Prediction game vs fantasy football: which should you play?

Both make a season more fun, but they're very different games. Fantasy football is about building and managing a squad; a prediction game is about calling the scorelines. Here's how they compare so you can pick the right one — or play both.

What fantasy football is

In fantasy you draft a squad of real players within a budget, then manage transfers, captains and formations every week. Your points come from how those individual players perform — goals, assists, clean sheets and the rest.

What a prediction game is

In a prediction game you forecast the result and scoreline of each match. There's no squad to manage and no budget — just your read on the fixtures. Points come from getting results and exact scores right, with bigger rewards in later rounds.

The key differences

• Effort: fantasy needs weekly squad management; predictions take a couple of minutes per round.
• Skill type: fantasy rewards squad-building; predictions reward reading matches.
• Scope: predictions cover every fixture, so you're invested in games fantasy might ignore.
• Onboarding: predictions are simpler to pick up, which makes them great for a casual group of mates.

Which should you play?

If you love tinkering with a squad, fantasy is for you. If you want something quicker that gets the whole group chat involved without weekly admin, a prediction game wins. Plenty of people happily run both — and Pickz is the easy, free way to get a prediction league going.