Puzzler pieces together world's largest collection of jigsaws with over 4,000 designs

A passionate puzzler has pieced together the world’s largest collection of jigsaw puzzles – an astonishing 4,060 different designs!

But Liza Fireman (USA) won’t just collect any puzzles, she specifically loves Ravensburger jigsaws.

She has puzzles of all sizes, from a few hundred pieces up to a monster Mickey Mouse design of 40,320 pieces.

She told us: “I’ve loved puzzles since I was a little girl.

“Part of what I love is seeing the image coming together. To me, it’s always the act of creation that is filling me with joy.”

Liza’s collection, officially counted up this May, more than doubled the previous record of 2,022 achieved by John Walczak (USA) in 2023.

She has designs of characters like Winnie the Pooh, Hello Kitty and James Bond, and ones depicting scenes from TV shows like Friends and movies like Wicked.

She even has circular puzzles, a whopping 123 Christmas designs, and more Disney jigsaws than you can even imagine.

Some of her puzzles are very rare and hard to get, including a Star Wars Yoda design that took her seven years to find in the UK.

But Liza’s world record was actually just a bit of an accident.

The 46-year-old said: “I didn’t set out to break the world record, I just fell in love with puzzling.

“But not just any puzzles – Ravensburger puzzles. I love their quality, their design, the history of puzzles. It just became a passion.”

Liza started officially collecting puzzles in 2019 and many of her jigsaws are still intact.

“If I kept all of the puzzles I did in a year, I could easily carpet my house with puzzles,” she joked.

Liza loves puzzling so much that she’s even been to the National Jigsaw Puzzle Championships three times, and the World Championships once too!

But she said: “I have to admit that competitions stress me out. I do pairs and teams just because the amount of pressure there is not as bad.

“I really enjoy the events though. I enjoy meeting other puzzlers and getting to know more people and meeting the artists.”

Find out more about the competitive world of puzzling here.