Football Pools
ACTIVE Football Pools
Pool Type Comparison
Not sure which pool to choose? Use this table to help you compare each pool's features.
| PICK'EM POOL | SURVIVOR POOL | |
|---|---|---|
| How it Works: | Predict game winners each week. Play Straight-Up or with the Spread | Pick one team to win or lose each week. One wrong pick and you're out, or lose a life if lives are enabled |
| Winner: | Team with the most points | Last team standing |
| Customizable Roster & Scoring: | No. 1 pt per correct pick | No. Minus 1 life per incorrect pick |
| Online Picking: | Yes | Yes |
| Great for: | Simplicity of picking teams each week | Strategic, high-stakes weekly picks |
How to Play
STEP 1
Create a Pool
Set up a custom pool for hockey, football, golf, and more in a few clicks.
STEP 2
Invite Players
Share your unique invite link with others to bring your pool to life.
STEP 3
Choose a Team
Pick your players or teams and customize your roster with ease.
STEP 4
Track Progress
Stay updated with real-time standings, stats, and player news all season.
Football Pool faqs
What is football pick’em?
In a Football Pick’em pool, participants (poolies) predict the winner of each game listed on the pick schedule. OfficePools offers two scoring formats for Pick’em pools:
Straight-Up:
Poolies simply choose the team they think will win. If the team wins the game, the pick is correct.
Against the Spread:
Poolies make picks based on the point spread. For example, if Seattle is favoured by 4.5 points over San Francisco:
- Picking SEA -4.5 means Seattle must win by 5 or more for the pick to be correct.
- Picking SF +4.5 means San Francisco must either win outright or lose by 4 or less for the pick to be correct.
How do I set up a football pick’em pool?
Once you’ve started your pool creation for a football pick’em pool, follow these steps:
Step 1: General Settings
- Enter your Pool Name, Start Date, and End Date (default is end of the regular season).
- Choose whether to enable Trash Talk (poolie chat feature) and whether to show team owners in standings(displays profile pictures and real names).
Step 2: Scoring Settings
- Use “Max Picks per Game Day/Week” to limit how many games poolies can pick each week (default is all games).
- Adjust Drop Lowest Periods (0–4) to remove poor weeks from total scores.
- Select your Scoring Type: Straight-Up (pick the winner) or Spread (based on point spread).
- Scoring is preset to 1 point per correct pick.
- Click Save to finalize your pool setup.
Step 3: Invite Poolies
Once your pool is created, you can invite participants.
What is football survivor?
In a Football Survivor pool, participants (poolies) predict the winner or loser of one game each week. If their pick is correct, they move on to the next week. If not, they either lose a life or are eliminated—depending on your pool’s settings.
OfficePools offers two Survivor formats:
Winner Format:
Poolies choose one team they believe will win that week. If that team wins, they survive. If the team loses or ties, they lose a life.
Loser Format:
Poolies choose one team they believe will lose that week. If that team loses, they survive. If the team wins or ties, they lose a life.
Survivor pools are all about strategy and staying alive as the season progresses, one pick at a time.
How do I set up a football survivor pool?
Once you’ve started your pool creation for a football survivor pool, follow these steps:
Step 1: General Settings
- Enter your Pool Name, Start Date, and End Date (default is end of the regular season).
- Choose whether to enable Trash Talk (poolie chat feature) and whether to show team owners in standings(displays profile pictures and real names).
Step 2: Scoring Settings
- Number of Lives: Default is 1 (recommended for a 17-week season).
- Team Pick Limit: Set how many times a team can be picked (recommended: 1). A setting of 0 allows unlimited picks.
- Scoring Type: Choose Winner (pick a team to win) or Loser (pick a team to lose).
- Click Save to finalize your pool setup.
Step 3: Invite Poolies
Once your pool is created, you can invite participants.
How do I invite people to my football pool?
The easiest way is to use your Shareable Invite Link:
- Go to the Admin menu of your pool.
- Select the Invites tab.
- Copy the Shareable Invite Link.
You can send this link via email, text, group chat, or post it on social media. It’s reusable and ideal for inviting multiple people or allowing multiple team submissions.
For one-time, individual invites, use the Personal Invite Link on the same page.
Need help tracking invite status or managing your invite list? Visit the Invites tab for all available options.
When is the picking deadline for survivor?
By default, OfficePools football Survivor uses a hybrid deadline based on the first game on or after Thursday. Picks can be made or changed up until that game kicks off — once it starts, the entire week locks, even if you haven’t made a pick yet or intended to pick a team playing later in the week. If you fail to make a pick before the start of the first game on or after Thursday, it will be treated as a loss of life.
Note: admins can customize this by setting a fixed weekly deadline (day and time) in Pool Settings, which would override this default schedule-based cutoff.
Can I add more lives in survivor?
Survivor is a football pool format where each poolie selects one team per week. If they pick correctly, they move on. If their pick is incorrect, they lose a life.
As the admin, you have control over how many lives each team starts with and can adjust lives as needed throughout the season.
- To set the default number of lives for all teams, click ‘Scoring’ in the top navigation bar, then edit the ‘Number of Lives’ field to your preferred value.
- To add or subtract lives for specific teams, go to the ‘Entries’ tab in the top navigation bar. You’ll see a full list of teams in your pool. Use the checkbox next to a team name to select it, then adjust their life count as needed.
This gives you full flexibility to manage your Survivor pool format based on your preferred rules.
What do the percentages under teams mean when making picks?
For each game in an NFL or CFL Pick’em pool, you will see a percentage underneath either team when making your picks. This number represents the percentage of people who are picking each team to win on our entire site.
For example, if it says 74% underneath the Toronto Argonauts, that means that 74% of the people who have made a pick for that game picked Toronto to win.
To turn these percentages off, go to general settings and click the box that says ‘Hide Picking Percentages’.
How does the tiebreaker work in football?
In Football Pick’em pools, a tiebreaker is used to determine the weekly winner if multiple poolies have the same number of correct picks.
When making your pick for the final game of the week, you’ll be prompted to enter a predicted total score for that game. This number is used as the tiebreaker.
How It Works:
- If there’s a tie in correct picks, the poolie closest to the actual total score of the final game wins the tiebreaker.
- You can go over the actual total. However, if one person is 2 points below and another is 2 points above, the lower guess wins—the edge goes to the lower total in the case of an equal difference.
Note on Survivor Pools:
If an NFL game ends in a tie, it’s treated as an incorrect pick in OfficePools Football Survivor:
- Winner format: If your pick loses or ties, you lose a life.
- Loser format: If your pick wins or ties, you lose a life.
Should our NFL pool pick straight up or against the spread?
It’s up to your group. Straight up just means picking who wins the game — simple and great for casual pools. Against the spread means picking who beats the point spread, which levels the playing field between lopsided matchups and rewards people who actually follow the odds. You can set this per pool in your settings, so it’s worth deciding together before Week 1 locks in.
What happens if I miss the deadline in my NFL pick'em pool?
If you’ve got Auto-Pick enabled in your settings, the system will submit picks for you automatically so you’re never locked out for missing a deadline. If Auto-Pick isn’t turned on, that week counts as a loss — so it’s worth flipping it on as a safety net, especially for a big group.
What happens if a game ends in a tie?
If your pool has a tiebreaker enabled, poolies will see a tiebreaker question to help settle things when the scores land on a tie. It’s a good idea to turn this on before the season starts so everyone knows the rules going in.
When does the 2026 NFL season start?
The 2026 NFL season kicks off Wednesday, September 9, with the Seahawks hosting the Patriots. The full slate of Week 1 games follows that weekend.
When are the 2026-27 NFL playoff dates?
The playoffs begin January 16, 2027, right after Week 18 wraps up the regular season.
When is the Super Bowl in 2027?
Super Bowl LXI is Sunday, February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
When is the picking deadline for NFL Pick'em?
Picks lock individually per game at that game’s kickoff time (rolling deadline) — not once a week. So if you haven’t picked a game yet, you can still enter/change that pick right up until it starts, even if earlier games that week have already begun.
What's the difference between Entry Cutoff and the pick deadline?
Entry Cutoff controls when new participants can join your pool — it doesn’t affect when picks lock. Pick deadlines are separate and happen automatically at each game’s kickoff.
Can I set a single deadline for all picks instead of per-game?
No, not in Pick’em pools — picks lock individually per game by design. Survivor pools are different: they lock at kickoff of the first game on or after Thursday by default, but admins can set a custom deadline for that.
Can more than one entry use the same email?
Yes — an admin can manually add multiple entries under Entries → Add Entry using the same email, or a poolie can create multiple entries themselves by using the pool’s shareable invite link more than once. This is different from attaching multiple emails to a single entry, which isn’t supported in Pick’em or Survivor pools (only Classic pools allow multiple emails per entry).
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Invited to a Pool?
Sign in or create an account using the email address you provided to your pool admin. Once you’re logged in, the pool will appear in your dashboard.
If you received a link from your admin, click it to join the pool.
Still having trouble? Reach out to your pool admin to confirm how to join.
