I elected to sort the cards using the grid method. I’m not sure if it is the fastest algorithm to sort the cards, though it is certainly among them. Ultimately, every card has to be considered, and using the grid method, every card is immediately positioned in its final position (and by spreading the cards out, it is physically easier to sort the cards).

My final time for sorting the deck was three minutes and six seconds, though this time would have been reduced had I practiced. It also would have been faster if I put numerical labels to help me find the card locations, though I figured that it would be more interesting to sort the deck without aid. The world record for sorting a deck of cards is one minute and 45 seconds ( http://urdb.org/Content/RecordDetail.aspx?id=578&attempt=835 ), about half my time. It should be noted that the algorithm used by the record holder is different; I tried this method myself, but I found that it was physically harder to sort.

I should also note that when I sorted the cards in my video, I picked them back up in the wrong order: each suit is sorted in order, though because of the way I picked them up, some are in ascending order and some are in descending order. I noticed this after I had finished recording and I didn’t want to redo it. The time would not have been significantly affected had I picked them up correctly. I realize that this is in violation of Rule 6.