The Guesstimate Game
A detective or lawyer asks you questions about the crime or accident you’ve just seen or experienced.
How close to accurate can you provide the information?
This is an engaging, intergenerational and learning activity that is a valuable skill developer and fun for everyone.
It’s great thing to do when traveling or as an alternative to a board game with any number of people or when just spending time with the kids in your life.
Having a tape measure, clock, measuring cups, digital scale, digital thermometer or artist’s color wheel makes it easier to see who came closest to the right answer.
Hearing the diversity of answers makes it clear that both kids and adults can improve their skills.
Don’t forget English and metric measurements.
From Dave Savage – see my website and contact me for other meaningful, valuable & fun, things to know and do. DaveSavage.com 404 323-8686 dave@davesavage.com
speed - How fast were they going? How fast are you going now?
When traveling in your vehicle, guesstimate your own speed or the speed of other vehicles around. When watching vehicles go by, guesstimate how fast they are traveling.
distance - How far away is it? How long is it? You can use a ruler, yardstick, tape measure, a surveyor’s wheel or one of the new hand held laser measuring tools used by interior designers. It's helpful to measure and remember the length of your body parts for an approximate length of an object. (two elbow to finger tips plus an index finger and thumb nail or maybe 3 outstretched arms fingertip to fingertip.) Most people’s height is close to their outstretched arms distance.How far do you think it is between those two objects?
height - How tall are they? How high in the sky was it? The how tall game is fun to do in public spaces and perhaps in a line of people waiting to do something. Everyone will tell you their height after you guesstimate what you think it is.
age of people - How old do you estimate they are? This can more easily be done with men than women. You have to explain to kids that most people look older or younger than there actual age and that grooming can make a big difference in perception. With young children you can first educate hem in what people look like in decades. Are they in their 30’s or 50’s? What are some signs of decade differences? Without getting the answer, a group of people can compare guesstimates from the pictures in magazines and on TV.
age of things - Determining the age of things takes some study and comparisons. When do you call something an antique. Is it really old or just made to look old? What are some signs of real age in a particular category of objects?
weight - How much do you think someone weighs? What do various objects weigh? Objects can be put on a scale to check. Truck drivers carrying a load on their flatbed trailer often know the weight of their cargo, so this is a thing you can play at truck stops and rest areas where trucks congregate.
Most people are sensitive about their weight and don’t want to know what others think it is if they are heavy or thin.
If people look physically fit they are more likely to tell you if you ask. For the weight of people I suggest having your guess be on pieces of paper, rather than spoken to them. You’re at the grocery store, ask the kids to guess the weight of things. Get a small digital scale and have group fun when you have each person guess the weight of objects before putting it on the scale. Who is closest?
English and metric.
angle - What angle is it in degrees? Having a drawing protractor and a ruler is needed to test your guesstimates
time – How much time has gone by since the beginning? How long ago did it happen? This is another tough thing for everyone to estimate, especially if you are mentally engaged in some activity. Every cell phone has a built-in stopwatch.
Push start and then ask people to raise their hand when they think certain amounts of time have gone by or stop the watch at a certain time and ask people to write down how much time they think has gone by.
volume - how much will that container hold? How much is in that container? How do various size containers affect our ability to guess the volume inside? English and Metric
temperature –-what is-was the temperature outside or inside? How does bright sunshine or a breeze affect your perception?
Most people have a very limited vocabulary to describe the temperature in a room or outside or how they feel.
color - What is an approximate name for that color? Get an artist’s color wheel to test and increase your color vocabulary.
Is it most accurately called pastel blue, baby blue, royal blue, teal, aqua marine or something else?
brightness –-What are the descriptive words between pitch black, dim and bright?
force – How many pounds of force was pushing or pulling on the object in question or you? What is the measurement of force of someone poking you in the chest? What was the pulling force of people pulling on a rope? There is a pulling gage for that to check. What do the weights of different Pounds Per Square inch feel like?
circumference - First you have to guesstimate the diameter of the round object and then multiply x 3 for a rough estimate. If the object has flat sides you have to add up all of those estimates. If it’s an oval or other combination of shapes, that will take some calculations
number of things we see - Without counting, how many people are in the audience or at the event? How many horses are in the field you are passing? How many peas are on your plate? How fast can you come up with an approximation?
Price and value to you and others (new and used) – Though this category is less likely to be asked by the detective or lawyer, it is one of the most frequent guesstimates we make. We gather reference information over time. Compare your guess on everything you see. Obviously stores and advertisements provide one way to measure. Whenever you go to a yard sale or flea market, our heads swimming in these figures. Is it worth it to me? Is it worth it to a knowledgeable collector? Someone just threw it away; should I get it for myself or to sell?
A detective or lawyer asks you questions about the crime or accident you’ve just seen or experienced.
How close to accurate can you provide the information?
This is an engaging, intergenerational and learning activity that is a valuable skill developer and fun for everyone.
It’s great thing to do when traveling or as an alternative to a board game with any number of people or when just spending time with the kids in your life.
Having a tape measure, clock, measuring cups, digital scale, digital thermometer or artist’s color wheel makes it easier to see who came closest to the right answer.
Hearing the diversity of answers makes it clear that both kids and adults can improve their skills.
Don’t forget English and metric measurements.
From Dave Savage – see my website and contact me for other meaningful, valuable & fun, things to know and do. DaveSavage.com 404 323-8686 dave@davesavage.com
speed - How fast were they going? How fast are you going now?
When traveling in your vehicle, guesstimate your own speed or the speed of other vehicles around. When watching vehicles go by, guesstimate how fast they are traveling.
distance - How far away is it? How long is it? You can use a ruler, yardstick, tape measure, a surveyor’s wheel or one of the new hand held laser measuring tools used by interior designers. It's helpful to measure and remember the length of your body parts for an approximate length of an object. (two elbow to finger tips plus an index finger and thumb nail or maybe 3 outstretched arms fingertip to fingertip.) Most people’s height is close to their outstretched arms distance.How far do you think it is between those two objects?
height - How tall are they? How high in the sky was it? The how tall game is fun to do in public spaces and perhaps in a line of people waiting to do something. Everyone will tell you their height after you guesstimate what you think it is.
age of people - How old do you estimate they are? This can more easily be done with men than women. You have to explain to kids that most people look older or younger than there actual age and that grooming can make a big difference in perception. With young children you can first educate hem in what people look like in decades. Are they in their 30’s or 50’s? What are some signs of decade differences? Without getting the answer, a group of people can compare guesstimates from the pictures in magazines and on TV.
age of things - Determining the age of things takes some study and comparisons. When do you call something an antique. Is it really old or just made to look old? What are some signs of real age in a particular category of objects?
weight - How much do you think someone weighs? What do various objects weigh? Objects can be put on a scale to check. Truck drivers carrying a load on their flatbed trailer often know the weight of their cargo, so this is a thing you can play at truck stops and rest areas where trucks congregate.
Most people are sensitive about their weight and don’t want to know what others think it is if they are heavy or thin.
If people look physically fit they are more likely to tell you if you ask. For the weight of people I suggest having your guess be on pieces of paper, rather than spoken to them. You’re at the grocery store, ask the kids to guess the weight of things. Get a small digital scale and have group fun when you have each person guess the weight of objects before putting it on the scale. Who is closest?
English and metric.
angle - What angle is it in degrees? Having a drawing protractor and a ruler is needed to test your guesstimates
time – How much time has gone by since the beginning? How long ago did it happen? This is another tough thing for everyone to estimate, especially if you are mentally engaged in some activity. Every cell phone has a built-in stopwatch.
Push start and then ask people to raise their hand when they think certain amounts of time have gone by or stop the watch at a certain time and ask people to write down how much time they think has gone by.
volume - how much will that container hold? How much is in that container? How do various size containers affect our ability to guess the volume inside? English and Metric
temperature –-what is-was the temperature outside or inside? How does bright sunshine or a breeze affect your perception?
Most people have a very limited vocabulary to describe the temperature in a room or outside or how they feel.
color - What is an approximate name for that color? Get an artist’s color wheel to test and increase your color vocabulary.
Is it most accurately called pastel blue, baby blue, royal blue, teal, aqua marine or something else?
brightness –-What are the descriptive words between pitch black, dim and bright?
force – How many pounds of force was pushing or pulling on the object in question or you? What is the measurement of force of someone poking you in the chest? What was the pulling force of people pulling on a rope? There is a pulling gage for that to check. What do the weights of different Pounds Per Square inch feel like?
circumference - First you have to guesstimate the diameter of the round object and then multiply x 3 for a rough estimate. If the object has flat sides you have to add up all of those estimates. If it’s an oval or other combination of shapes, that will take some calculations
number of things we see - Without counting, how many people are in the audience or at the event? How many horses are in the field you are passing? How many peas are on your plate? How fast can you come up with an approximation?
Price and value to you and others (new and used) – Though this category is less likely to be asked by the detective or lawyer, it is one of the most frequent guesstimates we make. We gather reference information over time. Compare your guess on everything you see. Obviously stores and advertisements provide one way to measure. Whenever you go to a yard sale or flea market, our heads swimming in these figures. Is it worth it to me? Is it worth it to a knowledgeable collector? Someone just threw it away; should I get it for myself or to sell?