After 5 not so stress-free weeks, I’ve qualified online for the 2015 Extreme Memory Tournament (May 2-3)! I’m really looking forward to it. Props to Nelson Dellis and Simon Orton for creating such a fresh spin on memory sports! The sport hasn’t exactly capitalized on technology, namely the Internet, and these guys have done it in an innovative way. Here’s a link with the details and a video of Nelson explaining the basics.
Nelson & Co. spread the online qualification process over 5 weeks, one event per week with 5 attempts per event. The attempts had to be filmed as well to minimize cheating. Another neat thing about these videos is that you can guess what systems competitors are using (for cards, numbers, and words, at least).
I had no idea how competitive things would be, and the process was incredibly interesting. Competition was fierce, including some jaw-dropping scores from people like Johann Randall Abrina (52 cards in 26.57 sec), Yanjaa Altansuh (30 images in 17.94 sec), Akjol Syeryekkhaan (28 names in 60 sec), Enkhmunkh Erdenebatkhaan (80 digits in 19.57 sec), and Katie Kermode (48 words in 60 sec).
I’d hoped to post week by week with more details but couldn’t get the blog running in time. Here are my final stats (and of course the awkward videos):
- Cards (my favorite event): 52 cards in 49.62 sec
- Images (the new one): 30 images in 29.42 sec
- Names (the worst): 19 names in 60 sec
- Numbers (2nd favorite): 80 digits in 33 sec
- Words (meh): 35 words in 60 sec
The XMT will be my first international competition, and I’m looking forward to meeting some of the long-time competitors out there. More details to follow!