Football lovers are about to set their starting fantasy line-ups, but for Taylor Swift fans the season is already in full swing.
Taylor, 33, has been performing her Eras Tour across the US since April for thousands of Swifties who were able to snag highly coveted tickets to the sold out shows.
Beyond the stadium walls, fans are tuning into to livestreams on TikTok to watch the hitmaker belt out the biggest hits from her 17-year career – and are even playing Swiftball, a fantasy football style game where they predict elements of each show.
Allie, a Swiftie who attended Taylor’s show in New Jersey in May, launched Swiftball on Twitter amid her ‘post-concert sadness’ as a way to gift an extra copy of the singer’s Midnights album to a deserving fan.
She created a fantasy ballot for her ‘one-time giveaway’ where fans could guess which outfits, guitars, songs and more would included at the next show. But the game went viral and was played by more than 18,000 fans last week.
Taylor herself is seemingly aware of the game, even apparently referencing it just last weekend as she thanked fans for ‘following this tour like it’s your favourite sport’.
Players fill out a ballot using a Google Doc ahead of each show. The ballot, worth a total of 113 points, features 24 questions that see fans predict what they think the Bad Blood hitmaker will do at the upcoming tour stop.
Swifties will guess which costume Taylor will wear during her sets or what colour guitar she will use when she plays the song Lover.
They also take a crack at guessing more unpredictable elements of the show, like which two surprise songs will the songstress perform, whether she will bring out any special guests, or how many minutes the standing ovation after the song Champagne Problems will last.
Fans can edit their Swiftball line-up, so to speak, until the moment Taylor takes the stage, but once the singer starts to perform the ballots are locked.
Many Swifties will tune in to livestreams of the concert being run by fans physically in the stands, so they can see in live time how their ballot scored.
Most nights Allie will tweet updates about elements of the concert as they unfold. She and her Swiftball team will then reveal the winners the next day.
While it is nearly impossible to get a perfect score on the ballot, but the fan with the highest point value after the show wins. However, due to the sheer number of participants there are often ties.
