Closest Average
Land nearest the room's average
1
Everyone secretly picks a number from 0 to 99.
2
The average of all picks is calculated.
3
Whoever’s farthest from the average, drinks.
Farthest from the room average
Closest to the room average
Farthest from the room average
Others: depends on the result (-10 to 10)
Closest Average is a mind game with numbers. Everyone secretly picks anything from 0 to 99, the room's average is calculated, and the person farthest from it drinks. There is no right number, only a right guess about how everyone else is thinking. Rooms that play it a few times develop a shared instinct for where the average lands, and then someone deliberately breaks it, and the whole thing resets.
1
Fifty is the anchor, not the answer. A room full of people who all pick 50 produces an average of 50, so the game is really about who drifts, and by how much.
2
Extreme numbers are almost always the loser. Picking 3 or 97 only pays off if the room is wildly split, and it usually is not.
3
Think about the outliers. One person picking 99 drags the average up by several points in a small room, so if you know the table has a joker, lean a little high.
4
This game needs at least three players, because with two you are both the average and neither of you can be farther from it than the other.
1
Two-thirds rule: announce before the round that the target is two-thirds of the average instead of the average itself. It rewards players who think one step further than the table.
2
Banned zone: the table agrees that 40 to 60 is off limits, which forces everyone to commit to a side.
3
Say it out loud: after the reveal, each player explains their pick. Nobody drinks more, but the next round gets much sharper.
Closest Average is a guessing game about people, and the reveal is the payoff. It plays exactly the same for points only, and it is a good one for a mixed table where some players are drinking and some are driving.