8th Online Memory Challenge

What is the Online Memory Challenge?

The Online Memory Challenge is a friendly online memory competition. People from around the world access the online challenge website at the same time, and compete in 3 disciplines: Speed Random Words, Speed Numbers and Speed Cards.

Timing

The 8th online challenge will begin at exactly 12:00 noon GMT on Saturday 22nd March 2008. Please check the following link to see what time that is where you are.

Please join the challenge website a few minutes early so that you are ready for when the challenge begins. The site will be available 15 minutes prior to the start time.

The challenge will take approximately 1 hour.

Browser

To participate in the challenge, you will need a reasonably up-to-date browser with JavaScript enabled. I would recommend using either Internet Explorer or Firefox. I haven't tested the site with any other browsers.

Screen Resolution

Discipline 1 - Speed Random Words

• There will be one trial only.
• Memorisation time: 5 minutes
• Recall time: 10 minutes
• There will be a 15-second break between memorisation and recall.
• The random words are available in either English or German.
• 100 words will be presented, in 5 columns of 20 words.
• Recall by typing the words into the boxes provided.
• You can navigate around the recall boxes using the arrow keys, the Tab key, the Enter key, or the mouse.
• If you enter an 'X' by itself into a recall box, any recall beyond that point will be ignored for scoring purposes.
• If you finish your recall early, you can click the 'Finished Recall' button. Your recall will then be scored and you can return to the Spectator Lounge to watch the other competitors.
• Scoring is as per the standard WMSC rules for Random Words.
• A recalled word differing by a single letter from the original will be counted as a spelling mistake.

Discipline 2 - Speed Numbers

• There will be one trial only.
• Memorisation time: 5 minutes
• Recall time: 15 minutes
• There will be a 15-second break between memorisation and recall.
• 480 digits will be presented, in 12 rows of 40 digits.
• Recall by typing the digits into the boxes provided.
• You can navigate around the recall boxes using the arrow keys, the Tab key, the Enter key, or the mouse.
• If you enter an 'X' by itself into a recall box, any recall beyond that point will be ignored for scoring purposes.
• If you finish your recall early, you can click the 'Finished Recall' button. Your recall will then be scored and you can return to the Spectator Lounge to watch the other competitors.
• Scoring is as per the standard WMSC rules for Speed Numbers.

Discipline 3 - Speed Cards

• There will be one trial only.
• Memorisation time: 5 minutes (max)
• Recall time: 5 minutes
• There will be a 15-second break between memorisation and recall.
• The 52 cards will be presented in 2 rows of 26 overlapping cards.
• You can memorise the cards either from the top-left to the bottom-right, or from the bottom-right to the top-left, whichever you prefer. The direction used for scoring a partially recalled deck will be whichever gives the higher score.
• When you have finished memorising, click the 'Finished Memorising' button. The cards will then disappear and your memorisation time will be shown. The clock will continue to count down the remainder of the memorisation period.
• For recall, the cards will initially be spread out along the bottom of the screen. Use the mouse to drag and drop the cards into the memorised order. You can position the cards freely. At the end, the cards will be read in rows, which are defined by the existence of white space between them. Please refer to the examples below to clarify this.
• If you finish your recall early, you can click the 'Finished Recall' button. Your recall will then be scored and you can return to the Spectator Lounge to watch the other competitors.
• Scoring is as per the standard WMSC rules for Speed Cards.

1. Example of the original cards memorised

2. Example of correct recall for the above cards

Registration

To register as either a competitor or a spectator for the 8th Online Memory Challenge, please send me an email (si_orton@hotmail.com) letting me know:

1. Your name
2. Whether you would like to be a competitor or a spectator
3. If you want to compete, whether you would prefer to have the Random Words in English or German.

Registered Competitors

The competitors currently registered for the 8th Online Memory Challenge are:

• Andrej Savickij
• Boris Konrad
• John Louis
• Mario Sühring
• Simon Orton
• Takashi Nakagawa

Previous Challenge Results

Click here to view the results of the previous Online Memory Challenges.

Simon Orton