A fair game to decide who pays — for coffee, lunch or the bill

Who buys the coffee? Who covers the next round? Rock-paper-scissors is quick for two people but drags on with six, and nobody wants to draw a ladder on a napkin. So people look for a game on the phone.

What makes a good who-pays game

• Everyone watches — if one person spins in private and announces "it's you", doubt lingers even when nothing was wrong.
• You do not know until the end — if the answer is obvious in three seconds, the rest is dull.
• No room for a redo — one round, done.

Settle it with a race

Put the names into Race Roulette and press Start; the characters run laps of a track. The result is drawn fairly before the start, and the race shows it — so lane position or luck on the track changes nothing.

It still keeps everyone watching to the end: runners finish 0.2–0.6 seconds apart, often close enough to need a photo finish; the lead changes more than ten times a race; and one race in three is decided in the last three seconds.

• Agree first whether last place pays or the winner pays.
• 2 to 12 people. It runs in the phone's browser with nothing to install.
• Put one phone in the middle of the table and watch it together.

Make last time's payer less likely

With equal odds, whoever paid last week can lose again. If that feels wrong, use weights. With a last-place-pays rule, give last time's payer more boosters: more boosters mean a better chance of finishing near the front, and so a smaller chance of coming last.

Boosters are drawn on screen, so nobody can claim someone got a quiet favour. The odds are exactly your weight ÷ the sum of all weights — the details are in how to run a draw people will accept.

Rules that keep it friendly

• State the rule — who pays, whether it is split — before the start.
• Once there is a result, no re-runs.
• Keep the stakes at a level where everyone laughs. A coffee is about right.

Open Race Roulette