The wait is over. The Estimation Game, a school favorite Morning Meeting tradition from last year, has been revived, rebranded and reloaded. Taking the reins this year are Andreas Szautner ‘26, Declan Dean ‘26 and Hugo Simonetti ‘26, a trio determined not just to replicate last year’s success, but to surpass it.
With a revamped strategy for question generation, production, and audience engagement, they’re launching what they call “Estimation Game 2.0.”
The first member of the team is Simonetti who is a highly technical editor. When asked about his approach to the editing process, and how he wants it to be done, he responds admirably.
“I take Honors Digital media here, and I made [many] videos last year. I just love doing it; it’s what I do and what I’m used to,” Simonetti said. “My passion is this; I work outside of school at Cardshop, and I want my successor to have the same work ethic and love for the process as me”
He spends around four hours per video, assuring videos are engaging and interesting.
“My goal is to make people laugh, and look forward to them,” Simonetti said.
The second member, Szautner, is the operator-in-chief of the Estimation Game.
“At the end of the week, we’ll come up with the idea. It’s usually defined four or five videos ahead of time,” Szautner said. “Delcan, Hugo and I will come up with jokes and interesting clips to make it entertaining.”
The third member, Dean, is the face of the game. His personality illustrates the imagination and originality of the production. He perfectly rounds out a premier team for the estimation game.
Next, Simonetti believes that keeping the EG as close as possible as previous years is the goal, although he is fine with changing elements as long as they keep the originality.
“As far as the base model of the game, we’re trying to recreate it as much as possible, because that’s what people loved,” Simonetti said. “I do try to put in personal elements. My goal is to make people laugh, and look forward to them. If the base that Nate made doesn’t really work for the video, I don’t mind changing it.”
When questioned on new ideas, Szautner adamantly agreed with Simonetti, stating that they would try to keep the model as close to “last year’s perfection” as possible.
“It’s really hard to make it better. We’ve watched a lot of the episodes from last year, and what we do is try to replicate it, because that’s what people love,” Szautner said. Overall, the members of the team try to keep their originality while also making it very similar to last year’s estimation game.