How to Sort a Loose LEGO® Pile: 5 Methods (and the Fastest)
Every collection gets there eventually: one big tub of mixed bricks with no memory of which set they came from. How you sort it depends entirely on what you're sorting for — storing tidily is a different job from rebuilding a specific set. Here are five methods, what each is good for, and the fastest route if your goal is to put your sets back together.
1. Sort by colour
The most common starting point. Tip the pile out, pull bricks into colour groups, and you've got a rainbow of tubs.
- Good for: a quick visual tidy; finding a part when you roughly know its colour.
- Watch out for: the greys. Light bluish gray and dark bluish gray look almost identical under poor light — sort them wrong and you'll feel it later. (We wrote a whole guide on telling the two greys apart.)
2. Sort by type or shape
Bricks in one tub, plates in another, then tiles, slopes, Technic, clips, and so on.
- Good for: builders who reach for "a 2×4 plate" rather than "a red thing".
- Watch out for: it scales badly — a big collection needs a lot of compartments.
3. Sort by size
A simpler version of by-type: small, medium, large. Some people sieve loose bricks through stacked trays to do this fast.
- Good for: speed and minimal containers.
- Watch out for: you still have to hunt within each size band.
4. Sort by set
The dream for rebuilders: every brick back with the set it belongs to. By hand this is brutal — you're cross-referencing each piece against instructions or part lists.
- Good for: rebuilding or checking a set is complete.
- Watch out for: it's the slowest method by far when done manually.
5. Identify by camera, matched to the sets you own (the fast way)
This is where a tool earns its place. With Gybio, you point your phone at a loose brick, one at a time, and it tells you which of your own sets need that piece — in the right colour and quantity — and ticks it off a "left to find" list per set.
- Good for: the by-set goal without the manual cross-referencing — restoring sets instead of just grouping bricks.
- How it works: it identifies the part, then matches it against the sets you've added to your collection. One brick at a time; the camera does the lookup, you do the sorting.
So which is fastest?
It depends on the goal:
- Just tidying to store? By colour or by type is quickest.
- Rebuilding or selling specific sets? Identify-and-match wins, because the other methods leave you with neat tubs but still no idea which set a brick belongs to.
If you're not sure where a piece goes, that's exactly the gap Gybio fills — see which set a loose brick belongs to in seconds. Ready to rebuild? Here's how to rebuild a mixed-up set.
FAQ
What's the fastest way to sort LEGO® bricks?
For tidying, sort by colour or type. For rebuilding the sets you own, identifying each brick with a camera and matching it to your sets is fastest, because it skips the manual cross-referencing.
Should I sort by colour or by type?
By colour is more intuitive and faster to start; by type suits builders who think in part shapes. Many people combine the two for larger collections.
How do I sort bricks back into specific sets?
Use a tool that identifies a part and matches it to the sets you own, so each brick is allocated to the set that needs it rather than just grouped loosely.
Point your camera at a loose brick and Gybio tells you which of your own sets it belongs to. Free to start, no app store — it runs in your browser.