for most hits in a baseball season, in 2004?” The answer: Ichiro Suzuki. For key words, I focused on “broke” and “most hits.” (The year, as is often the case with Trivial Pursuit questions, is inconsequential.) My location is home plate in a baseball stadium. There, I pictured a Cheerio sitting on a Suzuki motorcycle, wildly swinging a baseball bat at a series of LPs being pitched to it (for “broken records”).
I am naturally weakest with the Sports & Leisure category. For the few sports I do follow, I focus on teams more than individual players. But Trivial Pursuit has a lot of questions about records and awards, as well as individuals, coaches, and managers, all of whose names are alien to me. So I’m looking for any recall help I can find, which is leading me to use a variety of memory techniques.
For instance, one question asked what football quarterback Dan Marino’s jersey number was. I noticed that his initials, DM, are 13 in the Major system. Coincidentally, 13 was Dan Marino’s jersey number. Once I hear his name, I’ve got the number. No other linking required!
I took a different approach with this one: “Name two of the ‘Final Five’ who made up the gold-medal-winning U.S. gymnastics team in 2016.” Whenever a question asks for “two of five” or “two of three,” my goal is to memorize all of the possible names. While a number of the gymnasts’ names were familiar, I only really knew one: Simone Biles. But I noticed that the first letters of their first names could be arranged to spell out “GLAMS.” So my location was a gymnastics training space, where everything was covered in glitter, making it “glam.” That helps me recall Gabby, Laurie, Aly, Madison, and Simone. I then add whatever associations I need to trigger their last names (Douglas, Hernandez, Raisman, Kocian, and Biles, respectively).
Other categories are coming much easier. I’m finding it helpful that I’ve already memorized the world countries/capitals, US states/dates/capitals, presidents, and English monarchs. When questions come up concerning any of these, I add a relevant association to my existing memory palaces rather than start from scratch. So, in my presidents memory palace, I added a baseball bat to George W. Bush’s location (since he was part-owner of a team) and a giant ketchup packet next to Ronald Reagan (because his government wanted to classify ketchup as a vegetable in school lunches!).
I will note that this approach has changed how I review stored information. I’m used to reviewing my memory palaces (in whole or in part) when I go to bed at night and before I get up in the morning. But this linking method doesn’t lend itself to any kind of sequential walkthrough. As a result, I have to go back through the cards themselves, using them like flash cards for review. For me, that’s a downside to not using a traditional memory palace.
Another downside: The answers I know are tied to a very small set of key words. If the trivia questions were asked in a different way—in the course of normal conversation, say—I’m not confident that I would be able to respond correctly. In other words, I’m learning how to respond to specific questions printed on Trivial Pursuit cards; I don’t know how much I’m actually learning in a meaningful way. Even so, I’m exploring a new approach to memorizing that I’m enjoying and learning from.
If you’re considering a similar exercise, keep in mind that it won’t be as daunting as it first appears. Depending on your age and education, you likely will already know the answers to at least one-fourth of the Trivial Pursuit questions, perhaps more if you’re particularly interested in any of the main categories. Also, I’ve discovered that a small number of things I didn’t know previously have stuck very well naturally, without the need for any kind of conscious memory technique. For instance, I’m not likely to forget that the BBC, as an April Fools joke, once told the British public that Big Ben’s iconic clock was going to be replaced with a digital timepiece. (It did not go over well.)
Finally: I can’t recommend Dominic O’Brien’s How to Develop a Perfect Memory highly enough.
Bob