How Hype Window works
One number tells you
the game worth watching.
Every live game gets a Hype Index from 0 to 100 — a single read on how good it is to watch right now. We watch all of them so you don't have to, and we tell you the exact moment one crosses into must-watch.
Free during beta · No account needed · Not a betting tool
The Hype Index
A live watchability score, 0 to 100.
Not the score of the game — the score of whether it's worth your attention. It updates in real time as the game breathes, climbs when things heat up, and cools off when the drama fades.
Hype Index
0–100
Higher means it's better to watch this instant. Thresholds mark where a game earns an alert.
Under the number
Four signals feed the score.
Each one reads a different part of the game. Blended together, they catch the turn before the broadcast — and before the group chat — does.
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01Score pressure
How close, how late, how much it matters.
A one-point lead in the final minute is a different animal than a one-point lead at tip-off. We weight the margin against the clock and the stakes, so a tense, low-scoring grinder can read hotter than a high-scoring blowout.
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02The market's reaction
The market moves before casual fans do.
Odds are the fastest crowd on earth. When a favorite starts slipping, the line reacts within seconds — long before the broadcast catches up. We read that movement as a signal for when the game is changing. This is the Levitt read: the market realizes it first. It is not betting advice.
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03Momentum & trajectory
Which way the game is tipping.
A 12-2 run, a win-probability swing, a comeback finding its legs — trajectory tells you a game is about to turn even before the scoreboard makes it obvious. We track the direction and the speed of the swing, not just the current state.
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04Chaos events
The moments that break the game open.
Lead changes, tie games late, a bases-loaded jam in the ninth, a goalie pulled with two minutes left. These are the sport-specific flashpoints that turn a routine game into appointment viewing — and they get their own boost.
A fifth signal — crowd velocity — leans in when the timeline lights up. And the mix shifts by sport: hockey leans hard on score pressure, the NFL swings on the final two minutes, and college hoops moves with the tournament rhythm. The weights above are a typical NBA blend.
The alert ladder
Four tiers. You only hear from us when it counts.
As a game climbs, it crosses thresholds. The higher the tier, the rarer the alert — so a ping from us always means something.
Warming Up
Worth a glance. Something's stirring, but it hasn't earned your full attention yet.
Getting Good
Now it's a game. Close enough, late enough, or swinging hard enough to be worth flipping over.
Must Watch
Turn it on. This is the one you'll be glad you caught and annoyed you missed.
DROP EVERYTHING
Once-a-week territory. The overtime, the comeback, the shootout that becomes tomorrow's headline. Stop what you're doing.
There's also a separate Legacy track for the historic stuff — no-hitters, triple-overtime, the games people will still be talking about in ten years. Those always reach a human before they post.
We show our work
Every score comes with reasons.
A number on its own is a black box. So each score carries reason chips — plain-language tags that explain why a game is heating up. No mystery, no hand-waving. You see exactly what moved the needle.
And we keep the receipts
We called it, minutes early.
After the final whistle, we show the receipt: when we flagged the game, how many minutes ahead of the moment, and how it paid off. The prediction, the alert, the proof — that's the whole product. No cherry-picking; the misses are on the record too.
Sample receipt
Flagged Must Watch at Hype 78 with 6:20 left — 14 minutes before it peaked at Hype 91 and went to overtime.
Let's be clear
This is not a betting tool.
No picks. No bets. No sportsbook. We read the odds only as a signal for when the market realizes a game is changing — the same way a broadcast reads the crowd. The number tells you when to watch, not what to wager. Our competition is your group chat and the ESPN app, not the sportsbook.
“We don't just tell you the score. We tell you when to watch.”
Straight answers
How does Hype Window know a game is worth watching?
It computes a live Hype Index from 0 to 100 for every game by reading four signals at once: how tight and how late the score is, how the market reacts as the game changes, momentum swings, and chaos events like lead changes and comebacks. When that number crosses a threshold, we tell you to tune in.
Is Hype Window a betting or gambling app?
No. We read odds only as a signal for when the market realizes a game is changing — a legibility read, not betting advice. There are no picks, no bets, no sportsbook. The competition is your group chat and the ESPN app, not the sportsbook.
What does DROP EVERYTHING mean?
It is the top alert tier, reserved for games scoring 86 to 100 — the rare overtime, comeback, or shootout that becomes tomorrow's highlight. It is once-a-week territory. When we send it, stop what you're doing.
How is the Hype Index different from the score?
The score tells you who is winning. The Hype Index tells you whether the game is worth watching right now. A tight, high-stakes finish scores high even in a low-scoring game, and a blowout scores low no matter how many points are on the board.
Now go catch the good one.
The window's open. Jump into the live app and see what's worth watching this instant — or get the alerts and we'll tell you the moment the next one turns must-watch.