long, detailed rules

Home | Archives | Rules

1. Each week, you can check the schedule and the changing point spreads here.  For those of you who don't know what a point spread is, all it is telling you is that team A is favored by a certain amount of points over team B.

THIS IS WHERE IT MIGHT GET TRICKY, so pay attention:

-You pick ONE game a week, each week, throughout the regular season (this does not change) 

-Each game is worth 20 points, plus or minus the point spread. 

Example:

You choose to pick the GIANTS over the COWBOYS. The GIANTS are favored by 4 points over the COWBOYS. If you win this game, you get 20 points minus the 4 points they were favored by = 16 points.

If you were to choose the COWBOYS over the GIANTS in the very same game, and the COWBOYS win, you would get 20 points plus the 4 points the COWBOYS were underdogs by = 24 points.

If you lose the game, you get zero points, plus or minus HALF of the point spread. 

Example: 

You choose the GIANTS over the COWBOYS. The GIANTS are favored by 4 points over the COWBOYS. If you lose this game, you get 0 points minus half of the 4 points they were favored by = -2 points .

If you were to choose the COWBOYS over the GIANTS in the very same game, and the GIANTS win, you would get 0 points plus half of the 4 points they were favored by = 2 points.

2a. In the case of a tie football game, you will get half of the allotted points that you would have received had you picked correctly. So if you chose a 4 point favorite and the game was a tie, instead of receiving 16 points, you would receive 8 points.

2b. NEW RULE as of 2008!-- "The Patriot Act"-- Any game in which the point spread is 20 or greater cannot be picked.

2c. NEW RULE as of 2008!-- Anyone who has not given in their picks by the early games start time on Sunday (typically 1:00PM ET) CANNOT pick for that week (no more last minute Monday Night Football picks). You will instead be assigned a pick after the games have been finished (of the worst possible outcome), so make sure you get your picks in on time!!

3. You cannot pick the same team twice during the season. Meaning, throughout the 18 weeks of the season, you need to pick 18 different teams. If you pick the Giants in week 1, then you can't pick the Giants to win again in the regular season. No repeats.

4. You are not allowed to pick against a certain team more than 4 times. For example, if you have picked a team to beat the Houston Texans in week 1, week 5, week 9, and week 12, you cannot pick a team that is playing against them from Week 13 onward. I will update the website with this information, listing which teams people cannot pick against. - RULE 4 IS REDACTED STARTING IN THE 2021 SEASON. YOU MAY PICK AGAINST ANY TEAM YOU'D LIKE AS MANY TIMES AS YOU'D LIKE THROUGHOUT THE SEASON

4a. If you violate Rule 2b, Rule 2c, or Rule 3, you will be auto-picked the worst possible outcome for that week, meaning: after the games have been played, you will be assigned the biggest losing favorite which you have not yet picked in a previous week.  If two or more teams equally fit the criteria of being the worst possible outcome for that week, then you will be assigned the team with the better/best record. You can and will be retroactively auto-picked if your violation was overlooked on the week it happened, so be sure to keep track of this yourselves!

5. The top 1/3 of the pool at the end of the season makes the playoffs (or the top 18 people, whichever is fewer).

5a. NEW RULE as of 2008! -- Whoever is in first place at the end of Week 18 is the Regular Season Champ and a $150 winner (if a full 60 participants. Less $ to the Regular Season Champ if there are fewer than 60 people).

6. NEW RULE as of 2010! Tied for the final playoff spot: If two or more people are tied for the final pool playoff spot after the regular season has ended, and none of the tying participants violated Rules 2b, 2c, or 3, all of them will make the playoffs.  

If one participant tied for the final playoff spot violated any those aforementioned rules, that participant will not make the playoffs.

If both/all participants tied for the final playoff spot violated the aforementioned rules, whoever did it with less frequency will make the playoffs.

If both/all participants tied for the final playoff spot violated the aforementioned rules with the same frequency, all of them will make the playoffs.

(long story short--don't violate rules 2b, 2c, or 3)

7. NEW RULE as of 2020!  If the season gets interrupted or radically altered by, say, a pandemic, the commissioner will shut down the Quint season and refund everyone their money.

8. Playoff rules are here.

Oh, and we are running this pool pro-bono, so we get zero percent of the winnings unless we place, just like you.

This is our bible. What is said here is final. 

For an even simpler version of what to do weekly, check the "weekly steps" in the middle column on the Homepage.