Building on your existing 20-item peg systems, the Major System takes your memory to championship levels:
Expand your memory capacity to 1000+ items
Memorize long sequences of numbers (like digits of pi)
Used by world memory champions to set records
Works for dates, cards, facts, and more
"The great memory champion Gunther Karsten used the major system to memorize 1,949 digits within one hour!"
Historical Background
The Major System has evolved over centuries:
1634: Earliest version by French astronomer Pierre Hérigone
1825: Modern form developed by French scholar Aimé Paris
Today: Used by champions like Alex Mullen and Ben Pridmore
Learning the Major System
In the Major System, numbers 0-9 represent consonant sounds (vowels are ignored):
0 - S, Z
"Zero" starts with Z
1 - T, D
T/D have one downward stroke
2 - N
N has two downward strokes
3 - M
M has three downward strokes
4 - R
"Four" ends with R
5 - L
Top half of 5 looks like L
6 - J, SH
J looks like upside-down 6
7 - K, hard G
K resembles number 7
8 - F, V
Handwritten 8 resembles F
9 - P, B
P/B resemble rotated 9
How Words Become Numbers
Example: "Book"
Consonants: B (9) and K (7)
Book → 97
Example: "Cable"
Consonants: C (K sound = 7), B (9), L (5)
Cable → 795
Creating Major System Pegs (0-10)
Now we'll create pegs by turning numbers into memorable words:
0 - Saw
1 - Tea
2 - Noah
3 - Ma
4 - Ray
5 - Law
6 - Joy
7 - Key
8 - Foe
9 - Bee
10 - Toes
Expanding to 100+ Pegs
Here are examples for expanding your system (choose images that work for you):
Number
Word Options
Example Image
11
Death, Tooth
Skull
12
Dan, Tin
Street fighter
15
Duel, Tail
Knights fighting
20
Nose, Nays
Giant nose
25
Nail, Nile
Hammer and nail
35
Male, Mail
Lion
42
Horn, Rain
French horn
57
Leg, Lake
Running leg
69
Jab, Ship
Boxing glove
100
Daisies, Tissues
Field of daisies
Congratulations!
You now have the foundation for a 1000+ peg memory system!
Create pegs for numbers 0-100 (sample words provided)
Expand to 1000+ using the same principles
Use for memorizing numbers, dates, cards, and more
"With this system, you can memorize 101+ additional items and recall them forwards and backwards. The appendices include resources to expand to 1000 pegs!"