Breaking any sort of record is an accomplishment in itself.

We all remember leafing through the giant 'Guinness World Records' book at our school library or book fair. Each new page a stunning testament to the interesting things humans are capable of.

According to the official GWR website, this legacy began in the early 1950’s with Sir Hugh Beaver. Now, this brand has 62,252 world records in its database. A good number of these records have some sort of Iowa tie.

Here are just a few of the Guinness World Records that have been set or broken here in the Hawkeye State. Some of these are remarkable, historical, but others are straight up strange.

The Most Unbelievable World Records Broken In Iowa

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Just a reminder...these are nowhere near all of the records that have been broken in Iowa or by an Iowan.

First College Basketball Game

The University of Iowa played the University of Chicago in a matchup on January 18th, 1896. 

Iowa ended up being the first college basketball losers too! Chicago cinched a win with a score of 15 to 12.

Oldest Continuously Operating Cinema Theatre

If you’ve ever made a trip out to Washington (no not that Washington) you definitely came across this piece of history.

The Washington Iowa State Theatre opened its doors on May 14th, 1897. When it first opened over 250 years ago, tickets went for a whopping 15, 25 and 35 cents each.

This theater received the world record recognition back in January of 2022.

Largest Cornhole Tournament

Even Guiness knows that it’s cornhole and not bags! On August 20th, 2022, 730 people participated in this tourney at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.

Longest Videogame Marathon Playing Games in the Mario Kart Series

If you’ve ever just wanted to sit back and play a mindless, fun video game then Mario Kart is usually the go to.

In 2018, Ben Fick, Anthony Lehnertz and Hunter Nierman broke the world record in Iowa City.

These three guys started playing Mario Kart on November 2nd and finished the game 40 hours later.

They broke the record at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital and had a bunch of the patients drive the fourth cart throughout the nearly two day period.

Shortest Bull Ever

Joe and Michelle Gardner of Kalona own Humphrey, the smallest bull. He is the shortest bull, measuring at 67.6 cm (26.6 in). This little guy is a miniature Zebu bull.

He was awarded the record in 2018.

Most Sticky Notes Stuck On the Face in One Minute

Some of these are just way out of pocket...

Taylor Maurer of Sioux City broke this record when she was just a teenager on November 16th, 2015. She stuck sixty sticky notes to her face in that brief time. That's one a second!

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