Memorizing 52 Playing Cards: My First Attempt [AM-L2]

Foreward

My memory is not bad. However, during school and the beginning of my university studies, I had to internalize things through endless repetition. It was an unforgettable moment at the end of the book “Simply Remember Everything” by Ulrich Bien, when one of the last exercises required memorizing the exact order of 52 cards. Without the techniques presented by Bien, this would be impossible for most people. After I successfully completed the task, I was so thrilled that I continued to push my limits. Although I did not get faster at memorizing a complete deck of cards, I was able to remember the exact order of ten decks, i.e., 520 cards, relatively effortlessly.

Many will now wonder whether this is all unnecessary. When are we ever asked to do something like this in school, university, or career? The principles and techniques, such as visualization, connection, localization, the Loki Method, or the ABC Large-Small Route, are universally applicable; we just learn them here using the example of a deck of cards.

I have undoubtedly determined for myself that memorization is tied to certain conditions. The process is relatively fragile. I could never just sit down with sheer willpower and discipline and stubbornly memorize a long sequence of numbers, study letters, or a deck of cards. It always had to be in a quiet environment, free from noise and visual distractions. Also, alcohol and passive media consumption had a negative impact. In preparation for a written assignment in school or an exam at university, many should be able to motivate themselves sufficiently and create the right conditions for at least a while. Regarding passive media consumption, I even went so far as to disable the display of all images in my browser and instead temporarily surfed the web with placeholders. Understandably, most people will find it hardest to do without YouTube and Netflix for a while, but I wanted to briefly address this issue here.

Next, I will discuss my specific method, my first attempt at card memorization, and of course, it was not perfect, not textbook-like, but authentic and good enough. We call it Variant 1. Depending on the feedback, I am happy to introduce the other two variants as well.

Now there are two options: Either you just passively follow the explanations and read or watch with interest, or you actively participate. To do this, you can move to the practice area afterwards and have the website https://www.random.org/playing-cards/ display any number of randomly arranged cards. Alternatively, you can start immediately and do exactly what I describe, which also works very well and is a special feature of the art of memorization: My concrete, imagined constructions work for others, so they are transferable.

1/3: Loading Area or Route

I internalize the exact order of 52 playing cards in three steps. I try not to do this all at once, but on different days, where with enough practice and experience and the aforementioned conditions, etc., a higher pace is certainly possible. This separation is rarely mentioned.

First, I create a kind of loading area or enough points on a geographical route so that there is a place for each card, starting with the gap between the floor and the room door to my right. For the cards, I use substitute images, so a cliff swallow stands for the 2 of Clubs, and I always imaginatively connect both the image and the route point. I imagine a cliff swallow jamming its beak in the door gap.

I sit at my desk, look around my room, and walk a route with visual contact, stopping 51 more times. The advantage of a route within one’s own home or room is that I don’t have to memorize the rooms with objects in them first. I just need to mentally walk the route with stops a few times so that it solidifies. As a little help or rule, I mostly move clockwise, or from left to right, from front to back, and from outside to in.

Starting from the door gap (1), I move on to the keyhole (2), the door handle (3), and finally to the door frame (4). Then I look away and mentally repeat the four points: gap – hole – handle – frame.

I then jump to my workspace and stop at other objects, feeling them and imagining their appearance and texture: chair casters (5), hydraulics (6), seat (7), backrest (8), table legs (9), hanging cable mess (10), keyboard (11), mouse pad (12), mouse (13), monitor stand (14), display (15), webcam (16), and PC (17).

To my left on the wall, I see: heating pipe (18), radiator (19), meter (20), controller (21), heating opening (22), windowsill (23), sun protection (24), window handle (25), and blind box (26).

These 26 points make up half the route, and the blind box can be a particularly notable 26th point later on. If, for example, the 27th card is asked for, we know it is directly after the box. Now I go through all 26 points again relatively quickly with my eyes closed mentally. They must not only be thought but also visualized as if they are physically in front of me. I capture all the objects visually and tactically, trying to feel and see exactly the same each time: gap, hole, handle, frame, chair casters, …, blind box.

I then move to my comfy couch, starting from the bottom with the carpet (27), coffee table (28), bowl (29), fruit (30), coaster (31), can (32), drinking straw (33), couch seats/cushion (34), back cushions (35), wall painting with a deer (36).

Across the wall in the sideboard, there are DVDs (37), soundbar (38), TV (39), behind it ambient light (40), hanging speakers left and right (41).

Further under the bed to the storage boxes (42), sagging slatted frame (43), cover (44), duvet (45), sheet (46), pillow (47), bed head (48), handcuffs (49), bedside table (50), small lamp (51), and a mirror on the ceiling (52) and we are done.

Now I also mentally go through the second half of the route and then the whole route again. It is enough for me to repeat the route the next day and then a few days later a third time before it is available to me as a storage location indefinitely. You may have noticed that ideally, nothing is duplicated, or at least there are enough differences (chair seat vs. couch seat/cushion, horizontal door handle vs. vertical window handle), and the resolution / sampling rate is uniform (keyboard & mouse and not QWERTYUIOP and mouse button left, right…).

2/3: Substitute Images for Cards

I would proceed with the next step on another day. Even when preparing for exams, I always built a route, visualized the exam material, and connected both, never on the same day. Now we need to visualize each of the 52 cards. Often, mnemonics guides talk only about images for cards. It has always been easier for me to also add touch or smell, etc.

Below, partly in fast forward, are my images as substitutes for the cards and here in Version 1, my first attempt at card memorizing, I could think of no better help for the four 2s than four birds since the 2 looks like a swan, and the initial letter of the suits (C, D, H, S) match the initial letter of the bird names:
– Cliff swallow is a bird and stands for the 2 of Clubs because “Cliff swallow” starts with “C” this bird is a Club 2! Accordingly,
– Dove stands for the Diamond 2,
– Henn for the Heart 2, and finally,
– Sparrow for the Spade 2.

The Three, rotated 90 degrees clockwise, looks like a bra and stands for clothing and just like with the birds, I use the initial letter of the suits and form four objects:
– Cloak = Club 3
– Denim jacket = Diamond 3
– Hoodie = Heart 3
– Slipper = Spade 3

The Four reminds me of a sailboat and stands for the theme of sailing:
– Cruise ship = Club 4
– Dinghy = Diamond 4
– Hovercraft = Heart 4
– Schooner = Spade 4

The Five reminds me of a hook and now I no longer use the initial letters of the suits but assign themes to the suits: Clubs = Nature, Diamonds = Luxury, Hearts = Human-related, Spades = Tool or similar:
– Anglerfish = Club 5
– Expensive parking ticket = Diamond 5
– Vacuum cleaner salesman = Heart 5
– Tow truck = Spade 5

The Six reminds me of an open lock / cherry (here I deviate a bit from the pattern, but as I said, my first attempt from back then and good enough):
– Cherry = Club 6
– Mon Chéri = Diamond 6
– Sexual intercourse = Heart 6
– Metal open lock = Spade 6

The Seven reminds me of a crane:
– Gallows (made of wood = natural material) = Club 7
– Crane house on the Rhine = Diamond 7
– Weightlifter = Heart 7
– Construction site crane = Spade 7

The Eight looks like a chain:
– Liana = Club 8
– Gold chain = Diamond 8
– Interlocked acrobats = Heart 8
– Heavy iron chain = Spade 8

The Nine looks like a balloon:
– Jellyfish = Club 9
– Luxurious antique balloon with butler = Diamond 9
– Fat man with a bloated belly flying = Heart 9
– Cargo zeppelin = Spade 9

The Ten stands for hands:
– Tiger paws = Club 10
– Lagerfeld’s decorated hands = Diamond 10
– Normal, natural hands = Heart 10
– Robot gripper = Spade 10

The Ace or the A looks like a triangle:
– Ant hill = Club Ace
– Pyramid (with treasures inside) = Diamond Ace
– Thigh triangle / Brazilian Triangle = Heart Ace
– Set square = Spade Ace

Jacks, Queens, and Kings stand for historical figures, for which I have imagined more vivid persons/scenes for myself:
– Club King: Alexander the Great – Known as Alex
– Spade King: David – David Hasselhoff / KIT
– Heart King: Charlemagne – Carl from Shameless
– Diamond King: Julius Caesar – Caesar from Gladiator
– Club Queen: Juno Regina (Roman chief goddess and wife of Jupiter as well as patroness of marriage) – Known as Regina
– Spade Queen: Pallas Athena (Greek goddess of wisdom) – Amy Farah Fowler as the smartest TV character
– Heart Queen: Judith (biblical ideal of piety) – Judith from “Two and a Half Men”
– Diamond Queen: Rachel (biblical figure as an ideal of beauty) – Rachel from “Friends”
– Club Jack: Lancelot, the knight from the Arthurian saga – Weapon lance
– Spade Jack: Hogier (Holger Danske), a rival of Charlemagne, King in Denmark – a known janitor from Denmark
– Heart Jack: La Hire (Étienne de Vignolles), a soldier at the side of Joan of Arc – small boy with a balloon in the shape of a heart
– Diamond Jack: Hector of Troy or Roland, a paladin of Charlemagne – Eric Bana aka Hector from the movie with Brad Pitt

3/3: Connecting Images with Route Points

Lastly, I now connect the following sequence of cards provided by random.org, starting with the cliff swallow jammed in the door gap (Club 2):

1. A cliff swallow has jammed its beak in the door gap (Club 2).
2. A cloak is stuck in the keyhole, partly inside and the rest outside (Club 3).
3. A heavy-duty crane supports the door handle (Spade 7).
4. A small boy carefully balances on the door frame, his balloon preventing a fall (Heart Jack).
5. A lying wooden gallows prevents my chair from rolling (Club 7).
6. Carl Gallagher uses the hydraulics of my chair for pressing pills (Heart King).
7. My cozy seat is perfect for a hen to lay her eggs (Heart 2).
8. A luxurious balloon throws grappling hooks onto my chair’s backrest, tearing it open (Diamond 9).
9. Amy Farah Fowler uses the table legs for a pole dance to seduce Sheldon (Spade Queen).
10. A dove brings order to the cable mess in the form of a nest (Diamond 2).
11. The keys of the keyboard support a crane house (Diamond 7).
12. With the nails of my hands, I scratch at the rubber of the mouse pad (Heart 10).
13. With a heavy lock, I weigh down the mouse cable so it doesn’t disturb (Spade 6).
14. A weightlifter helps adjust the monitor stand because I don’t like the angle (Heart 7).
15. The sand of an ant hill has reached the outermost layer, and I can watch ants in their daily life (Club Ace).
16. A tiger paw replaces my webcam privacy cover (Club 10).
17. A fat man with a bloated belly has nested in my PC case, and it expands as he breathes (Heart 9).
18. With the foil of a Mon Chéri, I seal the heating pipe (Diamond 6).
19. I sharpen my lance on the radiator (Club Jack).
20. My old, half-blind janitor tries desperately to read the meter (Spade Jack).
21. An expensive and multi-page parking ticket / fine wraps around the controller, which is hard to turn (Diamond 5).
22. David Hasselhoff uses the warm air from the heating opening as a hairdryer replacement (Spade King).
23. With the heavy hook of a tow truck, I correct the sharp edge of my windowsill (Spade 5).
24. With the soot from a cruise ship’s chimney, I darken my sun protection further (Club 4).
25. Lagerfeld’s decorated hands slip on the vertical window handle (Diamond 10).
26. The cord of the blind box has snapped, and a liana replaces it well (Club 8).
27. The carpet has a triangle pattern, reminiscent of Brazilian Triangles (Heart Ace).
28. A heavy cargo zeppelin makes my coffee table float (Spade 9).
29. Eric Bana grabs my bowl as a replacement for his shield (Diamond Jack).
30. Interconnected and completely exhausted acrobats strengthen themselves with fruit (Heart 8).
31. Judith completely freaks out because the coaster is old and already sticking to the table (Heart Queen).
32. With a set square, I punch a hole in the can so I can chug it better (Spade Ace).
33. I use the drinking straw to make shoelaces for my slippers (Spade 3).
34. A dinghy employs my seat cushions for extra buoyancy (Diamond 4).
35. The sails of a schooner serve as new covers for the worn-out back cushions (Spade 4).
36. Delicious cherries attract a deer (Club 6).
37. Practically all DVDs contain adult movies (Heart 6).
38. A heavy iron chain prevents the vibrating soundbar from slipping (Spade 8).
39. The TV shows in still image the beautiful Rachel (Diamond Queen).
40. Caesar uses the ambient light as a lie detector to illuminate the arteries (Diamond King).
41. Fine gold chains tear when holding the wall speakers (Diamond 8).
42. The rectangular storage boxes are suboptimal for storing pyramids, no matter how I turn them (Diamond Ace).
43. Alex clings with hands and feet to the slatted frame and hides (Club King).
44. As the top layer, the cover is dusty and thus serves a vacuum cleaner salesman as a demo (Heart 5).
45. The deep-sea dwelling anglerfish is cold, and it warms up with the warm duvet (Club 5).
46. The hovercraft still lacks covers for the benches, and the stretchable sheet is perfect for that (Heart 4).
47. Regina folds artistic creases in the pillows and injures herself in the process (Club Queen).
48. A whole row of sparrows sits on the bed head and sways (Spade 2).
49. My house robot had a malfunction, and I had to secure it with handcuffs to the bed (Spade 10).
50. An ironed and folded hoodie is tucked in the bedside table because I wear it first in the morning (Heart 3).
51. A denim jacket is draped over the bedside lamp, fitting perfectly (Diamond 3).
52. A jellyfish gets stuck to the ceiling mirror, touching its reflection, and its arms hang decoratively over the bed (Club 9).

Lastly, I run through the route relatively quickly again and capture the optics and haptics of each.

The following book formed the basis of my considerations: Ulrich Bien – “Einfach. Alles. Merken.”

Exercise

1. Go into a room you are familiar with and look around calmly. Pay attention to groups of objects such as the workspace, bed, shelf, etc. Then close your eyes and walk along an imaginary route with 52 route points. Use these small movement or scanning rules to help: a.) clockwise, from bottom to top, from left to right, from outside to inside b.) Table legs, tabletop, vase and not table leg screw, screw head, screw head structure
   You will be amazed at how effortlessly you can mentally repeat your route.
2. If you like my substitute images, imprint them first.
   Get a deck of cards, shuffle it, and practice the connections between the cards and the substitute images until they work flawlessly.
3. Shuffle the cards one last time and connect each card to the route points. Tie or glue them together. Be as creative as possible to ensure the connections are stable.