Memory Sports

Competitive memorisation sport — cards, digits, names, faces and abstract images against the clock.

👥1 per team🌤indoor

What is Memory Sports?

Memory sports is the competitive discipline of memorising as much information as possible in a limited time — decks of cards, random binary or decimal digits, names and faces, historic dates and abstract images. The World Memory Championships crowns annual champions across ten disciplines; top athletes can memorise the order of a full 52-card deck in under 15 seconds.

Quick facts

Category

Mind Sports

Type

Individual

Players

1 per team

Where played

indoor

Country of origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Estimated origin

1991, first World Memory Championships (Tony Buzan)

Olympic

No

Popularity

major

Sources & provenance

Last verified 2026-08-24.verified