Closest Guess Wins
How many bones are in your body? How tall is the Eiffel Tower? Everyone writes a secret number and the closest guess wins. Nobody needs to know the answer, so it is fair for all ages, and the real answers are half the fun.
🎂 Ages 8+👥 2-30 players⏱️ 10-15 minutes🧰 Paper and a pen for each player
What you need
Equipment: Paper and a pen for each player. Use the printable questions below, or write your own questions with an exact number as the answer (distances, heights, years, amounts). Give each player paper and a pen.
How to play Closest Guess Wins
- Read a question out loud, for example: "How many bones are in an adult human body?"
- Everyone writes a number in secret without saying it out loud.
- After 20 seconds, call "Reveal!" and everyone holds up their paper.
- Write all the guesses on a board.
- Reveal the real answer.
- Work out who was closest. The smallest difference wins, whether the guess was too high or too low.
- Move on to the next question.
Scoring and wrapping up
Scoring: Closest guess: 3 points. Second closest: 1 point. Exactly right: 5 points. A guess more than 10 times off: minus 1 point.
To finish: After 12-15 questions, add up the points and crown the Estimation Champion. Finish with a question about the group itself, like "How old are all of us added together?"
By age
- Ages 8-10: stick to small, familiar numbers like legs, days and keys on a piano.
- Ages 11 and up: use big numbers, years and distances.
Variations
- Big group: play in teams, where each team must agree on one number.
- Buga twist: before the reveal, each player can bet "higher" or "lower" than another player's guess for a bonus point.
Tips for the adult in charge
- Mix easy and hard questions. The surprise of the real answer is half the fun.
- Share the fun fact behind each answer to turn the game into a mini lesson.
🖨️ Printable estimation questions
Read the question, let everyone guess, then reveal the answer after the line.
- How many bones are in an adult human body? | 206
- How many keys are on a standard piano? | 88
- How many days are in a leap year? | 366
- How tall is the Eiffel Tower, in meters, to its tip? | About 330
- In what year did people first walk on the Moon? | 1969
- How many minutes are in a day? | 1,440
- How many hearts does an octopus have? | 3
- How many teeth does an adult usually have? | 32
- How many countries are members of the United Nations? | 193
- How many squares are on a chessboard? | 64
- About how far is the Moon from Earth, in kilometers? | About 384,400
- How many states are in the USA? | 50
- In what year did the Titanic sink? | 1912
- How many seconds are in an hour? | 3,600
- How many strings does a standard guitar have? | 6
- How tall is Mount Everest, in meters? | About 8,849
- How many time zones does Russia have? | 11
- How long is a marathon, in kilometers? | 42.195
- How many sides does a stop sign have? | 8
- How many dots are on a pair of dice altogether? | 42
- In what year did the first iPhone come out? | 2007
- How many legs does a lobster have? | 10
- How many players from one team are on a soccer field at once? | 11
- How many weeks are in a year? | 52
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Frequently asked questions
What is an estimation game?
A game where players guess a number they do not know exactly, and the closest guess wins. It builds number sense and a feel for big and small quantities.
How do you decide who is closest?
Subtract each guess from the real answer and ignore the minus sign. The smallest difference wins.