Closest Guess

About Closest Guess

Closest Guess is a guessing game played with questions whose answer is a number. Nobody is expected to know the exact figure; whoever gets closest to the right answer wins the round. That means common sense matters as much as knowledge, and everyone at the table has a real chance.

Who is it for?

It's a good pick for groups who like trivia but worry about "what if I don't know it?" Kids can play on equal terms with adults, because most of the time nobody knows the exact answer anyway. A few questions during a short break at work also get people talking.

How to play

Online room

1. Create a room and send the code to your friends.
2. A question appears; type your guess as a number before time runs out.
3. The right answer is revealed. The closest guess earns 1 point, and everyone who is equally close scores too.
4. When the questions are over, the player with the most points wins.

One phone

One person reads the question, and everyone says their guess out loud. The right answer is on the card, and the closest guess takes the round. No scoreboard is kept in this mode.

Solo

Pick how many questions and which pack, then enter a number for each question. The closer your guess, the more points you get; a perfect hit is worth 100 points. At the end you see your average accuracy and your record.

Rules

• In an online room, only the closest guess scores. There are no points for second place.
• If time runs out, your guess counts as empty.
• Science, Culture, History, Records and Fun are free. Space, Body and Animals are locked.

Tips

• When you don't know, start from a measure you do know. One floor of a building is about three meters, so thinking of a tower in floors helps.
• Read the unit twice. Writing meters for a question that asks for centimeters wastes a good guess.
• In solo mode, avoid wild guesses. The accuracy score rewards steady play.

Example questions

• In what year did the French Revolution begin?
• At roughly how many kilometers above the ground does the Hubble Space Telescope orbit?
• Roughly how many thousand different products does a supermarket sell?
• Roughly how many centimeters wide is the palm of an adult?
• In what year did the world population first reach 1 billion?

There are more on the Closest Guess questions page.

FAQ

How many players?

You can play solo. An online room is free for two to eight players, and a Premium room in the app holds twenty. In one-phone mode, everyone at the table can guess out loud.

Is it free?

Yes, it's free in your browser with no account. The three locked packs need Premium in the app.

Do I need a phone?

In an online room, every player types their guess on their own device. In solo and one-phone modes, one phone, tablet or computer is enough.