THE BASICS

1. Pick every game. Each week, pick the straight-up winner of every NFL game listed in the pool. Point spreads do not affect whether your pick wins.
2. Regular season. Pigskin Pick 'Em is played through NFL regular-season Weeks 1–18 unless the commissioner announces otherwise.
3. One point per winner. Every correct pick is worth 1 point, except the designated Game of the Week.
4. Game of the Week = 2 points. One matchup each week is designated as the Game of the Week: the game whose teams have the best combined records (the weaker team's record counts most, so a strong team can't carry a weak one). A correct pick in that game is worth 2 points. The 2X game will be identified before it locks.

PICKS & LOCK TIMES

5. Sunday and Monday games lock at 1:00 PM ET Sunday. Every Sunday game that kicks off at 1 PM ET or later—including the 4 PM games and Sunday Night Football—and Monday Night Football (including your MNF tiebreaker) locks at 1:00 PM ET Sunday. Until a game locks, you can change your pick as often as you like; just re-submit.
6. Earlier games lock at their own kickoff. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, holiday, international and early Sunday games (before 1 PM ET) each lock when that game kicks off.
7. Poolwide Picks open with the 1:00 PM ET Sunday window. Before that window, a player's selection stays hidden from the rest of the pool until that game kicks off, so an early morning game reveals only itself. Once the 1:00 PM Sunday window starts, every pick for the week is visible on the Live Week / Poolwide Picks screen - Sunday night and Monday night included.
8. Make sure your picks are saved. Each player is responsible for verifying that selections and the MNF tiebreaker have been submitted successfully before the applicable lock time.

AUTO PICKS

9. No pick at kickoff = automatic underdog. If a registered player has not made a selection when a game locks, the system automatically assigns the underdog for that game.
10. Auto-pick fallback. The listed point spread is used only to identify the underdog for an automatic pick. If no usable spread is available, the away team is used as the fallback. Automatic selections are marked AUTO.
11. Auto picks count normally. An AUTO pick earns the same point value as any other pick if it is correct, including 2 points if it occurs in the Game of the Week.

WEEKLY WINNER & MNF TIEBREAKER

12. Weekly winner. The player with the most points after all games for the week are final wins the week.
13. MNF tiebreaker. Each player predicts the final combined score of the designated Monday Night Football game. If two or more players finish the week with the same number of points, the player whose prediction is closest to the actual combined MNF score wins the tiebreaker.
14. Equally close tiebreakers. If tied players are exactly the same distance from the actual MNF total, the weekly prize is split equally unless a different tiebreak procedure was announced by the commissioner before that week's games began.

SEASON STANDINGS

15. Season points. Season standings are the total of all points earned throughout the season. Weekly wins are also tracked.
16. Season champion. The player with the most total points at the end of the pool season is the season champion. If total points are tied, the player with the most weekly wins is ranked higher. If those are also tied, the season prize is split unless the commissioner announced an additional season tiebreaker before the final week.
17. Live standings are unofficial until games are final. Scores, weekly ranks and season ranks may move throughout the day as NFL games are completed and results are updated.

GAME CHANGES, OFFICIAL RESULTS & TECHNICAL ISSUES

18. Postponed or rescheduled games. If an NFL game is moved before it begins, the pick remains open until the new kickoff time whenever the system can accommodate the change. If a game is cancelled or declared a no-contest and is not completed for pool purposes, no points are awarded for that game.
19. Official NFL result controls. Pool scoring follows the official final result of the NFL game. If an official scoring correction or data correction changes a result, the pool standings may be updated accordingly.
20. No late manual changes. Picks will not be changed after a game locks simply because a player selected the wrong team, forgot to save, or changed their mind.
21. Verified system errors. If there is a documented site or data error that prevented a valid on-time action, the commissioner may correct the record when there is clear evidence of what occurred. Any commissioner adjustment should be made consistently and logged when possible.

PAYOUTS & COMMISSIONER

22. Payouts. Weekly and season prize amounts are set by the commissioner based on the final pool structure and are posted on the Payouts page. The posted payout schedule is the official prize structure for the pool.
23. Commissioner rulings. The commissioner may resolve unusual situations not specifically covered by these rules, including NFL schedule changes, data-feed problems, duplicate accounts or other unforeseen issues. Rulings should preserve fairness and be applied consistently to all players.
24. Have fun. This is a friends-and-family football pool. Compete hard, talk some trash, and keep it friendly.