A prediction game asks players to call the outcome of a real event before it happens: the score of a match, the winner of a race stage, where a golf ball lands. Accurate calls earn points or prizes. For a brand, usually a sponsor, it gives fans a reason to return for every fixture.
How it works
Wikipedia defines a prediction game as one that lets users guess at the outcome of future events, with points for the most accurate predictions. Every round has the same rhythm: make your call before a lock time, watch the real event, then see points land and your place on the leaderboard move.
Brand predictors take three shapes. Pre-event picks: the winner of each match in a weekly pick'em, a final score, or a whole tournament bracket filled in before the first game. In-play calls during a broadcast: in Heineken's Star Player, a prompt popped up as the action built and fans chose goal, save, wide or cleared, scoring more for a fast right answer. Closest guess: KLM asked players where a high-altitude balloon would burst. Scoring can also reward confidence, as in the CFL's Pick 'Em.
Where brands use it
Live-sport sponsors use it to turn rights into something fans do. Heineken built Star Player around the UEFA Champions League, Skoda its Tour du Sofa around the Tour de France, and Comcast Business its golf game around THE PLAYERS Championship. Águila let fans at home pick the stadium section where a ball would fly into the stands in Stadium Roulette.
Leagues sell sponsorship of their own predictors: the NHL's bracket has been presented by Jägermeister and Expedia, and in 2026 the lottery operator Allwyn got a branded league inside F1 Predict, Sportcal reported. TV works too: Vodafone's HomeCoach had viewers of The Voice of Holland call the coaches' choices. Browse entertainment and food and drink games with an engagement objective, or sponsor campaigns in our playable marketing examples.
When it fits
It fits a brand that owns or sponsors a calendar of uncertain moments: a season, a tournament, a live show. Each fixture is a built-in reminder, so the game earns return visits without new media. A London lifestyle title ran The Armchair Managers' Club through Euro 2020 and, according to its developer, saw 72% returning visitors over the tournament.
The audience is fans who already hold opinions, so one tap per match is enough. Run it in the mobile browser beside the broadcast, as a second-screen game. Registration builds a list worth keeping: Pick 'Em gave the CFL an identifiable, marketable fan base. Private leagues among friends spread the game. Prizes by round or week keep late joiners playing.
When not to use it
Skip it without a live calendar. Off-season there is nothing to call: Águila's page now shows an end-of-season placeholder with an inactive entry button. A trivia game runs in any week and teaches more when the message is the product, not the event.
Expect most calls to be wrong. Only 15% of Tour du Sofa's stage-winner predictions in roughly its first ten days were right. In 2019, 48.62% of early NHL brackets picked Tampa Bay to win the Stanley Cup (NHL); Columbus swept the Lightning in the first round (Wikipedia). Plan partial points and restarts, like the NHL's Second Chance Bracket.
Without sponsorship rights, check official marks with counsel: a FIFA World Cup 26 host-city toolkit tells businesses not to use tournament logos, wordmarks or mascots in promotions unless legally permitted.
Examples from the library
Tour Du Sofa — Skoda (2012)
Agency: ACHTUNG!, WebHare · Platform: App and web, alongside RTL Nederland's Tour de France coverage
Viewers opened the game on an iPad as a stage began, chose to race Facebook friends or the whole country, and called what came next: who would take the intermediate sprint, what would happen on the climb, who would win the stage. Real incidents, such as a crash or a cow on the road, popped up too, and quick reactions scored. The week's top players played live in the RTL 4 studio; the grand prize included a Skoda Citigo.
Result: The game drew 290,000 visitors, 12,000 of whom downloaded it and played actively, and players averaged 1.5 hours at a stretch, according to developer WebHare. In roughly the first ten days, players made more than 50,000 stage-winner predictions, 15% of them correct (Fonk, 12 July 2012).
Bracket Challenge — NHL (2017)
Agency: ExpandTheRoom · Platform: Web and the NHL App
Fans registered before the playoff field was set, then picked the winner of every series through the Stanley Cup Final, plus the number of games in each first-round series. Brackets locked once the games began. Players joined private Bracket Leagues with friends or rivals and followed a live leaderboard against their league and the world. Fans whose picks collapsed early could enter a Second Chance Bracket for the rest of the playoffs.
Result: The agency's case study counts more than 926,000 brackets submitted. The league reported more than 1.42 million brackets in the initial 2019 challenge, presented by Jägermeister, and about 1.33 million in 2026, presented by Expedia.
Game The Green — Comcast (2025)
Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners · Platform: Mobile web at THE PLAYERS Championship
At the island-green 17th hole of TPC Sawgrass, spectators opened a page in their phone browser and, before each tee shot, called where the ball would finish: on the green, in the water, in the rough or close to the pin. Odds built from 20 years of PGA TOUR history and the day's conditions guided each call; the real landing spot appeared seconds after the shot. Points fed a leaderboard with daily prizes and a grand-prize trip to TPC Sawgrass.
Result: Fans made 7,200+ predictions over 128+ hours of play, with an average session of 16 minutes. The campaign also reports 69,000,000+ earned-media impressions and 3.2x year-on-year growth in leads from its THE PLAYERS enterprise site, according to the awards case study in The Drum.
FAQ
Is a prediction game gambling?
It depends on the entry terms and the country. In Great Britain, a contest that players pay to enter and that rewards accurate guesses about an event counts as a bet, and guessing includes "predicting using skill or judgment" (Gambling Act 2005, s. 11). The Gambling Commission's 2009 guidance cites fantasy football as the kind of prediction competition regulated as betting. Check with counsel before launch.
Is a prediction game the same as fantasy sports?
No, though both run on real results. In fantasy sports, players assemble virtual teams of real athletes and score from those athletes' statistics in actual games. A prediction game scores the calls themselves: who wins, the final score, the next moment. Some leagues offer both; the CFL ran Pick 'Em next to its fantasy game.
What is a colour prediction game?
Something different. Colour prediction apps take real-money bets on which colour comes up next; The News Minute reported in 2021 that scammers often use them to draw in victims. In August 2025 India's Parliament passed a bill banning the offer of online money games, whether skill, chance or both decide them (PRS Legislative Research). Brand prediction games turn on real events instead.