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Comment by adamlynch | Hacker News Reader

Great feedback, thanks. I also considered factoring in street length for difficulty modes.

My dad has gotten a perfect score a couple of times. Cork isn't huge but that's still very difficult. He's a human map

Also, your dad is 99% of the way to having an enormous "memory palace" if he's got all of Cork memorized. All he needs to do is imagine a walk between any two points in Cork, then imagine the things he wants to remember at different places along that journey, such as at every intersection. To recall, simply imagine repeating the journey, and the remembered items will be at the intersections. Digits of pi or the order of a deck of cards are a good way to test it, and the cards bit is great for pub tricks and free beers.

There's a tiny distance between this game and actual mnemonic techniques used by world champion memory athletes. Method of loci capitalizes on the fact that the brain stores memories using a map like structure, as a result of grid cells.

If you can, get a cabby in London with "The Knowledge" to do a session. Such cabbies are among elite humans, of a handful of disciplines known to alter the structure of their brains in a predictable way. Like Shaolin monks, Australian aboriginal shamans, and others, they've got an amazing superpower.

Neat game, and fascinating peripheral subjects, thanks!

Fascinating, thanks! I knew of memory palaces but I hadn't considered taxi drivers! Can't wait to tell my dad someone on the internet said he's a genius :P

For now, I've reduced the circle radius by 20%. I plan to make it adjustable in the future.

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