Speed-Memory

World Speed Memory Championships

GENERAL RULES

There are four categories: Children's (under 10 years old), Youth (11-13 years old), Junior (14-17 years old), and Open (18 years old and up). For example, for the year 2008 those born in or after 1998 will be included in the Children's category, those born between 1995 and 1997 will be considered Youth, Juniors will be those born between 1991 and 1994, and those born in or prior to 1990 will be eligible to compete in the Open Category.

In professional championships there will be two rounds of tests. The order of said tests and the time shall be as follows:

Each participant will receive a Competition Card with his or her name and other personal information, on which the judges will record said participant's score.

Prior to each attempt, a judge will say the following: "Ready", "Set", "Go". At this moment the chronometer will begin keeping time and the test will officially begin. When the allotted time is up, judges will verify each participant's results, which will then be communicated to the control table. For any given test, tries will be made consecutively, without interruptions. There will, however, be a one minute break between tests.

Participants will not be allowed to write after time has been called. They should stop writing as soon as the alarm sounds to indicate that time is up, and all responses from competitors who do not fulfil this requirement shall be declared null and void. In the same way, participants shall not begin to write while the test is still visible on the screen.

For any given round, each participant's score for each try must be equal to or greater than his previous score for that round, and he or she will not be allowed to continue if given a lesser score. For the second round (professional championships), each participant shall begin again with the goal he or she chooses.

There shall be absolutely no talking, noise making or movements which may disturb the concentration of the other participants. For this reason, no results will be corrected until the alarm has indicated that time is up. Once this alarm has sounded and the judge has verified and recorded the results on the participants' competition cards, the use of computers to prepare for the next try will then be permitted.

All results should be clearly and legibly written and whenever possible the competitor himself should acknowledge when an answer is incorrect in order to prevent the judge from having to do unnecessary work.

Only those competition computer programs approved by "Speed-Memory" are allowed.

Records and Titles may only be recognized in official competitions by "Speed-Memory" approved judges.

Only Professional Championships

Each participant will be responsible for having his or her computer ready for competition, so as to gain quick access to saved configurations. Participants will be responsible for any kind of problem caused by their computers: antivirus warnings, pop-up windows, blockages, etc.

All responses shall be verified by at least two judges, who will take the necessary time to make sure that an answer is correct. In order to do so, each judge must count the number of digits in any given response and confirm that all of said digits are correct and given in the correct order.

Finalists may choose whichever size and format they like for the numeric memorization tests, but there can only be two colors, one for the background and one for the numbers. All numbers must be the same size and color.

Use of the Joker. Should a competitor "draw a blank" during any of the four numeric tests, he or she may make use of a "Joker" or 11th try. This try shall be carried out with fewer digits than the lowest number of digits used in any of the ten previous tries. Should a participant draw a blank during various tests, he or she may only make use of one Joker, at the end of the competition.

- Decimals in 1 second (5 tries)

- Decimals in 4 seconds (5 tries)

- Color shapes (1 try)

- Binary numbers in 1 second (5 tries)

- Binary numbers in 4 seconds (5 tries)

- Matrices (1 try)

- Decimals in 1 second (5 tries) ... 20 seconds

- Decimals in 4 seconds (5 tries) ... 30 seconds

- Color shapes (2 tries) ............. 3 minutes

- Binary numbers in 1 second (5 tries) ....... 30 seconds

- Binary numbers in 4 seconds (5 tries) ...... 60 seconds

- Matrices (1 try) ............................... 6 minutes

In amateur championships (the best for the schools), the participants' final score shall be the highest score received before committing four null attempts by proof of digits (can do maximun 3 null attempts). Participants only have one try for the color and matrix tests.