By - 07/15/2021
Since playing cards were first created in the 9th Century AD, they have been entertaining people from all around the globe with games like Classic Solitaire. Not only do people love learning all of the different games that can be played with them, but throughout the years, they have come up with some exciting ways to amaze and astound with the world records they create.
According to Guiness World Records, a man named Liu Fuchang, who lives in China, holds the record for owning the most significant playing card collection. As of November 2007, Liu had 11,087 completely different decks of cards.
A man named Tony De Santis from Italy has the largest individual card collection in the world, owning 8,520 Jokers, all from different card sets.
A man named Bryan Berg made his way into the Guiness World Records for creating the largest structure out of carefully stacked playing cards. To create his masterpiece, this architect, by trade, used 4,208 decks, equalling 218,792 individual cards. By carefully placing each card in just the right spot, over the course of forty-four days, he was able to make an exact replica of the Venetian Macau, which is on display inside the Venetian itself.
The game of Mus is a popular bluffing game, played in pairs, that is extremely popular throughout Spain. On November 14, 2010, a massive group of 2,292 people gathered together in the Vizcaya region of Spain at 9:30 in the morning and spent the entire day competing in this huge tournament.
In 2019, in Wuhan City, China, a World Memory Championship was held to test competitors' memory capacity. Kim Surim from North Korea won the competition for memorizing the most playing cards in one hour's time. They were able to commit 2,530 cards to memory successfully.
You may remember a fun game that you played with your friends as a child - the famous 52 Pick-Up. A deck of fifty-two cards is thrown into the air, only to land in disarray all over the ground, leaving your friend the task of cleaning up the mess. On July 18, 2009, at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, Joshua Ruhlman beat the world record of 52 Pick-Up by successfully picking up a scattered deck of cards in only 6.25 seconds.
Dealing out a deck of cards is an essential skill to have, primarily if you work in a casino or are an avid card player. Both speed and accuracy must be taken into account to deal out the cards correctly. In Chhattisgarh, India, on January 6, 2019, a man named Arpit Lall successfully dealt out an entire deck of fifty-two cards in only 16.92 seconds.
In 2018, Pavol Durdik from Slovakia stunned the world by breaking the playing card balancing record. He was able to successfully balance a single playing card on the tip of his finger for two hours and fifteen seconds!
The world record for balancing an entire deck of playing cards goes to Richard Wilson from England. In October 2020, he balanced a complete playing card deck on his elbow for almost ten minutes and 46 seconds.
Ralf Laue from Germany holds this fantastic record. In 1994 he successfully held 326 playing cards, in one hand, in a perfect fan formation and ensured that the suit and value of every card were clearly visible.
In 2010 a man named Jack Webster was able to hold 992 cards in one hand by abandoning the fan technique.
With exceptional technique and lots of practice, playing cards can actually be thrown at very high speeds and travel long distances. In fact, if thrown correctly, a single playing card can actually slice through a piece of fruit. Rick Smith Jr. is the current playing card throwing record holder and has earned this reputation by throwing a card over 216 feet at a speed of 92 miles per hour. He also holds the record for vertically throwing a playing card 21.41 meters high, straight up in the air.
When most people think of a deck of playing cards, many different card games come to mind. There is so much more that can be done with these versatile, rectangular, coated pieces of paper. Whether you want to build a building, practice your memorization skills or throw a card faster than a speeding bullet, the options are endless! There are so many fantastic playing card records out there, created by people with phenomenal skill from all over the world. Which ones are you going to attempt to beat?