SCORING AND PARTICIPATION
Pick’em Football Pool Rules
A clear Pick’em pool starts with a shared understanding of what to pick, when picks close, and how points count. Check your pool’s rules and the applicable deadline shown on each weekly card before making your selections.
Choose the format your group wants to play
Straight-Up: pick the winner
Each correct winner earns 1 point. A loss or missed pick earns 0 points; neither subtracts points from your score. For example, seven correct winners and three losses produce 7 points before any tied-game or void-game credit.
Against-the-Spread: pick the team that covers
The point spread gives one team a head start for scoring the pick. A favorite can win the game without covering the spread. If a team is favored by 3 points and wins by 7, it covers; winning by 1 does not cover. Follow the spread and scoring rules shown for your pool.
Confidence: put more weight behind stronger picks
Rank your picks by confidence. The confidence points assigned to correct picks count toward your score, so the Straight-Up rule of one point per correct winner does not describe Confidence scoring.
Use the deadline on the weekly card
Make and save your selections before their displayed “Pick by” times. A pool can use individual kickoff deadlines, a shared first-game deadline, or a configured deadline. The weekly card shows which deadline applies; do not assume every pick stays open until its own game begins.
Card opening and pick deadlines are separate. Opening makes the card available for participation; it does not extend a pick’s deadline. Review the card early enough to catch games that close before the weekend.
Missed picks and tied games
A Straight-Up selection that is missing when its deadline passes becomes a missed pick worth 0 points. Saving the remaining picks later does not recover that missed opportunity.
Tied-game scoring follows the pool’s configured rules. Straight-Up pools can award no credit, half credit, or full credit for a tied game. Check your card’s rules rather than treating a tie as an automatic win or loss.
Weekly results and season standings
Weekly results compare the points earned on one card. Season standings add points across all weeks, with the highest cumulative total ranked first. Equal season totals share a rank.
Results update as games finish. Score corrections can update results and standings.
The optional weekly prediction tiebreaker
When enabled, the card asks for an optional prediction of the combined score in a designated game. Among members tied on weekly points, a valid prediction ranks ahead of a missing prediction, and the closest prediction ranks first. Being over or under by the same amount is equally close; equal distances share a rank.
This only breaks weekly ties. It does not add season points or break ties in cumulative season standings. Without an available weekly tiebreaker, equal weekly point totals stay tied.
When a game is canceled or moved
Canceled games and games moved outside the card’s week are marked Void. In Straight-Up, a void before the deadline gives eligible card participants 1 point. At or after the deadline, submitted picks receive 1 point and missed picks stay at 0. Locked picks stay locked after a postponement. A voided tiebreaker game makes that weekly prediction unavailable.
Share the rules before inviting the group
Tell members the format, included leagues, deadline policy, and tied-game and weekly tiebreaker rules. Then give everyone the same place to review them. Use the Pick’em commissioner setup guide for the next steps, or read the Pick’em FAQ for quick answers.