Fun & Sweepstakes: Run Competitions with Friends Using AI

The Use Case

You and your friends want to run sweepstakes, raffles, prediction competitions, or group challenges -- but nobody wants to be the one organising it all. Whether it's a Premier League prediction league, a Secret Santa draw, a weight-loss challenge, or a monthly book club vote, there's always admin involved: collecting entries, tracking scores, chasing people who haven't responded, and announcing results.

HireClaws gives you an AI agent that handles all of it -- via email, in real time, with zero effort from you after setup.

The Pain Point

The organiser always burns out.

• Someone has to create the spreadsheet, chase entries, tally scores, and send updates
• WhatsApp groups get noisy and entries get lost in the scroll
• People forget to submit their picks, and nobody chases them
• Tracking who paid into the pot is awkward and manual
• The "fun" thing becomes a chore for whoever volunteered to run it

The result: competitions fizzle out after week 3, or never start at all.

How HireClaws Solves This

Deploy a Sweepstakes Claw -- an agent with its own ClawEmail address (e.g., sweepstakes@clawemail.com) that manages the entire competition lifecycle:

1. Entry Collection: The agent emails all participants at the start of each round asking for their picks/entries. It accepts replies and logs them in a Google Sheet automatically.
2. Deadline Enforcement: Sends reminder emails to anyone who hasn't submitted. "Hey Dave, your Premier League predictions for Matchday 12 are due by Friday 6pm. Reply to this email with your picks."
3. Score Tracking: Maintains a live leaderboard in Google Sheets. After each round, it updates scores and emails the group with standings.
4. Result Announcements: Sends a weekly or round-end email blast with the leaderboard, highlights (biggest upset, closest call), and next round details.
5. Pot Management: Tracks who has paid in and sends gentle reminders to those who haven't.
6. Telegram Control: You manage it all from Telegram. "Start a new round", "Add Sarah to the league", "Send the leaderboard now".

Why ClawEmail Matters Here

Each competition gets its own dedicated email address via ClawEmail. Participants don't need to install anything -- they just reply to emails. It works with every email client, every phone, every person. No app downloads, no sign-ups, no friction.

Agent Setup

Step-by-Step

1. Deploy your agent at hireclaws.com -- choose any AI model (Claude recommended for creative commentary)
2. Name it something fun: "Premier League Oracle", "Office Sweepstakes Bot", "Secret Santa Elf"
3. Send it the rules via Telegram:

   You are running a Premier League prediction league for 8 friends.
   Each week, participants email you their score predictions for all
   matches. Correct score = 3 points, correct result = 1 point.
   Collect predictions by Friday 6pm. Update the leaderboard sheet
   after each matchday. Send weekly standings every Monday morning.

4. Give it the participant list:

   Participants:
   - Dave: dave@gmail.com
   - Sarah: sarah@outlook.com
   - Mike: mike@yahoo.com
   [...]

5. Let it run. The agent will create the Google Sheet, send the first round email, and manage everything from there.

Suggested Agent Team (Multi-Agent Setup)

For more complex competitions:

The Game Master forwards entries to the Scorekeeper, who updates the leaderboard. Both email participants as needed.

Skills Configuration

agent_name: Sweepstakes Claw
model: claude
skills:
  - name: collect_entries
    trigger: "Start of each round / weekly schedule"
    action: "Email all participants requesting their picks for the current round"
    tools: [clawemail, google_sheets]

  - name: chase_stragglers
    trigger: "24 hours before deadline"
    action: "Email participants who haven't submitted entries"
    tools: [clawemail, google_sheets]

  - name: update_leaderboard
    trigger: "After round results are known"
    action: "Calculate scores, update Google Sheet, rank participants"
    tools: [google_sheets]

  - name: announce_results
    trigger: "After leaderboard update"
    action: "Email all participants with standings, highlights, next round info"
    tools: [clawemail, google_docs]

  - name: manage_payments
    trigger: "Monthly or on request"
    action: "Track who has paid into the pot, send reminders to those who haven't"
    tools: [clawemail, google_sheets]

  - name: add_remove_participants
    trigger: "Via Telegram command"
    action: "Add or remove participants from the competition"
    tools: [google_sheets, clawemail]

Example Interactions