We thought we would have a little fun and try to find some interesting facts and links for items related to Jigsaw puzzles. So here the first installement of RAR Puzzles’ Hall of Fame Puzzle Facts:
1) World’s Largest Commercial Puzzle
Ravensburger, which is a very well known puzzle manufacturer, holds the record, according to Guinness World Record as the holder of the world’s largest commercial puzzle. It is 32,000 it is about 18′ x 5′ and would probably ony take 2 years to complete, not to mention the complete loss of an entire room. Should you feel compelled to try another, there is a 24,000 piece puzzle that is 14’x5′ (which is an old record holder) that you can also complete once you finish the Ravensbuger!
2) World’s Largest Puzzle
Not to be outdone, university students in Vietnam assembled the world’s largest puzzle in 2010 (again verified by Guinness World Records). It was over 550,000(!) pieces, and about 76′ x 48′. Each piece was only about 1 inch square, so an amazing coordination effort to assemble. 1600 people took 17 hours. That is the equivalent of 9 years for one person working 8 hours a day every single day!
Here are some pictures:largest puzzle.
3) Most Expensive Puzzle
The most expensive public record of a puzzle selling was in 2005. It sold for $27,000 (2005 dollars) and was only about 500 pieces. That comes out to a whopping $54 per piece! It was sold at a charity auction. At that price, the only way to put it together is 1 piece a day for 16 months.
4) Jigsaw Puzzles Are Probably More Popular Than Crosswords
There are roughly 27 Million websites on Google with the phrase Jigsaw Puzzle in it. Surprisingly, only about 8.5 Million sites have the phrase Crossword Puzzle.
5) World’s Hardest Puzzles
We are basing this winner on own experience, but we have never been more frustrated than with a 5 Thunderbolt Stave Trick Puzzle. There are probably other jigsaw puzzles that are hard, but when it comes to a puzzle that can go together in myriad of ways and you really don’t know if you are on the right path or not you would be hard pressed to find a harder one. In fact, when Stave introduced a puzzle called Olivia a few years back. There was a $10,000 prize if someone could solve it within a certain amount of time at a puzzle convention. Several true Stave puzzle solving experts tried and nobody was able to complete it by the time limit, so just more proof of how hard it really is!!