Costco Sells a Massive 60,000-Piece Puzzle That Will Take Up Your Entire Room

Family game time can be a great bonding experience. Team-based activities like solving challenging jigsaw puzzles are fun and can even increase your communication skills. Plus, the benefits of jigsaw puzzles are many—like increasing your brain health and reducing feelings of stress and anxiety. Now, thanks to Costco, your family activity time can be brought to the next level with the retailer’s latest claim to fame—the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle.

What’s the jigsaw puzzle like?

Costco’s What a Wonderful World puzzle isn’t called “The World’s Largest Jigsaw Puzzle” for nothing. This Costco jigsaw puzzle contains 60,000 pieces broken up into 60 sections of 1,000 pieces each that all connect to create one giant puzzle. When finished, the What a Wonderful World puzzle measures 8 feet tall and 29 feet long.

The puzzle features images within one overarching theme: the world map. Each of the 60 separate puzzles features a vibrant scene with images from folk artist Eric Dowdle. When connected, images from 187 Dowdle paintings comprise the total picture: a large, colorful world map.

Dowdle’s eclectic, charming imagery includes landmarks like France’s Eiffel Tower, the United Kingdom’s Big Ben and India’s Taj Mahal. Amid these landmarks are paintings of people living their lives doing things like fishing, driving and farming.

But is it really the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle? Costco claims it is, but according to The Guinness Book of World Records, it isn’t the largest ever made.

In 2011, 1,600 students in Vietnam earned the Guinness record for the most pieces in a jigsaw puzzle for their 551,232-piece puzzle. Meanwhile, Dubai’s Dubai Multi Commodities Centre holds the record for the largest puzzle at over 65,905 square feet as of 2018.

The Costco jigsaw puzzle may, however, be the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle for sale. Commercially, it appears Costco now surpasses German game company Ravensburger’s “Memorable Disney Moments” puzzle with 40,320 pieces.

How to solve Costco’s What a Wonderful World puzzle

There are many tips on how to solve a jigsaw puzzle, but how does one do it with 60,000 pieces? Start with a clean, large workspace that can accommodate up to 29 feet in length. Costco’s jigsaw puzzle contains 60 sections, so you should solve one box at a time.

Make sure you take breaks as needed—this isn’t a sprint, it’s a stroll. If you don’t want to complete the puzzle with only a few people, consider parceling the puzzles to friends and family outside of your household. When everyone finishes their sections, choose a place to assemble the puzzle.

Where to buy the What a Wonderful World puzzle

The Costco jigsaw puzzle is available only at Costco Wholesale locations or Costco’s website for $599.99, including shipping. One reviewer claims it came in at over 100 pounds. Costco doesn’t list the weight online, but some quick math reveals the package is around 90 pounds if a 1,000 Costco puzzle weighs about 1.5 pounds.

Because this doesn’t include the outer packaging, you should plan on team lifting this jigsaw puzzle.

Jorg Greuel/Getty Images

Visual Brain Teasers and Puzzles That Will Leave You Stumped

Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images

Rebus Puzzles That Are Almost Impossible to Solve

Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images

Word Search Puzzles You Can Print for Free

Sources:

• Costco: The World’s Largest Puzzle by Dowdle 
• Guinness World Records: Most Pieces in a Jigsaw Puzzle
• Guinness World Records: Largest Jigsaw Puzzle 
• Ravensburger: Memorable Disney Moments puzzle