A puzzle enthusiast who broke the record for completing the world’s biggest puzzle – 54,000 pieces! – has revealed that the hardest one he ever did was a modest 500-piece puzzle featuring lots of zebras.
Peter Schubert, from Hallerndorf, a municipality in the Upper Franconian district of Forchheim in the southern German state of Bavaria, made headlines when it emerged that he was missing the final piece of the puzzle and had to ask the manufacturer for a replacement piece in 2021.
Peter told Newsflash in an exclusive interview that he has assembled over 449,000 puzzle pieces in total and that his next milestone is to reach 500,000 pieces.
He also revealed that the hardest puzzle he has ever completed was just 500 pieces – and was packed full of zebras, making it hard to work out which piece went where.
Peter has also finished the world’s nine biggest puzzles, and in 2021, he was awarded the record by the Record Institute of Germany (RID) for having completed the world’s biggest puzzle at the time.
The 18-square-metre puzzle by Grafika is called ‘Travel Around Art’. The final piece was missing, with Peter explaining that he reached out to them and they were able to provide him with a replacement piece, allowing him to complete the 54,000-piece puzzle.
The ‘Travel Around Art’ puzzle is priced at EUR 499 in Germany and GBP 447.99 in the UK.
Now the record breaker, dubbed the ‘Puzzle King’ in Germany and in the international media, has put on an exhibition showcasing his huge collection of completed puzzles.
He said: “It was important to me to capture all of it in one place, so we used a drone to film it. So you could see it from above – because that had a really fantastic effect. That was a fantastic view.”
Peter said that the incredible view was captured by Christian Blank using a professional drone, adding that he is currently working on a “smaller” puzzle that is “just” 13,200 pieces as he nears his goal of reaching 500,000 puzzle pieces.
He said that it measures about 3.5 metres in size, but added that he prefers doing even “bigger ones”.
And speaking about what he would recommend for someone keen to get into the hobby, he said: “I think it’s a good idea to start with a small puzzle. One with striking colours and distinct areas.
“That way, you can motivate yourself because you keep finding pieces. That’s encouraging.
“The more difficult the puzzles are, the longer they take, and it can get frustrating if you don’t find anything.
“So I would start with 500 pieces, then move on to 1,000, and if you still enjoy it, increase gradually.”
But Peter also said that the hardest puzzle he ever had to do was on the smaller side.
He told Newsflash: “It’s a border puzzle. It might only have 500 or 600 pieces, but every piece has a border.
“So you can’t tell what’s the outer edge and what’s inside.
“And it’s all zebras! The entire picture is full of zebras!
“Most people just shake their heads when they see something like that. They’re baffled!”
He was unable to say who had made the challenging puzzle, but said that it had been gifted to him by a friend about 16 years ago.
Peter said that despite one more recent puzzle in America being 60,000 pieces, he is waiting for an even bigger one to be produced, one that would elicit that “wow” effect he felt when he finished the 54,000-piece puzzle.
He also said that his dream is to find someone to sponsor him so he can put together a travelling exhibition of his puzzles and take them on tour.
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
