Pick the Number: closest-guess scoring
Not every quiz answer is right or wrong — sometimes closer is just better. Pick the Number rewards proximity to a target value instead of requiring an exact match.
A lot of genuinely interesting quiz questions have a numeric answer that almost nobody will guess exactly — population figures, distances, prices, historical counts. Forcing those into a Select Answer or Type Answer slide either turns them into a multiple-choice guessing game or means almost everyone scores zero on a Type Answer slide for being one digit off. Pick the Number solves this by scoring on a sliding scale: the closer a guess lands to the number you set, the more points it earns, so a near-miss still counts for something.
This format also works well as a change of pace in the middle of a quiz session — a run of scored multiple-choice rounds can start to feel repetitive, and a Pick the Number slide asks for a different kind of thinking (estimation rather than recall) that tends to re-engage a room. It doubles as a genuinely fun icebreaker slide when the "quiz" framing isn't even the point.
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Add the slide
Select New Slide → Pick the Number under Quiz.
Coming Soon · ScreenshotThe New Slide panel with Pick the Number highlighted under the Quiz section.
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Ask an estimation question
Anything with one numeric answer works — for example, "How many U.N. member states are there?"
Coming Soon · ScreenshotThe Question field on the Pick the Number edit panel filled in with a sample estimation question.
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Set the target value
Enter the number guesses will be measured against — this stays hidden from participants until results are shown.
Coming Soon · ScreenshotThe target value field on the Pick the Number edit panel with a numeric answer entered.
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Set the time limit and points
Adjust how long participants have to submit a guess and the maximum points a dead-on answer can earn.
Coming Soon · ScreenshotThe slide settings panel showing time limit and maximum points controls for a Pick the Number slide.
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Review the spread of guesses
After presenting, open the results view to see exactly how close every guess landed to the target value.
Coming Soon · ScreenshotThe results view for Pick the Number, plotting every guess against the correct target value on a number line.
Scoring rewards closeness on a sliding scale — a guess dead-on earns the maximum, and points taper off the further off the mark someone lands, all the way down to zero for a guess far outside a reasonable range.
"How many jellybeans in the jar?" scores just as well as trivia — any question with a single numeric answer fits, no subject-matter expertise required.
Frequently asked questions
How exactly are points reduced for a guess that's off?
The reduction scales with how far the guess is from the target relative to the overall spread of guesses — a small miss loses only a little, while a wildly off guess earns close to zero.
Can two participants tie if they guess the same number?
Yes. If two people submit the identical guess, they receive identical points for that slide — ties are broken by cumulative score across the whole session, not by submission speed on this slide type.
Can I use decimals or only whole numbers?
Both the target value and participant guesses accept decimals, which is useful for questions like prices or measurements that aren't naturally whole numbers.
Is there a way to show the correct number before revealing everyone's guesses?
The target stays hidden until you choose to reveal results, at which point the correct value and the full spread of guesses appear together.