GuessWell is an easy and fun way to play prediction games with friends and strangers. Anybody can create and join prediction games. Predictions can be about any topic whatsoever and over any time period, from long-term geopolitical and social predictions to medium-term political events, to sports and even to mundane events in daily life.
GuessWell is not a gambling site. Our service is free and no money changes hands between players on the site. Instead of real money games are played with virtual GuessCoins. We believe predictions can be fun and enjoyable even without the gambling aspect.
GuessCoins are like virtual money and are used to keep track of your prediction skills as you compete against other players. They have no real-world monetary value and can't be exchanged with real currency.
By entering a game on GuessWell each player deposits 10 GuessCoins into the game pool. When the game is settled the pool is distributed evenly among the winners.
GuessWorth is a measure of your prediction skills. It's the number of all your available GuessCoins plus all GuessCoins you currently have deposited in active games.
You can earn GuessCoins in a few different ways:
If you don't have enough coins you won't be able to join new games. You can, however earn coins by creating new games and inviting your friends to join it. Once the game is successfully settled you earn 1 bonus coin for each participating player.
Each game involves:
Anyone can create a game by visiting [guesswell.com](https://guesswell.com). Anyone with a link to the game page can join the game before the deadline, by selecting their prediction among the available choices. At the deadline players are automatically notified via email whether the game is on (active) or off (inconclusive). For the game to be on, there have to be at least two players predicting different choices.
At the expected resolution time, all players receive an email reminder to settle the game. Once a game is settled the GuessCoins in the game pool are distributed evenly among the winners, rounded up to the nearest whole number.
If the game is inconclusive deposited GuessCoins are returned to players.
Settlement is the process of determining the final outcome of the game.
Official GuessWell games are settled by GuessWell moderators so you won't have to take any action.
For other games, after the game becomes active (when at least two players have predicted different choices), you can initiate the settlement process as soon as the outcome becomes known to you. There are two types of settlement:
Each player votes for the known outcome. It's expected that each player votes honestly, regardless of what choice they had bet on. But we minimize the possibility of cheating by counting votes differently:
Each choice gets a settlement score. If a player votes for the same choice that they bet on, it counts as 1 settlement point for that choice. If a player votes for a choice different from what they bet on, it counts as 2 points for that choice. Once a choice has a settlement score that's equal or greater than the number of players, that choice is determined to be the final outcome and the game is considered settled.
If all players have voted and there's still no settlement, the game is considered disputed. If you think the outcome of the game is publicly known (for example, an election result or a sports game) you can email us at [settlements@guesswell.com](mailto:settlements@guesswell.com) and we'll try settling the game for you. In this case you'd be trusting us as unbiased 3rd party.