How to Create Custom Event Games

📖 What are Custom Event Games?

Custom Event Games represent a flexible prediction game format that allows you to create engaging competitions around virtually any sporting event or scenario. Unlike our Match Quiz and Top X games that are tied to specific sports API data feeds, Custom Event Games give you complete creative control - you can manually create prediction games for football, basketball, hockey, cricket, rugby, esports, or any sport you can imagine, without being limited by available sports data integrations.

This game type is perfect for unique competitions, different types of sports, or whenever you want to ask custom prediction questions that go beyond standard football match markets. Create multi-question prediction experiences where users compete by accurately forecasting various aspects of an event, earning points for each correct answer.

💡 What makes Custom Event Games especially powerful is the manual settlement process: Since the game isn't connected to automated sports API data, you have full control over when the predictions will be settled. With just a simple click after entering the correct answers, you can instantly resolve the predictions for all participants - whether that's a few dozen people or hundreds or even thousands of players!

💡 Even better - mistakes are easily correctable: If you discover an error after settlement (wrong outcome entered, incorrect points assigned per market), you can simply edit the game outcomes or point values and re-settle the predictions. The system will automatically recalculate all user scores based on your corrections, giving you complete flexibility to ensure fair and accurate results.

Accessing Custom Event Game Creation

1. In the left sidebar of the management portal, navigate to the Manage section
2. Select Event Games from the menu
3. Click the blue Create button located at the top of the Event Games management page

Understanding the workflow: Creating and managing a Custom Event Game involves three main phases:

1. Entering basic game information - Set up your game's ID, title, description, and cutoff time
2. Defining fixtures - Create your prediction questions & configure answer types
3. Setting Correct Outcomes and Resolving Predictions - Enter the Correct Outcomes and with just a click, calculate and distribute points to all participants based on their predictions

Phase 1: Entering Basic Game Information

These fundamental settings define your event game and when users can participate.

ID

A unique identifier for your event game used for internal purposes (e.g., "liverpool-real-madrid-game", "nba-finals-predictions"). This is internal data only - end users will never see this ID. Choose something that will help you easily identify the game when working with APIs, retrieving data, or managing games in the backend. This cannot be changed after creation, so choose carefully.

Note: Users see the Title field, not the ID. The ID is purely for your technical and administrative reference.

Title

A clear and engaging name for your event game that tells users what they're predicting. Make it descriptive and exciting - for example: "Liverpool vs Real Madrid Clash" or "NBA Finals Championship Predictions".

Description

Provides context about the event. Explain what users will be predicting, why this event matters, and any other relevant information. Many clients also use this field to inform users about any rewards or prizes that will be given to top performers. While this field is optional, a good description significantly improves user engagement.

Cutoff Time

Set the deadline until when users can make their predictions in the event game. This must be set in the future when creating the game. Once this time passes, users can no longer submit or change their predictions. Typically, you'll want to set this to slightly before the event starts(e.g., 15 minutes before kickoff).

Important: If you attempt to set a cutoff time that's already in the past when creating the game, the system will not allow it and will return an API error to prevent invalid game configurations

Phase 2: Defining Fixtures (Prediction Questions)

The heart of your Custom Event Game - these are the individual prediction questions users will answer. You must create at least one fixture for your game to be valid. Click "Add Fixture" to create each question.

For each fixture/question, you'll configure:

Fixture ID

The ID is automatically generated by the system based on the question number. Your first question will have ID "1", your second question will have ID "2", and so on. You don't need to manually set this - the system handles it for you.

Question

The prediction question you're asking users. You have complete creative freedom here - create any question you want for any sport! Be clear and specific so users understand exactly what they're predicting.

Points

How many points this question is worth. You can assign different point values to make some questions more valuable than others based on difficulty.

Important note about editing points:

• ✅ You CAN add/change points while creating the game
• ✅ You CAN change points while the game is in "PENDING" status
• ❌ You CANNOT change points while the game is "OPEN" (accepting predictions)
• ✅ You CAN change points after the game is "SETTLED" and recalculate user scores

Status

Select the fixture status:

• Active: Question is visible and functional
• Void: Question is canceled (you must provide a void reason if selecting this)

Type

Choose the answer format for this question. This determines what kind of predictions users can make:

1. Yes/No (Boolean)

• Simple binary choice questions
• Example: "Will Manchester United win?"
• Users select either Yes or No
• No additional configuration needed

2. Numeric (Number)

• Questions requiring a numerical answer
• Example: "What will be the exact number of goals scored in the match?"
• Requires Valid Outcomes configuration:
  • Minimum value: The lowest acceptable number (e.g., 0)
  • Maximum value: The highest acceptable number (e.g., 20)
• Users must enter a number within this range

3. Specific option choice from predefined ones (Enum)

• Multiple choice questions with predefined options
• Example: "Who will score the first goal?"
• Requires Valid Outcomes configuration:
  • Options: Enter each possible answer and press Enter to add it
  • Example options: "Salah", "Mbappe", "No goal", "Own Goal"
• Users select one option from your list

4. Open text (Free Input)

• Free-form text answers where users can type anything
• Example: "What will be the final score?"
• No predefined format restrictions - users can enter any text they want
• Useful for very specific predictions or creative questions
• After the event, you'll provide the correct answer and the system will validate all user predictions against it

Phase 3: Setting Correct Outcomes and Resolving Predictions (After Cutoff Time)

Once your game's cutoff time has passed and the event has concluded, follow these steps to enter the correct answers and settle the game:

Step 1: Enter the Correct Outcomes

1. Navigate back to your Event Game in the management portal
2. For each fixture/question, you'll see a new option: "Configure the correct outcome for this fixture"
3. Toggle this option ON for each question
4. An "Outcome" field will appear based on the question type:
   • Yes/No questions: Select Yes or No
   • Numeric questions: Enter the correct number (must be within your min/max range)
   • Specific options: Select the correct option from your predefined list
   • Open text: Enter the correct answer as text

5. Click Save to save all the outcomes you've entered

   

Step 2: Resolve Predictions

After you've saved all the correct outcomes:

1. Navigate back to the Event Games page (where all your custom event games are listed)
2. Find your game in the list
3. Click on the "Resolve Predictions" button for that game
4. The system will automatically calculate and distribute points to all users based on their predictions and the correct outcomes you've entered

Instant settlement for all participants: With one click on "Resolve Predictions", all participants' predictions are resolved simultaneously - whether you have 10 players or 1,000 players!

Once the calculations are complete and everything is settled:

• The game's status will automatically change from OPEN to SETTLED
• A green success popup will appear at the top of the page confirming that predictions have been successfully resolved, showing the total number of resolved predictions

Correcting Mistakes After Settlement

The settlement feature isn't just for the initial resolution - it's also designed to fix mistakes that may arise after settlement.

Common scenario: You might initially enter outcomes based on data from one trusted provider, only to discover later that another provider's data is deemed the official or correct version. For example, one provider might report 8 corners in a match while another reports 9, or different sources might report slightly different statistics for the same event. Additionally, simple human error while entering outcomes can happen - perhaps you accidentally typed the wrong number or selected the wrong option from a dropdown.

When you need to correct outcomes after settlement:

1. Navigate back to your Event Game
2. Edit the incorrect outcome(s) or point values
3. Click Save to save your changes
4. Return to the Event Games page and click "Resolve Predictions" again
5. The system will automatically recalculate all user scores based on the corrections

This flexibility ensures you can maintain fair and accurate results, whether you're fixing a simple data entry error or aligning with the officially recognized statistics from the authoritative source for your sport.

⚙️ Additional Configuration

To the right of the main creation form, you'll find additional configuration options that allow you to customize your Custom Event Game further. These include settings for rules, images, custom fields and much more.

For detailed information about these additional configuration options, refer to the following resources:

📖 Learn about the shared configuration of our games - Ad content, Branding, Configuration, Context, Custom Fields, Flags, Images, Labels, Related Functionality, Rules & Scheduler

💡 Important Notes

• Always click Save to create or update your event game
• The prediction_cutoff must always be set in the future when creating a game
• Validate your outcome types and valid outcomes carefully before publishing
• You can create multiple event games with different configurations
• Games can be edited at any time, but some fixture configurations lock when the game status is OPEN (e.g. points config)

Further Reading

• Refer to our 📚 Event Games Related FAQs for everything you need to know
• Prefer to learn by watching? 📹 Refer to our Custom Event Games: Video Tutorials Library

📹 Complete Video Walkthrough