Watch: German man sets World Record with ‘crazy collection’ of 1519 rotating puzzles

Florian K.’s archive has ‘cubes’ in the shape of pyramids, animals, and even one on Princess Diana and King Charles’ wedding

rotating puzzle collector florian kastenmeier sits in his room full of puzzles at his home in germany

Florian, who goes by 'Flo', has a dedicated puzzle room that is quickly running out of space. (Source: guinnessworldrecords.com)

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Sixteen years ago, Florian Kastenmeier found an old Rubik’s Cube in his attic. He never liked them as a child—he could never solve them—but as an adult, something pushed him to give it one last go. “I just had to solve it,” Florian recalls. This one-time success began a colourful addiction, one that has now landed him on the pages of the Guinness Book of World Records.

“I was so excited (after that first solve) that I found myself needing more and more of it. New cubes, new challenges.” Now 40, the German national has set up a collection of 1519 unique rotating puzzles at his home in Mindelheim, Bavaria—a veritable museum, recognised by Guinness this year as the largest collection of its kind in the world.

“Knowing that you’ve achieved something that nobody had done before you is incredible,” says Florian, whose collection showcases rotating puzzles in the shapes of pyramids, spheres, houses, animals, and even fruit. Many of his pieces have a story, such as the cube marking the wedding of Princess Diana to King Charles.

“I got it from England, from a lady who dissolved her collection of souvenirs of the Royal Family. I told her I’d take the puzzle, and she found it a little crazy,” he says. Another highlight is a tennis ball-shaped puzzle, signed and gifted by former World No. 1 Boris Becker, who won Wimbledon three times.

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However, there is still one piece Florian seeks to complete his collection: the prototype of the first-ever Rubik’s cube, made by Hungarian inventor Ernő Rubik in 1974. Designed with two faces of wood held together by paperclips and a rubber band, it was meant to “defy the laws of possibility”. It eventually became the coloured plastic cube we know today, released first in Hungary in 1977, followed by a worldwide launch in 1980.

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Rubik’s Cube collectors tend to also enjoy speedcubing—a competitive hobby where you solve the puzzle as fast as possible, sometimes blindfolded. But Florian has no interest in trying to break those records, some of which seem superhuman. The fastest known time to solve a 3x3x3 cube is a mind-boggling 3.47 seconds, set by China’s Yusheng Du in 2018.

Florian’s average is a much higher—but still commendable—44 seconds. “I think that’s OK for me; I don’t have to break every record. Maybe my kids will do that, one day.”