Ballpark

Puzzle #16 · 5 October 2026

The five questions from that day's Ballpark, each with its answer, the fact behind it and a link to the source. Rather play it first? It is in the archive.

1. How much did Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi sell for at auction in 2017, including fees?

450M US dollars

$450.3 million, a record for any artwork. In 1958 it sold for just £45, attributed to a pupil of Leonardo. Source

Image: Leonardo da Vinci · Public domain

2. What is the total area of Australia, in square kilometers?

7.69M square kilometers

7,688,287 km², islands included. That makes it the world's sixth largest country, after Russia, Canada, China, the USA and Brazil. Source

Image: NASA · Public domain

3. About how many stone blocks make up the Great Pyramid of Giza?

2.3M blocks

An estimated 2.3 million blocks. It stood as the world’s tallest human-made structure for over 3,700 years. Source

Image: Ricardo Liberato · CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped

4. How many feet of wire were coiled into an original Slinky toy?

80 feet

80 feet of wire, wound into a two-inch spiral. Inventor Richard James and his wife Betty borrowed $500 to make the first ones. Source

Image: Roger McLassus · CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped

5. How far did the Wright brothers' first powered flight travel in 1903?

120 feet

120 ft (36 m) in 12 seconds. The fourth flight that same day covered 852 ft in 59 seconds. Source

Image: John T. Daniels · Public domain