Couple’s upcoming Date ‘Til You Drop speed-dating event is less than a week away, and it’s pretty much all The Vibe staff can talk about. The marathon party starts at 7pm ET next Thursday, and it’s shaping up to be a pretty epic experience. (Speed dating + a world record attempt + National Sandwich Day? How can that be anything but awesome?)

One topic we can’t stop discussing is this: how many speed dates is too many? How long can a person work their flirt before they fizzle? Thirty dates? Fifty? One-hundred?

We’ll find out in no uncertain terms next week, but in the meantime, the question inspired us to stage a mini-contest in advance of the big one. We invited the Couple leadership team – and now we cordially invite you! – to place a "bet":

How many dating rounds will the final 25 daters complete?

The Couple team’s predictions are below, so take a look and then email us your own guess. The person who comes closest to the number without going over will win sandwiches-for-two on us!

(We promise staff members have no insider advantage on this. We’re at the mercy of the Couple crowd like everyone else.)

Good luck to everyone entering the contest, and we hope to see you at Date ‘Til You Drop on Thursday!

Ryan Beswick, CEO

“I think Couple makes online speed dating so fun and so easy that the final winners are going to have experienced a ton of dates by the time things wrap up. And it definitely helps that everyone gets built-in breaks throughout the night. You’ll go on a few speed dates, you’ll get to relax and play games in the Mingle Rooms, then it’s back to meeting your matches.

“We’re also incentivizing singles to stick around – we’ve got a prize pool of $20,000! – but I feel confident people would go the distance even without it. After five hours of dating, our contestants will have met so many amazing potential partners that they'll be less concerned with the prizes and more excited to plan some meetups in IRL.”

Ryan’s prediction: 85 rounds

Colleen Joyce, President and Host

“I second what Ryan said. I’ve dated on the Couple platform plenty of times myself, and it’s always a fun and energizing experience. But I say we're going a-hundo rounds, baby ... giving you 100 chances to Couple, Cut or Connect!”

Colleen’s prediction: 100 rounds

Jon Baker, Director of Operations

“I think our average user would love a Date 'Til You Drop every week! We have a motivated community that loves to meet new people and party on our platform. Throw in a chance to win some nice prizes, and they can beat 100 rounds of dating no problem!”

Jon’s prediction: 110 rounds

Tom Conway, Product Manager

“I think Date ‘Til You Drop will last a long time. Last year we did 68 rounds, and with the community we've built, I can easily see our users doubling that and sticking it out well into the early morning hours. If some daters didn't need to work on Friday, I think it would go even deeper into the morning. I'm looking forward to seeing who the last daters standing are after the eight-hour marathon!”

Tom's prediction: 120 rounds

Send your own predictions here, and then get yourself registered for the main event! (If you prefer a speed-dating sprint to a matchmaking marathon, sign up for a normal-length party.)