An upset in the Garden State as New Haven, Connecticut continues to hold the world record for the largest pizza party.

Over 1,200 pizza pies were ordered and 10,000 people registered. But only about 3,500 people were counted at Monday evening’s attempt to break the record at the Prudential Center.

There was lot of optimism ahead of the event. The Boys and Girls Club of Newark partnered with Papa John’s in an attempt to make history and get into the “Guinness Book of World Records” for the largest pizza party.

Madison, 9, waited in line with her sisters, excited at the prospect of beating the record.

"I’m here to have fun, and also eat a lot of pizza, and also so I can be in history for the world record,” Madison said.

The lines to get inside the building stretched longer than fresh mozzarella. This isn’t an average classroom pizza party.

Ameer Washington, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Newark, said Monday’s event was more than a pizza party. It was part of the Boys and Girls Club leadership academy. They teamed up with Disrupt Foods, who owns a local Papa John’s franchise.

"The first iteration was the kids learning about the store and learning how it works and then going on to learn how to make a business plan,” said Washington. “The test was, ‘How are you guys going to put that business plan into play? How about trying to do the largest pizza party in the world’ and the kids said, ‘Yeah, let’s go.’”

New Haven currently holds the world record, having taken it from Oklahoma City with 4,525 people attending.