How to Break a Guinness World Record

Photos: Yitzy Kasowitz

Making or breaking a Guinness World Record always seems like a huge celebration, but behind the scenes, it’s not all fun and games. The company has extremely strict policies and high standards… and a reeeealy long waiting list. They receive about 1,000 emails every week from around the world, and it can take about 16 weeks until they respond to you. And don’t get excited — that first correspondence is just a really long list of rules!

Record titles need to fulfill all of the following:

Can it be measured objectively?

Can the record be broken?

Is it possible to create a set of parameters and conditions that all challengers can follow?

Is there evidence to prove it really happened?

If your record suggestion is new, then Guinness World Records will set a challenging minimum requirement for you to beat.

They do not accept any records that could cause harm to people or animals, encourage overeating (although they do have records like the fastest time to eat three cream crackers…), waste food, or involve anything illegal.