Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog obam here. Even before it became a popular way to while away the hours, days and weeks during isolation, putting together jigsaw puzzles was a favorite family activity. But did you know that jigsaw puzzles have their origin in education?
Sir John Spillsbury, an English engraver and map maker in the mid seventeen hundreds, is credited with creating the first jigsaw puzzle in seventeen seventy six by attaching a map of the world to a piece of wood, then cutting the countries out. Teachers used the maps to teach geography to their students, and a recreational activity was born. Spillsbury would hardly recognize his creation today. In the early part of the twentieth century, jigsaw puzzles were used as marketing tools,
often given away or sold for mere pennies. Today, companies still use puzzles for creative marketing. Take Kodak, for instance, it's selling what it claims is the quote world largest jigsaw puzzle. We have to admit this thing is pretty huge. The thousand, three hundred piece puzzle features twenty seven images from around the world and when completed, measures twenty eight point five feet by six point to five feet that's eight point six meters by one point nine meters, and
this beast costs more than four hundred dollars. But all due respect to the Kodak jigsaw puzzle, the world's largest jigsaw puzzle by surface area, according to Guinness World Records, was put together in Dubai in July. The puzzle was an honor of the Year of Ziad, a year long tribute to the founding father of the United Arab Emirates, the late Shahook Ziad. There were more than twelve thousand pieces in the puzzle, which was an image of Ziad.
The official record size measured sixty five thousand, nine five point one seven square feet, which is six thousand, one d twenty two point six eight square meters. Putting together jigsaw puzzles is a great group activity, but one thousand, six hundred students of the University of Economics at hot Chimen City in Vietnam took it to the next level when they completed the jigsaw puzzle with the most pieces on record, five hundred and fifty one thousand, two hundred
and thirty two to be exact. When it was finished, the puzzle measured just over forty eight by seventy six ft about fourteen by twenty three ms. It took the students seventeen hours to create the massive puzzle, which featured a lotus flower with six petals. But what about the hardest jigsaw puzzle ever. It contains only nine pieces, and it's called the Ice Puzzle nine. It was designed by
u Asaka. It includes a small board and the nine pieces include right angles and curved edges that fit together in several combinations. Think Tetris, but way harder. The challenge is getting the last piece to fit. It's nearly impossible to fit all of the pieces on the board. It took Chris Ramsay, a magician, video creator and master puzzler, two hours and nine minutes to solve the Ice nine, and by his own description, he was completely exhausted by
the end of the experience. You Asaka created another equally difficult puzzle called the Jigsaw Puzzle twenty nine. The challenge here is to fit twenty nine pieces into a five by five inch that's twelve by twelve centimeter trey. It comes with five corner pieces. Just let that sink in. Then there's the largest handcut wooden jigsaw puzzle. Guinness record held by Dave Evans in England, who created a forty thousand, seven hundred and sixty three piece puzzle celebrating the Queen's
Diamond Jubilee. The puzzle, which featured thirty three images of jubilee celebrations, was twenty by eight feet that's six by two and a half meters when completed, though it collapsed soon after Evans complete at it. It took him, in four assistance more than sixteen days to rebuild the puzzle and move it to Sandringham, where it went on display and was confirmed as the Guinness World Record holder. We spoke by email with Caitlin Vesper, Records manager with Guinness
World Records North America. She said one of the main criteria for all Guinness World Records titles is that they must be breakable. Every record title that's monitored is open to being challenged, which allows for all kinds of record breaking opportunities all over the world. The Guinness record for most jigsaw puzzle pieces tattooed on the human body belongs to the aptly named Enigma sometimes known as Paul Lawrence, who's a side show performer, actor and musician originally from Seattle.
Enigma set the record for having two thousand, one d and twenty three puzzle pieces tattooed on his body from head to toe, and no word on whether anyone comes close to second. But many puzzle records are held by companies, such as the record for the largest spherical jigsaw puzzle. It measured fifteen point seven feet that's four point seven seven meters in circumference and it was made by Unima Industrial Limited in Hong Kong and featured scene from Winnie
the Pooh. Vesper said, brands and businesses come to us looking to harness the power of record breaking, to commemorate anniversaries and celebrations, or to highlight the launch of a new product. Whole communities can come together to attempt a new record, too, alike. In March of twenty nineteen, when more than one thousand, seven hundred people formed the largest human jigsaw puzzle piece on record. At first, the record raised awareness for autism spectrum disorder. The puzzle pieces the
symbol for the Autism Speaks organization. Vesper explained, each Guinness World Records title has a set of guidelines that must be followed. The record for the largest human jigsaw puzzle piece is a great example to highlight. This is considered one of our largest human image categories and the idea it is to have a group of people gathered together to form a recognizable image. We define a jigsaw puzzle piece as an oddly shaped, interlocking and tesselating piece designed
to be part of a larger picture. The human image to be created would need to be instantly recognizable as a puzzle piece and not an entire puzzle. This record title can be broken if another group creates the same image with a larger group of people. Anybody up for the challenge. Today's episode was written by Patty Resmusen and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other not so puzzling topics, is it how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio.
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