Side Bets · a Play Along round
Side Bets is the game that runs underneath everything else. Every guest gets a balance of play money on their phone and bets on what happens next on stage: will the team clear the row of cards, will the survey answer be on the board, who makes the final. Bets lock before the answer, the winners share the losers’ stakes, and the balance carries all evening. By the end of the night the richest table has a very loud opinion of itself.
Think of a race night where the runners are your colleagues on stage.
How a round plays
Side Bets needs something to bet on, which is why it sits on top of the stage games. It turns the two teams at the board into a spectator sport for everyone else.
Will Table 6 clear the whole row of cards?
Yes or no, on every phone. Pick a side, set your stake with the slider, or go all in if you have seen Table 6 play before.
Before the team on stage makes their call, I lock the bets. The room’s odds appear on the big screen: sixty-seven per cent think they clear it. Now the stage game has three hundred people who care.
The team plays. The card flips. Half the room groans and the other half is on its feet, and none of it needed a single extra minute in the running order.
I settle the bet in one tap. The losing stakes go into a pool and the winners share it in proportion to what they staked. Your phone tells you if you won, and by how much.
The balance stays with you all night. Hit zero and you are quietly topped back up so nobody drops out. The richest player and the richest table are the leaderboard at the end.
On the big screen
Side Bets runs on two screens at once: the big screen the whole room watches, and the phone in every guest’s hand. Both are my own software, built for live events and run from one control screen at the front.
Three ways to play
Every game I run can be played three ways, and I pick the way that suits the room, the timings and the layout on the night: as a show at the front, table against table, or with every single guest playing on their own phone. Mix them across an evening and nobody spends the night watching.
As a show
The way it was designed. Two teams play a big-screen game at the front, and the other two hundred and ninety guests bet on every call from their seats. The stage game gets an audience that actually cares, and nobody is waiting for their turn.
Best for: any night with stage games in itAt the tables
Each table plays as one bank: one phone, a shared balance, and a table argument about every stake. Wins and losses land on the table, and the table leaderboard at the end of the night is the only one anyone talks about at the bar.
Best for: conference dinners with set tablesOn the app
The native version. Every guest has their own balance from the moment they scan the code, bets open and close around whatever is happening on stage, and the leaderboard runs from arrival to carriages. Late arrivals are picked up automatically.
Best for: Christmas parties and whole-company nightsBuilt for the room
I customise every game for the audience in front of me: the questions, the answers, and the way I present them. The same format is a completely different show for a room of graduates in their twenties and a room of chief executives, and it should be. I write for the people who will actually be there, then I speak into the listening on the night: I read what the room is giving back and change gear to match it.
Higher or lower?
Will she pass?
Does the boss get this?A new bet every couple of minutes.
Will the room say meetings or notifications?
Which of the finalists plays it safe?Bets that reward reading people.
Send me the year’s stories, the in-jokes, the departments and the industry. The rounds are built from them, so the answers land in a way no off-the-shelf pack ever can.
The words on the screen are half of it. How I present them is the rest, and I pitch the pace, the teasing and the tone to the room that has turned up, not the one on the brief.
Eight hundred events across festivals, awards, conferences and dinners means I have hosted every kind of room. If the mood is not what anyone expected, I change the style on the spot, and often the questions too.
In the running order
Underneath everything. It opens with the first stage game and settles for the last time before the winners are announced.
No extra time in the running order. A bet takes thirty seconds to place, and it locks before the stage team answers.
Anything with a call to make: Play Your Cards Right, Family Fortunes and the finalists in The 1% Club.
All sixteen games
Five rounds the whole room plays on their phones, nine big-screen games with teams at the board, and two that need no screen at all: a phone on a forehead, and a coin. The screen games are all my own software, run from one screen, so I can switch format the moment the room needs a lift. Tap any game to see exactly how it plays.
Vote with the room, score for matching it
How it plays →On your phone
Three stories, one true, the room decides
How it plays →On your phone
A knockout quiz down to the last few standing
How it plays →On your phoneThis page
Play money on what happens next on stage
You are hereOn your phone
Everyone answers, the lowest scores are cut
How it plays →Big screen
Two teams, one survey board, three strikes
How it plays →Big screen
Categories, buzzers and picture rounds
How it plays →Big screen
Higher or lower on a row of giant cards
How it plays →Big screen
Fill the gap, match the room’s funniest answers
How it plays →Big screen
A hidden phrase, one letter at a time
How it plays →Big screen
Describe it without saying it, against the clock
How it plays →Big screen
The whole room up, hunting and mixing
How it plays →Big screen
The conveyor belt of prizes to remember
How it plays →Big screen
Rave bingo with dance breaks and forfeits
How it plays →No screen needed
Charades with a phone on your forehead, table against table
How it plays →No screen needed
One coin, the whole room on its feet, one winner
How it plays →Almost all of these can be played as a show, at the tables or on the app, and the questions are written around your company before the night. Not sure which mix suits your event? Tell me the room and I will suggest a running order.
For the venue and IT
What clients say
Kevin recently hosted a company corporate event and proved to be the consummate professional throughout the evening. He has the unique ability to read a room and keep everyone happy.
Kevin hosted our staff conference event this year which was fantastic. He brought an energy and enthusiasm with him and played a really important part in getting people engaged in the day.
Thank you Kevin for hosting our Christmas party in December 2025. The team had an amazing time. We really liked the intertwining of awards and the game. Everyone had a brilliant time and Kevin was fantastic.
Good to know
None. Everyone starts with a balance of play money, in chips, points or a currency named after your company, and it is only ever a leaderboard. It gives the stage games stakes without anyone reaching for a wallet.
Like a sweepstake. When a bet settles, the losing stakes form a pool and everyone who backed the winner shares it in proportion to how much they staked. Back the outsider with a big stake and you can win a lot; back the favourite and you win a little.
You are topped back up to a small balance automatically, so nobody sits out and nobody has to ask. It rewards the brave without punishing them for the whole night.
Whatever is happening on stage: whether a team clears the cards, whether an answer is on the survey board, who buzzes first, who makes the final of the knockout quiz. I write the bets to fit the games in your night, and I can open a new one live if something worth betting on happens.
No. Betting opens while the stage game is being set up and locks before the team answers. It sits in the corner of the big screen rather than taking it over.
The whole room. It has been tested with three hundred phones betting at once, and late arrivals are added automatically with a starting balance.
Fees are quoted individually for the date, the venue and the length of the show. Send the numbers and the running order and I will send a quote.
Enquiries
Tell me the date, the venue, rough numbers and which games you fancy on stage. I will confirm availability and send a quote with Side Bets running underneath.
