13 OBJECTS · 18.3 m TO 2.7 km

Size It Up: Landmarks

Landmarks are the crowd favourite and the biggest source of scale shocks. The Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, the Burj Khalifa and the Great Pyramid are all photographed alone, which strips away every clue about their real height. Side by side, the surprises come fast.

The Landmarks set holds 13 measured objects, from the Mount Rushmore faces at 18.3 m to the Golden Gate Bridge at 2.7 km — the numbers on this page cover a factor of about 150. Each one is measured on the axis the game scores: standing height for things you would walk up to, longest visible span for everything else. Every size below links to the published measurement it came from.

THE NUMBERS

How big are these, really?

All 13 objects in the Landmarks set, smallest to largest. Each rung is compared with the one below it, so the category reads as a single ladder rather than a list of unrelated figures.

18.3 m

Mount Rushmore Faces height

Mount Rushmore Faces: Each carved presidential head is about 18 metres tall. Source ↗

93 m

Statue of Liberty height

Statue of Liberty: The 93 metres include the pedestal and the torch. About 5.1× the height of the Mount Rushmore faces. Source ↗

96 m

Elizabeth Tower height

Elizabeth Tower: The clock tower commonly called Big Ben is 96 metres tall. Practically the same height as the Statue of Liberty. Source ↗

106.7 m

Hollywood Sign length / span

Hollywood Sign: The nine letters stretch about 107 metres across Mount Lee. Source ↗

138.5 m

Great Pyramid of Giza height

Great Pyramid of Giza: Erosion has reduced the pyramid to about 138.5 metres today. About 1.4× the height of the Elizabeth Tower. Source ↗

169.3 m

Washington Monument height

Washington Monument: The marble changes shade a third of the way up, where construction stopped for over twenty years. About 1.2× the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Source ↗

184 m

Space Needle height

Space Needle: Built for the 1962 World’s Fair, it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi when it opened. About 1.1× the height of the Washington Monument. Source ↗

189 m

Roman Colosseum length / span

Roman Colosseum: The ancient amphitheatre is roughly 189 metres along its longest axis. About 1.8× the length of the Hollywood Sign. Source ↗

192 m

Gateway Arch height

Gateway Arch: St Louis’s Gateway Arch is as wide as it is tall. Practically the same height as the Space Needle. Source ↗

330 m

Eiffel Tower height

Eiffel Tower: The Eiffel Tower reaches about 330 metres including its antenna. About 1.7× the height of the Gateway Arch. Source ↗

443.2 m

Empire State Building height

Empire State Building: It reaches 443.2 metres to the tip of its antenna. About 1.3× the height of the Eiffel Tower. Source ↗

828 m

Burj Khalifa height

Burj Khalifa: At 828 metres, Burj Khalifa is the tallest completed building. About 1.9× the height of the Empire State Building. Source ↗

2.7 km

Golden Gate Bridge length / span

Golden Gate Bridge: The full bridge is 2.737 kilometres from abutment to abutment. About 14× the length of the Roman Colosseum. Source ↗

PLAY IT

Play the Landmarks set

Reading the numbers is one thing; sizing them by eye against a reference silhouette is another.

The daily puzzle mixes every category, so these objects turn up there at random. For a set built only from them, Unlimited deals five of them at a time, as often as you like. Unlimited is practice: it is unranked and never touches the daily leaderboard. New to the game? How to play covers the rules and the 0–500 scoring in two minutes.

KEEP GOING

Other categories

Every category has its own page of measured sizes. Landmarks and space produce the biggest scale shocks; sports and everyday objects are the fairest places to calibrate your eye.