Back in 1984, at the U.S. National Jigsaw Puzzle Championships in Ohio, a woman named Joellen Beifuss set a world record for the fastest 500-piece puzzle. She solved a puzzle that she had never even seen before in a mere 54 minutes and 10 seconds!

How does her time compare with the average time it takes people to complete 500-piece jigsaw puzzles? The average time for these little hobbies is between two and six hours, and many people don’t start and finish them in one sitting. One of the nice things about puzzles is that you can spend as much time on them as possible.

The Popularity of 500-Piece Puzzles

500-piece puzzles are the most popular sizes; they’re big enough to fill a good amount of free time yet still small enough that they don’t sit unfinished for several weeks or months.

Smaller puzzles come in many different sizes. Standard sizes for smaller jigsaw puzzles include:

• 100 pieces
• 200 pieces
• 300 pieces
• 500 pieces
• 750 pieces

There are also larger puzzles, and in this category are the following standard sizes:

• 1,000-piece puzzles
• 1,500-piece puzzles
• 2,000-piece puzzles
• Even larger puzzles

Some puzzles here and there contain odd amounts of pieces, although they are less common than the sizes listed above. There are puzzles for children with only 25 large pieces and other jigsaw puzzles containing tens of thousands of pieces.

The Largest Jigsaw Puzzles in the World

Until recently, the largest commercially available puzzle with the most pieces ever assembled was “Memorable Disney Moments,” with 40,320 pieces. It was the biggest commercially made puzzle on the planet, both in overall size and number of pieces.

When completed, this puzzle takes up 140 square feet of space. It weighs about 44 pounds, and the estimated completion time is approximately 600 hours.

In 2020, however, Kodak released a new world-record-breaking jigsaw puzzle with a whopping 51,300 pieces. But hold on because, in 2020, the “Travel Around Art” puzzle was released, containing a staggering 54,000 puzzle pieces and taking up 190 square feet of space when completed!

The Grand Champion World Record-Holding Puzzle

However, when including puzzles that are not commercially available, the numbers are even more mind-blowing. On September 24, 2011, a jigsaw puzzle with 551,232 pieces was completed by 1,600 students at the University of Economics of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

It took the students 17 hours to break up the 3,132 sections of the puzzle, with each section containing 176 pieces, then reassemble them into the finished puzzle.

When completed, the puzzle was 76 feet wide and 48 feet long! This broke the previous world record set in Singapore — a puzzle with 212,323 pieces — that had stood since 2002.

Choosing Your 500-Piece Jigsaw Puzzles

We’re guessing that you’re probably not looking to put together one of these record-breaking puzzles and that you want to start a “little” smaller, right? You won’t have any trouble finding 500-piece jigsaw puzzles to consider, but you might have difficulty choosing one!

Some of the most popular puzzles depict beautiful landscapes and scenery when completed. Others have beloved characters from cartoons, TV shows, video games, and movies.

Some people enjoy putting together puzzles that contain an inspirational quote or passage. Many people choose to put puzzles together that display eye-catching and intriguing geometric designs.

What you choose will depend on your tastes and preferences. The great thing about puzzles is that there is no such thing as a wrong choice!

Tips for Putting Together 500-Piece Puzzles

Whether you’re planning on taking things easy for a day or two as you relax with a puzzle or you want to keep busy for a day and see how fast you can complete one, we’ve got some tips to share with you that will make any puzzle-building experience more enjoyable and less frustrating.

Choosing the Right Puzzle

If you’re looking for a puzzle for a young child, you may want to lower the puzzle piece count and find a puzzle with larger-than-average pieces. There are many, many puzzles available that are specifically designed for youngsters.

Older children and teens usually enjoy more advanced puzzles, with smaller pieces, more pieces, and patterns that are more challenging to put together. Suitable sizes for older children and teens include anything from 100-piece puzzles to 750-piece puzzles or more.

Adults often look for 1,000-piece or even 2,000-piece puzzles. If you are purchasing one for an elderly loved one, you may want to look for a puzzle with easy-to-grab pieces that are a bit larger than usual (but not too large).

Patterns and details should be distinct and relatively easy to see, although you don’t want a puzzle that is too easy, either. Puzzles keep the mind sharp and help develop all kinds of cognitive skills in people of all ages. There are even puzzles available that are designed specifically for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Choosing the Right Work Area

Any worthwhile hobby requires some accessories, and people have found a few accessories that are a big help during their puzzle-building adventures. Before starting your puzzle, grab some sorting trays, a nice bright light, a roll-up puzzle mat, and peel-and-stick puzzle adhesive.

Make sure you have plenty of open space on all sides of your puzzle and sort your pieces into the sorting trays by color groups. You may also want to separate the border pieces and begin by assembling those first.

You don’t have to complete jigsaw puzzles in one sitting. Remember that putting jigsaw puzzles together should be engaging and exciting but satisfying and relaxing. Don’t frustrate yourself looking for hours for an elusive piece to finish a section; move on to another section. That mystery piece will turn up eventually.

Puzzles have remained popular for centuries for good reasons! Take your time and enjoy the experience.