How the peglist works
This peglist is built on the Major System, a centuries-old memory technique that turns numbers into words you can picture. Each digit 0–9 stands for a consonant sound. You convert a number into its sounds, then add vowels to spell a concrete, memorable word — and that word becomes an image. Because the mind holds on to pictures far better than to bare digits, recalling the image gives you back the number.
The digit-to-sound table
| Digit | Consonant sound(s) | Why it’s easy to remember | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | s, z, soft c | “zero” begins with a z sound |  sSun zZebra soft cCity |
| 1 | t, d, th | the letter t has one downstroke, like a 1 |  tTuba dDog thThor |
| 2 | n | n has two downstrokes |  nNose |
| 3 | m | m has three downstrokes |  mMoon |
| 4 | r | “four” ends in the letter r |  rRose |
| 5 | l | L is the Roman numeral for 50; a splayed hand makes an L |  lLion |
| 6 | j, sh, ch, soft g | a handwritten j looks like a 6 |  jJam shShip chCheese soft gGenie |
| 7 | k, hard c, hard g, q | a capital K can be built from two 7s |  kKoala cCat gGoose qQueen |
| 8 | f, v, ph | a cursive f resembles an 8 |  fFish vVase phPhoebe |
| 9 | p, b | p is a mirror image of 9; b is a 9 turned over |  pPiano bBus |
Free sounds
The vowels a, e, i, o, u and the letters w, h, y carry no value. They are “free”, used only to pad the consonants into a pronounceable word. So the digits fix the consonants; the vowels are yours to choose. (In this list, for example, 66 “Yo-yo” works because y is a free sound.)
The rules
- Go by sound, not spelling. “Phone” is
f-n = 82— the ph is a single /f/ sound, and the vowels don’t count. - Silent letters are ignored. “Knight” is
n-t = 21; the k and gh are not pronounced. - A double letter making one sound counts once. “Butter” is
b-t-r = 914— the tt is one /t/. - Vowels and w, h, y never count. They only shape the word.
Worked examples
Reading the meaningful consonants off some pegs in this very list:
 | Net | n · t | = 2 1 |
| Moon | m · n | = 3 2 |
 | Ariel | r · l | = 4 5 |
| Bus | b · s | = 9 0 |
 | Dice | d · s | = 1 0 |
Two exceptions in this list
Checked against the rules above, 99 of the 101 pegs decode exactly to their number. Two are deliberately loose:
- 66 — Yo-yo: y is a free sound, so “Yo-yo” carries no digits at all. It’s kept as a memorable exception rather than a strict encoding.
- 26 — Nachos: strictly this is
n·ch·s = 260; the trailing plural s is ignored so thatn·ch = 26. The singular “Nacho” would be a clean 26.
Once the digit→sound links are automatic, any number becomes a picture, and any picture gives back its number. Practise both directions in the trainer.