Price tags · Puzzle #21 · Tuesday, October 20
Price tags: the answers
Four questions, each with one true number. Here they are with their answers, how to reason each one out, and where the number comes from. Play today's Price tags.
1. Easter: How much were Americans expected to spend on Easter in total in 2026, according to the National Retail Federation?
Photo: Steven Depolo, CC BY 2.0 - Survey by
- NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics
The answer: about $24.9 billion. That was a record, up from $23.6 billion in 2025.
Napkin math - 200Madults who celebrate (most of us)
- ×$100each on candy, food, clothes and baskets
≈$20B
The true figure is about $24.9 billion (National Retail Federation). On a napkin, take 200 million adults who celebrate (most of us), times $100 each on candy, food, clothes and baskets, and you get about $20 billion. The estimate is 1.2 times too low, close enough to score 9.0 out of 10. Any guess from $12 billion to $50 billion scores 7.0 or better, because the game only counts how many times off you are.
2. A year of Lyft rides: Lyft gave 945.5 million rides in 2025. How much did riders spend on them in total?
- Includes
- Fares and fees, plus Lyft's bikes and scooters
The answer: about $18.5 billion. That was a record year for Lyft, with 51.3 million people taking at least one ride.
Napkin math - 946Mrides in 2025
- ×$20a ride
≈$18.9B
The answer comes to about $18.5 billion (Lyft). On a napkin, take 946 million rides in 2025, times $20 a ride, and you get about $19 billion. That lands all but on the answer, worth 9.9 out of 10 as a guess. The target is wider than it looks: every guess between $9.3 billion and $37 billion scores at least 7.0.
Source: Lyft, Lyft Reports Record Q4 and Full-Year 2025 Results
3. Babe Ruth: How much did the New York Yankees pay the Boston Red Sox for Babe Ruth in 1920?
Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 - Sold by
- Boston Red Sox, announced January 1920
- Season before
- A record 29 home runs in 1919
The answer: $100,000. The price was considered astronomical at the time, and the sale became the root of the 'Curse of the Bambino'.
Napkin math: Star players of the era earned around ten thousand dollars a year, so a record sale price might be about ten times that.
The real answer is $100,000 (Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) BioProject). With no neat arithmetic to lean on, start with the order of magnitude: this one is in the hundreds of thousands. Any guess from $50,000 to $200,000 scores 7.0 or better, because the game only counts how many times off you are.
Source: Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) BioProject, Babe Ruth
4. A banana a day: At the US average price of bananas in August 2026, what would one banana a day for a year cost, at three bananas to a pound?
Photo: Wilfredor, CC0 - Bananas per pound
- about 3
The answer: about $79. Bananas averaged about 65 cents a pound, barely changed all year.
Napkin math - 365bananas a year
- ×$0.25a banana
≈$91.25
The answer comes to about $79 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). On a napkin, take 365 bananas a year, times $0.25 a banana, and you get about $91. It's 1.2 times too high, which as a guess would still have scored 9.4 out of 10. Any guess from $40 to $160 scores 7.0 or better, because the game only counts how many times off you are.
