How to host a hockey watch party that isn't just the game on.

Most hockey watch parties are a TV, some wings, and four people on their phones by the second intermission. It doesn't take much to fix.

Pick the right game

A rivalry, a playoff race, a former player back in town, a rookie everyone's talking about. Favor a 7pm start over a 10pm one, and a game with at least one club somebody in the room cares about. If your group is split across fanbases, a game where two of them meet is a gift.

The one rule: everyone calls it before puck drop

This is the thing that changes a watch party. Before the anthem, everyone goes on the record. Who wins. Who scores first. Write it on a whiteboard, put it in the chat, use an app. What matters is that it's written down where everyone can see it and can't be changed.

The effect is immediate. The casual fan who was going to scroll now has a guy. The person who picked the visitors gets looked at every time the home side scores. And when it's over, there's a winner in the room.

Puck Party was built to be this rule, done well. Everyone makes the same five calls on their own phone, nobody sees anyone else's until the puck drops, and nobody can change their story at the buzzer. But a whiteboard works too. Just make everyone commit.

Give the non-fans a way in

• First goal, any number. Everyone picks a jersey number. First one to score wins. Zero hockey knowledge required.
• Draft a guy. Deal out the roster and let everyone pick one player to root for. Now the casual fan is yelling when number 27 throws a hit. Puck Party's Player Spotlight and Matchup cards give everyone a player to follow.
• Over or under six goals. A coin flip with a rooting interest attached.

Plan the intermissions

Two intermissions, seventeen minutes each. That's when parties die. Serve the food at the first one so people watch the first period instead of a plate. Run one quick game at the second: guess a player's contract, closest without going over, or rank three players as keep, rent, or trade. Two minutes, one reveal, back to the game.

Set up the room

• Sound on. The crowd and the goal horn are half the experience.
• Sightlines first. Move furniture before people arrive.
• One screen. A second TV with another game splits the room.
• Food that survives three periods. Wings, sliders, a chili. Nothing that has to be eaten hot in the first ten minutes.

Finish it properly

When the buzzer goes, settle it. Who had the winner. Who called the first goal. Who was last. Say it out loud, take a photo of the whiteboard, post it in the chat. The winner gets to be insufferable until next time, and the loser picks the next game. That's the ritual that gets people to come back.

If you'd rather the app keep the record, everyone's card gets graded when the game ends and your Hockey IQ keeps score all season. Here's how playing with a group works.