Pick'em Pool Settings

Every Pick'em-specific setting explained — what it does and how to think about choosing it. Pool-level defaults live in the Setup Wizard (Step 2) when creating a pool, or under Pool Settings any time after. Per-week point values and spreads live on your pool's Points & Spreads page instead.

This page is for Pick'em pools. For Survivor-specific settings (no-pick chain, bye weeks, double-pick weeks, mid-season start), see the Pool Settings & Survivor Rules guide instead.

The Basics: How Pick'em Works

Each week, every player picks a team for every game on the schedule — not just one. Each correct pick earns points; incorrect picks earn none. There's no elimination and no team-reuse restriction — every entry plays every game, every week, all season, and the same team can be picked as many weeks as a player likes. The pool is won by whoever has the most points when the season ends.

Everything below controls how points are earned and what happens when a player doesn't pick a game.

Scoring Mode: Straight or Against the Spread

Set once for the whole pool, under Mode:

Straight — pick the team you think will win outright. No spread involved.
Against the Spread — pick which team will "cover" the spread you set for that game (see Spreads & Locking below). A favored team has to win by more than the spread to cover; an underdog covers by losing narrowly or winning outright.

Point Values

Set under Points Mode:

Equal — every game is worth the same number of points.
Variable — set three default point values: a standard Default value, a Thursday Night value, and a Monday Night value. Games on those nights automatically use their special value; every other game uses the standard default. This is a common way to reward the extra attention primetime games get.

These are pool-wide defaults. You can still override the point value for an individual game from your Points & Spreads page for a specific week, if you want an exception.

Spreads & Locking (Spread Mode Only)

If your pool uses Against the Spread scoring, visit your pool's Points & Spreads page each week to enter the spread for each game before players start picking.

Enter the home team's spread for a game and save.
Click Lock Spread once you're confident in the number. Locking is one-way — there's no unlock button, so only lock a spread once you don't expect to change it.
Until a game's spread is locked, players see a "Spread TBD" badge on that game and can't submit a pick for it — this prevents picks based on a spread you might still adjust.

Do this before picks open each week. Players can't pick a spread-mode game until its spread is locked, so leaving spreads unset delays picking for your whole pool.

No-Pick Rule: What Happens If a Player Doesn't Pick a Game

Unlike Survivor's chain of fallback rules, Pick'em uses a single rule for every unpicked game, set under No-Pick Rule:

Lose all (default) — zero points for every game the player didn't pick, once the week's picking window has closed.
Lose kicked-off games only — zero points only for games that have actually kicked off unpicked; the player can still pick any game that hasn't started yet.
Random picks — the system randomly assigns a team for each unpicked game.
All road teams — the away team is automatically assigned for each unpicked game.
All underdogs — the team getting points on the spread is automatically assigned. Only available in Against the Spread mode.

Because there's no elimination in Pick'em, a missed pick only ever costs points for that one game — it never removes a player from the pool.

Other Settings

Pool name, visibility (public/private), and maximum entries per player work exactly the same as Survivor — see the Getting Started as a Commissioner guide for those. Leagues & Divisions and Prize tiers also work identically for both game types — see the Structure and Prizes & Tiebreakers guides.

A Note on Changing Settings Later

You can update pool-wide defaults any time from your pool's Settings page. Per-week point values and spreads are set week by week on the Points & Spreads page — remember that a locked spread can't be unlocked, so double-check a spread before locking it.

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