Dominic 2 card PA (Person, Action) system used with Rubik Cube 26 Loci.

On another thread I came up with the idea of using a Rubik Cube with 27 Loci in conjunction with the Black Shadow memory method. This was primarily a way to memorize a sequential stack construction, but this method is NOT helpful for determining the position of a card and is not meant to be helpful in that arena. It was primarily meant to be a tool to offline physically reconstruct the Harding stack from memory after it was shuffled (using only 13 card names).

The thought then occurred to me that the Rubik Cube would be the perfect memory palace for the Dominic O'Brien two card P,A system which could use 26 Loci (therefore we don't use 27, we eliminate the imaginary center little cube).

The Magician would also visualize/memorize a permanent location number on each of the 26 little blocks. In fact a physical Rubik Cube could be coated with white school glue into the crevices so it won't move and after drying spray paint all surfaces with white paint and let dry and then number each little block (1 through 26).

This should aid your memory when mentally placing the two cards on each block and more importantly let you determine the position number of any card.

Card to number (spectator names any card):
When a spectator names a card the Magician from memory knows the block number and then multiplies by 2 to get the position within the stack (If the card is the second of the two card pair then add one).

Number to card (spectator names a number 1 to 52):
Divide the number by 2 to know the block number. If there was a remainder of 1 then it's the second card of the pair otherwise it's the first card of the pair (the spectator named number was an even number).

Note that the Dominic O'Brien system was primarily used as a phonetic naming system for numbers. But he also uses the system for playing card memorization. We magicians can skip his number memorization techniques and use his P, A method, in fact we can come up with our own P (People names for each card and of course unique A Actions for those people). It's an offshoot of the PAO system where speed memorizers have spent months associating a unique person, a unique action, and a unique object with each playing card. He has dropped the OBJECT from PAO and uses only PA.

Note that the Dominic method is meant for speed memorizing the sequence of a shuffled deck (this memorization is normally temporary for a day or two). IMO there are much easier methods if you want to memorize just one stack permanently. A simple method: on a practice deck write the position number in a unique way on the FACE of each card and on a second practice deck write the position number the normal way on the BACK of each card (don't write anything on the face of this second deck). These two decks are used just to practice and are never seen by the audience. Have a third deck (stack) that is pure (no writing) and used for performances.

If there are better methods for us magicians to memorize a stack then why learn these more sophisticated systems such as PAO or PA and a memory palace such as a Rubik Cube?

Answer: there may be a few magicians that want to know multiple stacks and by having a Rubik Cube as a memory palace then the magician could have several Rubik Cubes in different places within their bedroom (a palace within a palace). Also the magician before numbering the Rubik Cube they could spray paint the cube a different light color for the stack they are memorizing. Perhaps light red for Redford, light blue for Aronson, light tangerine for Tamariz Mnemonica etc.

Also there may be a few, very few, magicians who may want to memorize a shuffled deck in front of spectators in a couple of minutes (maybe play Henny Youngman one liner jokes while the memorization is going on)!

Note that even though the Black Shadow method and this Dominic two card method both use a Rubik Cube as a memory palace, the methods are vastly different.

Comparison:

The Black Shadow with Rubik Cube method:
You only have to know the easy names of 10 playing cards (1 Unicorn, 2 Shoe, 3 Tree etc), however the mnemonic stories are more similar to each other (a bad thing). Also knowing card positions is nearly impossible. Everything is pre-memorized.

Dominique 2 card PA with Rubik's Cube method:
You must permanently associate each playing card with a unique person's name and also associate a unique action (a verb) with that person's name. That means 52 people names pre-memorized and 52 verbs pre-memorized. The numbers 1 through 26 must be pre-memorized / visualized on the little blocks on the Rubik Cube. At the time the shuffled deck or a stack is memorized the process is much simpler.

Said another way:
The Black Shadow method a magician may spend 2 hours mentally placing a stack into a Rubik's Cube and you are done (but then 5 hours of practice and then a half hour daily). But this is good only to reconstruct a stack.

The Dominic two card PA system with numbered Rubik Cube a magician may spend 5 hours coming up with the permanent people names and people actions and a half hour memorizing the numbers on the Rubik Cube. Then many more hours of practice especially if using a shuffled deck. But when the time comes to actually memorize the shuffled deck or stack it can be done very quickly in less than 10 minutes. Also you get the benefit of knowing the position of any card.

I need a simple short name for this memory technique.

I'm naming it HARPO (Human, Action, Rubik, POsition).

Of course instead of the original using PA I now use HA (the word Human instead of the word Person). They mean the same thing, it's just an identity, but doesn't have to be a person or a human, could be a Klingon or Robby the robot or an animal such as Bugs Bunny or Porky Pig or Dino the Flintstone dinosaur. An identity that's easy to visualize.

To be honest, I think you are making things FAR more complicated than they need to be - and I mean no disrespect by that. I learned Mnemonica in about an hour, using the method I'll outline in a moment.

Full disclosure, I've written a book about applying memory techniques and have also competed in Memory competitions. However, to see how easily this could be done, I didn't rely on my previous card associations, though I suppose I already know how to make memorable images and associations, etc.

Oh, the pedant in me also wanted to let you know about a few inaccuracies in your initial post. Dominic first developed his method for cards, not numbers. He devised it after seeing Creighton Carvello memorise a deck on BBC’S Record Breakers.

Also, PAO developed out of PA, not the other way round. Before Dominic, almost all competitors were using the Major system. Then when Dominic combined his system with the method of Loci, it cause a lot of reimagining and creativity, as others sought to topple him. One extension of the DOMINIC system was PAO.

Anyway, here's how I would suggest learning a stack to anyone who asked. Convert your cards into characters in any way you choose. If you didn't want to learn 52 characters, you can use the number of the card to give you one of 13 characters and the suit to give you an action and/or object. Just make sure the 13 characters are distinct and memorable. (E.g. 10 might be Bo Derek in her famous bikini from the film 10.)

The real game changer for me was simply devising 52 loci to place the cards in. Instead of devising a 52 stage journey, I suggest coming up with associations for each number and then making a location from that. I'll give some examples:

1 = the finish line of the London Marathon (1/won)
2 = a shoeshop (2 rhymes with shoe)
4 = my front door
6 = a pool hall I attend (“sticks” is too abstract)
8 = a hotdog eating contest I once entered (8/ate)
18 = a cinema
29 = a diving board, because Feb. 29th is leap day.
36 = the Olympic podium Jesse Owens stood on in 1936
39 = steps near me (reminds me of the 39 steps)
45 = a scene from the movie Oppenheimer (set in 1945)

Now, if I think about what is taking place at location 18, I see Michael Jackson (King) hitting people (clubs) because they keep talking during a showing of the extended Thriller video.

If I want to know where the 5 of hearts is, I can immediately see a pregnant lady (5) eating so many hotdogs that her heart explodes.

Not sure if that helps, but thought I'd share. I had thought of writing an ebook on the topic, along with fuller info, but hopefully that helps for now.

To Divron:
Thanks for your excellent post. It is appreciated!

To all:
I'm going to call the method that Divron suggests the Full 52 Numbered Loci (FNL for short) method.

My analysis:
FNL method:
Pros:
much easier at performance time.
Cons:
more time and practice to come up with meaningful numbers/locations for the 52 Loci. Only one memory palace for the 52 locations (not easy to add another memory palace if another stack is to be memorized into long-term memory).

HARPO (Rubik Cube) method:
Pros:
easy to have multiple memory palaces (a different Rubik Cube for each stack and each Rubik Cube mentally (or physically) placed in a different area of a room).
Cons:
more tedious at performance time because have to divide by 2 or multiply by 2 (when doing a trick that requires positional calculation). Mentally having two cards at each Loci (PA) is more complex than having just one card per Loci.

The type of tricks that all memorized stacks typically facilitate:

1. Card to position number
2. Position number to card
3. Sequential naming of the next card

At performance time:
IMO the FNL method is much easier at doing "card to position number" and "position number to card".
IMO HARPO maybe a little easier at "sequential naming of the next card" because the magician is mentally proceeding through each little square of the Rubik Cube without thinking of which position number is next.

My current thinking (subject to change) is that if I wanted to memorize several different magician stacks I would use the HARPO (Rubik Cube) method.

If memorizing just one stack:
I would use Divron's FNL method or use the position number written in a unique way on the face of a practice deck.

If dynamically memorizing a shuffled deck in front of an audience then I definitely like Divron's FNL method (having 52 Loci with each Loci having a meaningful number is a great idea especially if doing positional card tricks)!

Thanks!

Thanks for your response.

Could you give an example of the image you create, using HARPO, to remember that 4H is the 5th card?

Also, if you're not already aware of it, you might enjoy the Art of Memory forum. That's where Lance first shared his Shadow system. Ben Pridmore also has a number of posts on there, as well as Alex Mullen and others.

To be honest I haven't spent much time with HARPO. I have been having fun using my Hamilton stack coupled with memorizing it's 2 deBruijn cheat sheet memory palaces and it's been working great.

HARPO:
I just bought two Rubik's cubes from the Dollar Tree store so I plan to mentally put Mnemonica on one of them and the Redford Stack on the other just so I can show off at magic club meetings that I can assemble such stacks from memory.

About your question concerning HARPO and the 4H:
The person I currently use for the 4H is an alien stock broker that has four hearts. I did this with the foreknowledge that the 4H would be in position 29 of my Hamilton stack. I associate 1929 as the stock market crash and thus the alien stockbroker. Most of my cards have a pure person name assignment (not named for its Hamilton position number) and could be used with any stack but the 4H is one of the few cards that was specifically named (Alien Stockbroker) for the Hamilton stack. I would recommend other magicians to have a stack independent name such as perhaps the Beatles (4 heartthrobs) for the 4H or just perhaps Ringo Starr for the person and beating a drum for the action.

But back to your specific question about the 4H in the 5th position: let's also say the sixth card is King of Diamonds (Winston Churchill smoking a cigar). Then on my Rubik Cube on the third little square on the top row (the third Loci) I would envision an Alien Stockbroker smoking a cigar (or The Beatles / Ringo Starr smoking a cigar).

Hmmm, your question forced me to see an error in my algorithm. I think I was one off and/or off by my remainder calculation way up above. Thanks.

The correct HARPO calculation should be (I think this is right):
Card to number (spectator names any card):
When a spectator names a card the Magician from memory knows the little block number (the loci number) and then multiplies by 2 to get the position within the stack (If the named card is the first of the two card pair then subtract one from the multiplication result to get the position number).

Number to card (spectator names a number 1 to 52):
Divide the number by 2 (round up) to know the block number and thus remember the two card pair at that Loci. If you had to round up then it's the first card of the two card pair otherwise if there was no rounding (an even number was named) then it's the second card of the two card pair.

And thanks for the tip about the Art Of Memory forum.