What’s up, Holmies? There’s a new game on the site. It’s called Hat or Not, and it’s simple: 25 New Era fitteds a day, and you decide which ones you’d wear. Everyone gets the same 25 caps in the same order, and a new deck drops every night at midnight Eastern.
Finally, a dating app with standards. Play today’s deck.
How It Works
Swipe the card, or use the buttons under it. Hat means you’d wear it. Not means you’d pass. On a computer, the arrow keys work too. Each cap gets one call and there are no takebacks, so go with your gut. Passing on a cap is nothing personal. It’s not you, it’s your colorway.
What You See at the End
Once you make it through all 25, you get to see how you stack up with the rest of the Holmies:
- How many of the 25 you’d wear.
- How many of your calls matched the crowd.
- The three caps the most Holmies would wear.
- Next to each cap you’d wear, the percent of Holmies who’d wear it too.
Every cap you’d wear links straight to its deal, and one tap saves them all to your Watchlist. Found a few you love? Now you know where to get them on sale.
Share It, Then Keep Going
Hit Share your deck to post your 25 calls as a five-by-five grid of caps and crosses. There are no photos, so you can compare with friends without spoiling the deck for them. It looks like this:
Hat or Not No. 1: 15/25 hats 🧢🧢🧢🧢❌ 🧢🧢🧢❌🧢 ❌❌🧢❌❌ 🧢🧢❌🧢🧢 🧢❌❌❌🧢 hatlockholmes.com/hat-or-not.html
Want more? Keep swiping shuffles the rest of the deals board, minus anything you’ve already seen that day. It’s the best way I know to find caps you’d never think to search for. Those extra swipes stay on your device and aren’t counted.
How the Deck Gets Picked
I don’t pick the caps. Some Hatlock math does it, a week ahead, and once a deck is set it doesn’t change. Every deck has 8 MLB caps, 6 NFL, 5 NBA, 4 NHL and 2 from the minor leagues, one per team. If a league is light on teams with deals that day, the others pick up the slack.
The caps come from shops all over the deals board, exclusives included, not just New Era. Opening night’s deck pulled from 12 different stores. A few caps sit out on purpose: that day’s Lineup team, so one game never gives away another; that day’s three Cop, Keep, Drop caps; and anything that was in a deck in the past week, so every deck feels fresh.
What Gets Sent
When you finish, your 25 calls get counted with everyone else’s. That’s all that gets sent. No account, no sign-up, no name. The crowd results stay hidden until enough Holmies have finished the day’s deck, so the numbers actually mean something. The privacy page has the details.
Try Five From Opening Night
Here are five caps from the very first deck on October 10. Make your calls, then open the flap to see Hatlock’s picks.
No. 1 · Opening night · October 10
-
Missions Copa de la Diversión
-
Cowboys Tonal Florals White
-
Flames Walnut
-
Raiders 2023 Draft On Stage
-
Cubs Alpha Industries Olive
Hatlock’s picks
- Wear it San Antonio Missions, Copa de la Diversión 59FIFTY at Prociety, $15.00 (was $41.99). $15 for a cap that brought its own fiesta.
- Pass Dallas Cowboys, Tonal Florals White 59FIFTY at New Era, $27.49 (was $49.99). Florals? In October? Groundbreaking.
- Wear it Calgary Flames, Walnut 59FIFTY at USA Cap King, $45.00 (was $55.00). Walnut is the color of a good desk.
- Pass Las Vegas Raiders, 2023 NFL Draft On Stage 59FIFTY at Coliseum Sports, $34.99 (was $49.99). A 2023 draft cap still waiting to be picked.
- Wear it Chicago Cubs, New Era x Alpha Industries 59FIFTY at Burdeens Chicago, $25.00 (was $49.99). A flight-jacket brand made a Cubs cap. At half off, it lands.
Prices from the deals board on October 10, 2026. They may have changed.
No cap is right for everyone. That’s what the other 24 are for. A new deck drops every night at midnight Eastern. Play today’s deck.
Case closed. Happy swiping, Holmies.
- Hatlock