40 Fun Stakes & Forfeits for Losing a Bet

Money is the boring stake. The best bets between friends are the ones where the loser has to do something — wear the rival team's shirt, cook dinner, post the embarrassing tweet. Here are 40 stakes and forfeits that are actually fun, sorted from mild to "are you sure".

Mild forfeits (everyone agrees, nobody fights)

1. Loser buys the next round.
2. Loser does the washing up for a week.
3. Loser cooks dinner — winner picks the cuisine.
4. Loser handles the next group booking (flights, restaurant, whatever).
5. Loser drives next time.
6. Loser writes the winner a glowing LinkedIn recommendation.
7. Loser pays for the winner's coffee for a week.
8. Loser does a chore the winner hates.

Phone & social forfeits

9. Loser sets their phone wallpaper to the winner's face for a week.
10. Loser changes their group chat name to a sentence the winner picks.
11. Loser posts a specific (pre-agreed, harmless) tweet.
12. Loser updates their WhatsApp status to a winner-approved quote.
13. Loser sends a glowing voice note about the winner to the group chat.
14. Loser changes their Spotify display name for a month.
15. Loser has to "like" every photo on the winner's Instagram going back two years.

Sports & fan forfeits

16. Loser wears the rival team's shirt to the next match.
17. Loser has to chant for the rival team at full volume, once.
18. Loser puts a rival team scarf on their profile picture for a month.
19. Loser sings the rival team's anthem on video.
20. Loser donates £10 to the rival team's official charity.

Food & drink forfeits

21. Loser eats a tablespoon of a sauce the winner picks.
22. Loser orders the worst-rated thing on a menu.
23. Loser drinks pineapple juice and milk (don't, but funny on paper).
24. Loser has to try a food they've publicly said they hate.
25. Loser is dry for a week.
26. Loser cooks the winner's favourite meal from scratch.

Fitness & habit forfeits

27. Loser does 100 push-ups before the next time you meet.
28. Loser joins the winner for an early-morning run.
29. Loser has to do the winner's chosen workout, once.
30. Loser cold-plunges (and films it).
31. Loser hits 10,000 steps every day for two weeks.

Group-chat classics

32. Loser is muted in the group chat for 24 hours.
33. Loser has to use a specific emoji at the end of every message for a week.
34. Loser writes a haiku about why the winner was right.
35. Loser is "barred" from picking the next pub.

Spicy ones (proceed with caution)

36. Loser dyes their hair a colour the winner picks (within reason).
37. Loser shaves an eyebrow. (Don't actually do this.)
38. Loser gets a temporary tattoo of the winner's name.
39. Loser has to attend a class they would never normally go to (hot yoga, pottery, ballet).
40. Loser sends a fully written, formal apology email — cc'd to the entire group.

Make the forfeit stick

A forfeit only counts if it was agreed before the bet started. The classic mistake is suggesting a punishment after the result is in — at which point nobody owes anybody anything. Three rules:

• Agree before the result. Both stake and forfeit, in writing.
• Define "done". "Wear the shirt" → for how long? With proof?
• Have a witness. Or screenshot it in a group chat.

BENDS logs the bet, the stake, and the forfeit in one place — and once the winner is declared, it's there in writing. No "I never agreed to that".