Hey Bill!
As someone who’s memorized mnemonica and aronson stacks, I’ve got a few thoughts regarding your questions!
Looks like a good start! You may want to consider a simpler approach to representing your cards and stack positions as “characters” and “objects.” These types of elements are usually the simplest to create interactions between. So card 1’s person does something memorable to or with stack position 1’s object.
There are lots of ways to associate numbers to objects. You might look up the Major System, as this provides many options for word construction. There are lots of posts where folks have shared their number lists (mine is here), and you can also use a resource like memcoder.com to help generate ideas for your 52 stack position words.
Yes. Creating a connection with the location is really important. A common misunderstanding of memory palaces is that you just imagine going to a location and see what you put there, but unless the location itself is able to somehow prompt you to remember the mnemomic imagery, its basically useless.
Imagine your couch is the location and the imagery is a tiger. If you just have a tiger sitting on your couch, even though that is an out of the ordinary thing, there is nothing in that scene that will really help you remember it. You’ll picture the couch and probably think “hmmm there was something sitting on that couch, but what was it?” Or you think of the tiger and think “where was the tiger?.. it was sitting on something, but that could be anywhere…”
Now contrast that with imagining the tiger actively shredding the cushions, claw marks all over the sides of the couch, the couch itself having tiger stripes and fur… THAT will cause the imagery to jump out immediately when you think of the couch and easily remember “tiger.”
So yes, find a connection unique to the location and make it part of the action of your mnemomic scene.
Yes. Don’t worry about a minimum or maximum number per room. Use a path that is logical and doesn’t crisscross or back track and pick out as many distinct landmarks along the way as you can. If an area only has one or two, fine. Use them and keep moving. Have a room with tons of unique features, great! Focus in on each and use them. You should know exactly which landmark follows from every other. You can even start outside your home and end up back outside. Remember that anything can be a landmark, but try to keep them distinct. Try not to use multiple chairs around your dining table if they are all the same. Try not to use a bed in every bedroom, unless they are easily distinguishable. (So like two generic queen beds are probably not good to use both, but a generic queen bed and a kids bunk bed are distinct.)
Knowing what locations connect is part of what will allow you navigate forward and backward through your stack so having a 52 landmark route that flows naturally is helpful.
I think what you’re asking is if you should visualize the ACTUAL card or imagine the ACTUAL number somehow? If so, I’d say no. In my opinion there is no real benefit to that. The whole point of mnemonic imagery is to NOT have to remember abstract and difficult to remember things, but to replace them with concrete and easy to remember things. The card index and the stack position number are abstract things. Difficult to remember as is. Adding them back into the scene doesn’t really help you. But replace them with people and objects and they become tangible. Here’s the fun thing though, after you practice a bunch with your mnemonic imagery and you mentally convert “Charles Manson is the 3 of Spades” after a while Manson kind of fades away and you will actually just recall the card itself in that scene without having to actively visualize it as Manson’s part of the scene.
This is like wanting to learn jazz guitar and asking if it’s worth learning 3 different ways to play each chord. You don’t HAVE to, but by committing the effort up front, your playing will be smoother and more enjoyable. This is a one-time cost that you pay up front in exchange for learning a lasting skill and building the framework to master it. Magic (card magic in particular) is all about extra effort in small details, so this should be nothing new. Compare it to the effort needed to learn a variety of sleights and false shuffles and working on good patter. I assume you’re not opposed to extra planning and effort for those things, so apply the same dedication here.
Also, the only thing about this process that could be “difficult” should be the initial build out of your lists of people, objects, and locations. Once that list is built, the learning process itself should be fun. Challenging, yes, but you should take some enjoyment out of the process. Track your progres and watch as you incrementally get faster at recognizing the card people and the stack number objects. Enjoy navigating through your house and imagining the scenes that are taking place at each stop. The learning process shouldn’t feel like work. After a while, you’ll have developed those connections to a point of fluency and the fun of applying it to performing can begin.
Make sure you set realistic expectations on how long this process will take. While you can learn your associations in a few hours, to get to the point of instant recall will take time. Don’t get frustrated if its difficult at first. You’re learning a new skill. It’s like doing one-handed cuts and faro shuffles… You’ll get there if you’re consistent with your effort!