photo by ralphunden

A System for Remembering Playing Cards

How would you like to be able to memorize the order of a pack of cards? You will also be able to recall the exact position of any card in the deck. This doesn’t have any real practical application that I’m aware of, but it makes a terrific stunt. And the system could be applied to just about any game in which knowing what cards have fallen is advantageous. The system is simple enough, but requires a fair amount of practice and dedication in order to master it.

Each card in the pack (of 52 standard playing cards) is given a picture. The system for the cards Ace through 10 of each suit is as follows. The word begins with the sound that the suit begins with and ends with a sound that matches the phonetic alphabet. For the Jacks, the word begins with the sound of the suit and rhymes (or nearly rhymes) with “jack.” For the Queens, the word begins with the sound of the suit and rhymes with queen. And for the Kings, the word is simply the suit itself. This may be a bit confusing but should make sense as you look at the chart below:

Learn this chart well. Practice it until you can quickly see the image for each card. To apply this, substitute the card itself with it’s associated image. If you’re going through the deck to memorize it, you can use the link system to link your 52 images together. When you’re done going through the deck you’ll have the entire thing memorized in order. Even more impressive is to use the peg system. Stick each card in the appropriate cubbyhole (remember those 100 pegs you memorized?). Start by sticking the first card in hat, the second in hen, and so on. Then you’ll be able to name the position of any card in the deck, or recall which card is at a given position.

An Example

Let’s say the first five cards in the deck are:

1. 5 of Diamonds
2. King of Spades
3. 3 of Diamonds
4. 10 of Hearts
5. Queen of Clubs

The corresponding keywords from the chart above are:

1. Doll
2. Spade
3. Dam
4. Hose
5. Cream

Just remembering the order:

If I just wanted to memorize the order of those cards I might imagine a doll digging with a spade. All that dirt from the digging would form a giant dam which is being filled up by a hose to create an enormous lake of thick cream.

Remembering the exact position of each card:

Or, if I wanted to be able to recall what card was at each position I could file each one in the appropriate peg. I’d imagine a doll wearing a hat. A hen is laying eggs in a spade. A giant ham is serving as a delicious dam. A hare is prancing around in panty-hose. And a hill is covered in mounds of sticky, foaming cream.

A Tip:

If it helps, you don’t have to use the exact words from the chart above. As long as it follows the system, you’re good. So instead of hose you could use haze. If you couldn’t remember the keyword for the 5 of diamonds, you could use dill or dale or dial. As long as it’s something you can visualize and then use the system to convert back into the card, it will work.

Memory Month Introduction & Table of Contents

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Related posts

• Memory Month, Day 9: 100 Pegs
• Memory Month, Day 7: The Peg
• Memory Month, Day 6: The Phonetic Alphabet
• Memory Month, Day 4: The Link
• Memory Month, Day 3: Association

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