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Game & Format

The Auction Dinner

Everyone gets $100 of fake money. Through the night the host auctions things off — first choice of dessert, a bottle of wine, a mystery prize, an anonymous secret, the next dinner invitation. People get startlingly competitive over nonsense. The bidding war is the show.

Friends+ Medium group Any season Medium effort
Deepen friendships
PurposeFind out what people actually value when they have to put a number on it — even if the currency is fake.
VoteThe bidding itself is the vote — highest price wins each lot.
RevealThe mystery lot is the closer: whatever the host hid for last, auctioned with no description.
Run of show

What it's for

Find out what people actually value when they have to put a number on it — even if the currency is fake.

The guest's job

Manage your $100 of fake money across every auction; save too much and you miss the things that matter.

The vote

The bidding itself is the vote — highest price wins each lot.

The reveal

The mystery lot is the closer: whatever the host hid for last, auctioned with no description.

Food & drink spine

A proper dinner the host cooks; the auction runs between courses so the pacing builds.

Conversation fuel

"What did you overbid on, and what did that tell you about yourself?"

How it flops — steer around it

Boring lots. The auction is only as good as what’s on the block; at least one item must have genuine scarcity.

A bespoke dinner-party concierge. Vote with conviction; bring something defensible. Themes · Playbook