5 things to know about the New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square
NEW YORK -- As New York City prepares for the 2025 New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square, it's time to test your knowledge about the holiday tradition.
Here's a closer look at how it all comes together, plus a look back at how it started and evolved over the years.
The iconic crystal ball
The 12-foot ball that descends to ring in the new year weighs 11,875 pounds and is covered in 2,688 crystal triangles and 32,256 LEDs.
Organizers say it can display more than 16 million colors and billions of patterns to create a kaleidoscope effect.
For the first time ever, members of the public helped unscrew last year's crystals and replace them with new ones for 2025, and then they got to keep the triangles. Next year, organizers plan to make it a ticketed event atop One Times Square.
Confetti wishes and cleanup
More than 1 ton of confetti will rain down on Times Square when the clock strikes midnight.
In the days leading up, it's a tradition for New Yorkers and tourists alike to stop by and write their wishes for the new year on the pieces of paper.
Once the celebration is over, Sanitation crews will quickly get to work removing the mountains of confetti.
History of Times Square celebration
New York City's famed New Year's Eve celebration dates back to 1904, when the city commemorated the opening of The New York Times' new headquarters, the Times Tower. Organizers say the newspaper's owner, Adolph Ochs, had successfully lobbied to have the surrounding area renamed from Longacre Square to what is now called Times Square.
The inaugural celebration featured a street festival and fireworks that were set off from the base of the building. Two years later, the city banned the fireworks, but Ochs lowered an illuminated wooden ball from a flagpole atop the tower to signal the new year.
In 1942 and 1943, the ball drop was replaced with a moment of silence followed by chimes due to a wartime "dimout" of lights in the city.
One Times Square takes center stage
The building where the ball drops sits at the intersection of Seventh Avenue, Broadway and 42nd Street. It was once the second tallest building in Manhattan and has four sub-basements.
The New York Times left the building and relocated to West 43rd Street in 1914, but the newspaper retained ownership of the tower until 1961, when it was sold to a developer and transformed into the headquarters for the Allied Chemical Corporation.
The building now houses a visitor center, venue and viewing deck with 360-degree views of the ball drop.
"Time-balls" around the world
Times Square isn't the only place that marks time with the dropping of a ball. Organizers say the first "time-ball" was recorded at England's Royal Observatory in 1833. It marked 1 p.m. every day, so nearby ship captains could calibrate their navigation tools.
The practice lives on today at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., where a time-ball descends from a flagpole at noon each day.
See our full guide for everything to know about the 2025 New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square.
