INDIANAPOLIS — A Carmel couple just pieced together their place in the Guinness World Record Book for their collection of puzzles.
13Sunrise anchor Julia Moffitt recently visited the Walczak home to see the collection that takes up most of the couple's basement. There were puzzle boxes stacked high and wide on moveable shelves.
For something like this, you might think John and Kyle Walczak started doing puzzles years ago. But they didn't really start until 2019.
John said the two started putting puzzles together in their Carmel home for fun, to unwind after work.
"We did that one together, and we were like, 'Oh it's kind of fun,' and you buy one and then you do that one, and you're like, 'Oh,' and next thing you know, you have 20 backups. And then the next think you know, you have 2,000 backups," John said.
John and Kyle were just written into the record books for the largest puzzle collection in the world — a record they can't help themselves from already beating.
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"So the record is 2,022 right now. I looked this morning and we have 2,078, so we actually have more," John said as he can't help but chuckle at himself for the impulse.
"We put together a 9,000-piece puzzle once. That took us about 10 months, and it covered our entire basement floor," John said.
The Walczaks use a spreadsheet just to keep track of what jigsaw puzzles they even own.
Maybe their most precarious puzzle problem — when a piece is missing.
Yes, it does happen. John said it happens more than you would think.
"Even new puzzles sometimes have pieces missing," John said. "If you just call them and say, 'Hey, I have this new puzzle and it's missing a piece,' typically, they'll send you a new one."
The most puzzling problem now — just where to keep all those puzzles.
The Walczaks hold the record for most puzzles collected. They didn't have to put them all together, but they said they've probably put together close to 900 puzzles — and they have no plans on slowing down.