Out of Memory - Memory Elements in Games

So, I used to play ...

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I've not played many games that require memorization in game. I think Survive:Escape from Atlantis requires you to put different value tokens down and not look at them again, so if you want to prioritize saving your highest value people you gotta memorize their locations. But otherwise most of the games I recall with any memorization aspect involve getting to look at an opponents top 3 cards or something, real short term stuff.
Maybe getting to peek at units in a block or trading game.

Otherwise it mostly falls into the "card counting" realm of just memorizing the possible cards/options and ticking them off that mental list so you know the odds of the next thing being really good or really bad for you. But that is mostly just knowing all the options in the game versus a new player that might not know that there is an 8 point statue in Seven Wonders to even get if they are planning a blue victory when drafting cards (though I suppose if you know enough to even form a strategy at the beginning you must be at least somewhat familiar with the cards).

I'd be curious to try a game that really relied heavily on memorization. I suspect it would have a very limited audience but as a party game with some drinking it could be hilarious

Sometimes just remembering all the rules to the game is enough of a memory challenge. I guess that I do a bit of card counting when I am playing a CCG, because I want to keep track of how many of a crucial card are left in my deck as the game progresses. Battle for Rokugan can reward a player with a good memory, because every player has a finite supply of nearly identical chits, plus one special chit per faction. Due to the significant bluffing element, it can be handy to remember if a given opponent has used up a certain type of chit.

I remember back in the swccg days, one of the skills that differentiated the the top tier players from scrubs like myself was the ability to "track destiny." For reference, you used your deck as your life force and you used cards in hand as force to pay for your cards - cards constantly moved from hand, to discard then back into the bottom of your deck. And these guys could track well enough to ensure they were always pulling a 7 off the top of the deck when it came time to battle. Crazy.

Also for reference - my 4 year old can kick my butt at a game of 8x8 Frozen Memory. She can remember where the Anna/Elsa with the blue background was, that I flipped on the first turn, when she turns one 8 or 9 turns later.