🔢 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.
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.
- Capy 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
Questions and answers
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.