Description
For the fifth time in history, enthusiasts of fitting pieces together and solving impossible challenges will come together for almost a week in a new edition of the World Puzzle Championship, with the city of Valladolid established as the World Capital of speedpuzzling. The event will take place from September 15 to 21, with the Dome of the Millennium, known as ‘The Cathedral of the Puzzle’, as the venue, as announced today by the Councilor of Tourism, Events and City Brand, Blanca Jiménez; the president of the World Puzzle Federation, Alfonso Álvarez Ossorio, and the director of Communication and Institutional Relations of Caja Rural de Zamora, Narciso Prieto.
With over 2,600 people registered to participate in one or more categories since registration opened on January 1, the global gathering will bring together about 3,000 participants from 75 different countries, including individuals capable of solving puzzles of 500 pieces in less than an hour. However, the vast majority will attend simply to enjoy their hobby and have a unique and unforgettable experience.
The economic impact on Valladolid, estimated by the organization taking into account the number of participants and accompanying persons along with total overnight stays, will exceed two and a half million euros.
The organization has doubled the prizes in this edition. They will award €12,000 in cash to the winners and trophies to the top 10 in each category. In addition to the cash prizes, participants will receive the puzzles used in the tests worth over €85,000, adding an additional incentive to the competition.
Access to the Dome of the Millennium will be completely free, allowing puzzle lovers and curious onlookers to enjoy this exciting event in a festive atmosphere. Additionally, the championship can be followed live through the official social media channels of the WJPF and its associated members in three languages (Spanish, English, and Italian), as well as in person at the Dome of the Millennium, where several giant screens will be installed both indoors and outdoors.
Individual, Pair, or Team Challenges
The championship consists of three categories: individual, pair, and team, with a total of 28 tests in play. The action will begin on Tuesday, September 16, at 9:00 am, with the first two qualifying rounds in the individual (9 groups) and pair (6 groups) categories with up to 200 participants per group and will continue until late Thursday. In this initial phase, each participant or pair must solve a 500-piece puzzle in a maximum of 90 minutes individually or 75 minutes in pairs. From Friday at 12:00 pm until 3:30 pm on Saturday, the team qualifying phase (5 groups) with up to 100 participants will take place.
The team category – consisting of 3 or 4 participants – will have a unique feature in the first phase, as before starting, each team must choose two 1,000-piece puzzles from four different models, discarding two of them according to their difficulty criteria. That strategic decision can be crucial to qualify for the final or be eliminated, adding more excitement to this category.
The peak of excitement will begin on Saturday afternoon with the finals of pairs and individuals. On this occasion, players must solve a unique puzzle that will become part of Ravensburger’s next year’s catalog and is one of the best-kept secrets by the Organization. The finalists in pairs will have to solve a 1,000-piece puzzle in a maximum of 2 hours, while in the individual final, they will have only 75 minutes to complete a 500-piece puzzle.
Finally, on Sunday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, the team final will take place as the culmination of over 60 hours of fun, with more than 9,000 puzzles and the staggering figure of 5 million assembled pieces. Following this, the award ceremony will be held, and the organization will announce the dates and location of the next World Championship.
Guinness World Record Attempt
In addition to the competitive tests, the organization has planned other activities, including a Guinness World Record attempt on the opening day, in which representatives from all National Associations will participate. The Record attempt will involve assembling the 40,320-piece ‘Unforgettable Disney Moments’ puzzle in less than 3 hours, the largest puzzle from Ravensburger and one of the biggest in the world available on the market, both in terms of the number of pieces and its size.
The puzzle features ten key scenes from the most popular Disney movies of all time; a brief journey through time from ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ from 1937 to ‘The Lion King’ from 1994.
International Growth
Spain is a pioneer in organizing Puzzle Championships. It began in 2009 with the first Spanish Championship and today, more and more countries have their own National tournaments. In 2023, 5 countries organized their first tournament, in 2024, there were 18 countries, and in 2025, 30 National tournaments are already scheduled, as reflected on the World Federation’s page, all following the same rules, categories, etc., as the World Championship. Germany leads in participation, followed by the United States, Spain, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
La lista de 66 países incluye a todos los países europeos, así como a debutantes de Nigeria, Pakistán, Kenia y Filipinas. El mercado mundial del puzzle genera más de 7.100 millones de euros al año, con Ravensburger como principal patrocinador del evento. El Mundial es organizado por la Federación Mundial del Puzzle, con sede en Valladolid, y cuenta con patrocinadores como el Ayuntamiento de Valladolid y Caja Rural de Zamora. If you do not enable this option, you will be able to view our activity through links to these networks placed at the top of the portal.
For the fifth time in history, enthusiasts of fitting pieces together and solving impossible challenges will come together for almost a week at a new edition of the World Puzzle Championship, with the city of Valladolid established as the World Capital of speed puzzling. The event will take place from September 15 to 21, with the Dome of the Millennium, known as ‘The Cathedral of the Puzzle’, as a witness, as presented today by the Councilor of Tourism, Events and City Brand, Blanca Jiménez; the president of the World Puzzle Federation, Alfonso Álvarez Ossorio, and the Director of Communication and Institutional Relations of Caja Rural de Zamora, Narciso Prieto.
With more than 2,600 people registered to participate in one or more categories since the organization opened registration on January 1, the world gathering will bring together about 3,000 participants from 75 different countries, including individuals capable of solving 500-piece puzzles in less than an hour. However, the vast majority will attend simply to enjoy their hobby and live a unique and unforgettable experience.
The economic impact on Valladolid, estimated by the organization taking into account the number of participants and accompanying persons along with the total overnight stays, will exceed two and a half million euros.
The organization has doubled the prizes in this edition. They will award €12,000 in cash to the winners and trophies to the top 10 in each category. In addition to the cash prizes, participants will receive the puzzles used in the tests worth over €85,000, which adds an additional incentive to the competition.
Access to the Dome of the Millennium will be completely free, allowing puzzle lovers and curious individuals to enjoy this exciting event in a festive atmosphere. In addition, the championship can be followed live through the official social networks of the WJPF and its associated members in three languages (Spanish, English, and Italian) and in person at the Dome of the Millennium, where several giant screens will be installed both indoors and outdoors.
Individual, pair, or team competitions
The championship consists of three categories: individual, pair, and team, with a total of 28 tests in play. The action will begin on Tuesday, September 16, at 9:00 am, with the first two qualifying rounds in the individual category (9 groups) and pairs (6 groups) of up to 200 participants per group, and will continue until late Thursday. In this first phase, each contestant or pair must solve a 500-piece puzzle individually in a maximum of 90 minutes or 75 minutes as a pair. From Friday at 12:00 pm until 3:30 pm on Saturday, the team qualifying phase (5 groups) of up to 100 participants will take place.
The team category – consisting of 3 or 4 participants – will have a peculiarity in the first phase, as before starting each team must choose two 1,000-piece puzzles from four different models, discarding two of them according to their difficulty criteria. That strategic decision can be crucial to qualify for the final or be eliminated, adding more excitement to this category.
The peak of excitement will begin on Saturday afternoon with the finals of pairs and individuals. On this occasion, players must solve an unpublished puzzle that will become part of the catalog for the next year by the Ravensburger brand and is one of the biggest secrets kept by the organization. Pair finalists must solve a 1,000-piece puzzle in a maximum of 2 hours, while individual finalists will have only 75 minutes to build a 500-piece puzzle.
Finally, on Sunday, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, the team final will take place as the culmination of over 60 hours of fun, with more than 9,000 puzzles and the staggering figure of 5 million assembled pieces. A continuación, se llevará a cabo la entrega de premios y la organización anunciará las fechas y el lugar del próximo Mundial de Puzzles. Además, se ha planificado un intento de World Record Guinness en el que participarán representantes de todas las Asociaciones Nacionales. El desafío consistirá en armar el puzzle de 40.320 piezas ‘Momentos inolvidables de Disney’ en menos de 3 horas, el cual es uno de los más grandes del mundo.
España ha sido pionera en la organización de Campeonatos de Puzzles, y cada vez más países se suman a esta iniciativa. En 2025 se han programado 30 torneos nacionales, reflejando un crecimiento internacional significativo. Alemania lidera en participación, seguida de Estados Unidos, España, Canadá, Francia, Reino Unido y Australia. La lista de participantes incluye debutantes de países como Nigeria, Pakistán, Kenia y Filipinas.
El Mundial de Puzzles está promovido por la Federación Mundial del Puzzle (WJPF) y patrocinado por Ravensburger, la marca líder del sector. Otros patrocinadores destacados son el Ayuntamiento de Valladolid y Caja Rural de Zamora. We use these functions to enhance the content we provide and improve your user experience.
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