Tagaytay: The Puzzle Mansion

Traffic and curiosity about their widely advertised Bed&Breakfast (not to mention the placards placed in almost every corner of Tagaytay City) brought me in The Puzzle Mansion.

I kinda thought the place has a life-size labyrinth. Since traffic was terrible, we decided to follow the route in the secondary road (near Mahogany Market) then followed the directions going to The Puzzle Mansion. And boy was it steep and far! (via the second/tertiary road)

Since it was about 5kms away from the main road, I guess they offer a shuttle service for those who will be staying overnight. Cool jeep, btw.

Upon entering, the inn is on the left side while the gallery is on the right.

rooms and pool area

The Puzzle Mansion holds one of the largest collection of puzzles made by a single person which makes the owner a record-holder of The World’s Largest Jigsaw Puzzle Collection from The Guinness World Records. To enter the gallery, you have to pay Php 100 /head. The ticket guy said we were lucky since the puzzle collector is at the gallery.

the gallery

with the puzzle collector

So the ticket guy wasn’t kidding, we saw Ms. Gina Gil Lacuna holding her record title. I asked her if she did everything in the room and she said yes and that she started her collection late 1980’s. I forgot the exact date. My note got deleted. ANYWAY. Every puzzle in the room was labeled with its details. On our background is her Puzzle no.51, which I think  is by far the biggest puzzle in the gallery.

Have a look:

Retablo De Santa Columba

||| Puzzle no. 51

No. of pieces: 18,000

Artist: R. Van Der Weyden

Completion Time: 1095 hours

Dimension: 321cm x 156cm

Origin: Spain  |||

(I failed to find Puzzle no. 1 -___- )

The total collection is made up of 1,028 puzzles (as of their last official count)  in different styles, sizes and dimension. Check out the others:

They also have puzzles for you to try on:

They also sell customized puzzles like PNoy over here:

Over all, The Puzzle Mansion is wort your visit, but not something I would go back for again and again. Don’t get me wrong, their ambiance is totally good and the place is really unique. It’s just that it’s quite far and there’s nothing else to do in the place (except for their bed&breakfast, pool, and a “horse-back ride in a pony in their parking lot). But do give this place a try and tell me what you think. 🙂

Orayt. Time for lunch!

Bulalo Steak and Pancit Buko