New year predictions for friends: how to run the game

How does a New Year predictions game work?

Everyone answers the same questions about the coming year, in private. The answers are sealed until the next New Year. At the reveal, the group reads each answer, decides whether it came true, and counts points. The winner gets bragging rights and nothing else.

The sealed part is what makes it a game. If answers are visible, people copy each other and edit their guesses.

What rules keep it fun?

Agree on these before anyone writes.

• Answers must be checkable by next year (a place, a number, a name).
• One guess per question and no edits after sealing.
• Skip health, money and relationship breakups.
• The group judges disputed answers together.
• Nothing is at stake except pride.

What do I need to run the game?

Very little. Prepare these before the guests arrive.

• A list of ten to fifteen questions, printed or on one phone.
• One keeper for the answers, a person or a single phone.
• A reveal date that everyone has put in their calendar.
• A rule for disputes, agreed in advance.
• Ten quiet minutes before midnight, when people are still sharp enough to think.

Which questions work well?

Mix the world, the group and each person.

• Which city will I live in by next New Year?
• Who in this group will move first?
• Our next trip together will be to...
• The group chat's word of the year will be...
• The song everyone will be sick of is...
• One app I will delete is...
• A thing I will finally finish is...
• Who will be the first to get a pet?
• The movie we will argue about is...
• The price of a coffee near me will be...
• My phone wallpaper next year will show...
• A skill I will have learned is...
• Who will still be late to every plan?
• The biggest news in my work will be...
• The thing I will say "I called it" about is...

Which kinds of questions make the best reveals?

Three kinds cover most groups, and Sealday's prompt packs follow the same split. The year ahead asks about each person's life, such as "The biggest change in my life this year will be…" or "A habit I will start:". About each other asks about the group, such as "Who in this group will move cities first?" or "Our next trip together will be to…". The world asks about things everyone can look up later, such as "The most talked-about movie of the year will be…" or "The meme we will still be quoting next year:".

Use all three. World questions are the easiest to judge, group questions start the best arguments, and personal questions are the ones people remember.

How do I score it?

Give one point for Called it, half a point for Kind of and none for a miss. Ties are fine and are shared. Sealday uses exactly this scoring for Tables. For a deeper method with confidence levels, see how to score your predictions.

What should the winner get?

Keep prizes cheap and silly so nobody plays for the wrong reasons.

• Choosing the film, the restaurant or the music at next year's party.
• A paper crown for the evening.
• The first question on next year's list is theirs to write.
• Their name in the group chat title for a week.

How do we keep the answers sealed?

A notebook works if one person keeps it and nobody peeks. A phone does it better. In a Sealday Table, each guest answers on the host's phone, and every entry is sealed separately with a time lock tied to the reveal date. Guests who are away can send their entry back by link.

Whatever you use, agree on the reveal date, and put it in everyone's calendar.

What about the reveal?

Do it in person if you can. Read the answers out one question at a time and let the group vote on disputes. In Sealday, the host holds the seal to break it, flips each answer card, grades it, and posts the leaderboard as a card. One button starts next year's Table with the same names.

What if a friend cannot be there?

Send them an invite link. In Sealday a guest who is elsewhere installs the app, writes their answers on their own iPhone and sends a return link that begins with sealday.app/te. The host taps it, and the entry joins the Table still sealed. The host can also paste the link into the app by hand.

Remote guests write in the app, so ask them early. Do not leave it to the last evening. A free Table holds up to four people, and Sealday Plus raises that to 20, paid for by the host only.

How do we keep it kind?

Guesses about other people should be light. A good test is whether the person would laugh if the guess were read aloud at a wedding. Skip health, money and relationships, let anyone skip a question, and remember the leaderboard is for bragging rights only.

The starter questions in Sealday avoid those topics already. Add your own with the same filter.

What does a game night look like?

1. Pick the questions two days ahead and send them to the group.
2. On New Year's Eve, before midnight, collect answers one person at a time.
3. Seal everything with the reveal date.
4. At the reveal a year later, go question by question.
5. Count points, post the leaderboard and agree the date for the next round.

Which variations are worth trying?

A family version uses simpler questions, such as "How tall will I be?" or "What will be the new favorite food?". A team version uses work-neutral questions about tools, lunch spots and office events. A travel group can predict the weather, the best meal and who loses their phone first. In all cases, keep to things that are public or harmless, and let people skip any question.

How do we make sure people show up for the reveal?

Put the reveal in everyone's calendar the same night you seal. A year is long and plans drift. In Sealday, a guest who joined from the invite link can ask for their own reminder, and the host's phone gets a reveal-time notification on the day. Neither reminder needs an account.

A shared chat message two weeks before the date helps too. Name the day and the place, and say who brings the phone with the sealed Table on it.

Why do people like it?

The pleasure is mostly the reveal. Guesses that seemed sensible in December look strange or accurate in the following year, and the group remembers what the world was like. The game also works as a time capsule for the group itself, which is why the Tables feature stores each entry as its own sealed item.