So I went to grade school in the early 90s and the year after the book Times Tables the Fun Way came out. I am now 32 and I still use these silly stories to remember basic multiplication, such as "you have to be 16 to drive a 4x4" or "two snowmen (represented by a pair of 8s) are cold, so they want to build a fire. So they need sticks. The Sticks (6) are For (4) the fire." (8x8=64) etc.