The answer is 16—not 13, and not 14. Counting from top to bottom, the five rows contain 2, 5, 2, 5, and 2 balls. Add those numbers together, and neither suggested answer survives. The empty spaces interrupt the arrangement, making a quick scan less reliable than it feels. A steadier approach is to move left to right across each row, counting every ball once before moving down. If your totals disagree, start over rather than forcing your count to match an option.
That is what makes this challenge satisfying: the
