HOW TO RUN AN NFL POOL

Three formats, one decision about what your group wants from the season:

• Survivor — one straight-up pick a week, lose and you're out, last one standing takes the pot. The lowest effort per week and the most drama; the default choice for a big mixed group.
• Pick 5 — five games a week against the spread, all five must cover, winnerless pots roll over. Stakes and jackpots for a group that follows the sport.
• Pick All — the whole slate every week against the spread, a point per correct pick, most points wins. Everyone stays in it all season.

Each format has its own house-rule options in the create flow — survivor's ties/rebuys/endgame choices, Pick 5's final-week pot rule — and every option is stamped at creation, so the rules are on the record before a snap is played.

Entry fees are optional; pools run happily on bragging rights. If your group plays for a pot, set the fee when you create the pool and list your payment handles (Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, PayPal, or "cash at the office"). Members see the fee and the handles when they join, so the terms are never a surprise.

The one rule that keeps everything clean: you collect and hold the money; FootballPools never does. The platform records the fee, tracks who's paid, and shows the pot — the actual dollars move through whatever app your group already trusts.

Every pool gets an invite code and link. Drop it in the group chat, the office channel, or the family thread, and everyone lands on the same pool with the same rules. No accounts to pre-create, no spreadsheet of emails — members sign up as they join, from any browser, no app download.

Two tips from pools that fill fast: lead with the rules (format, fee, house rules — groups join faster when nothing is left vague), and give a soft deadline before Week 1 opens on September 9, 2026. Stragglers can still join later — pools accept new members mid-season.

The Finances view is the pool's ledger: who's paid, who's stalling, what's in the pot. Mark members paid as money arrives, and send a one-click email nudge to anyone outstanding — the platform does the chasing so you never have to have the "so... about that twenty bucks" conversation in person. The pot the pool sees is built only from members actually marked paid, so it's always the real number.

From Week 1 (opening September 9, 2026) to Week 18, the weekly loop runs without you:

• Deadlines enforce themselves. Each game locks at its own kickoff or when the Sunday afternoon slate begins, whichever comes first — Thursday games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday games together. All times Eastern.
• Reminders send themselves. Every member gets email and push nudges before every deadline — a day-ahead reminder and a last call — so "I forgot" stays rare.
• Scoring scores itself. Results come in from live NFL data; picks are graded and standings updated once the week's games are final. No Tuesday-morning data entry, and edge cases — postponements, pushes, byes — are handled by the rules engine, not by a ruling from you.
• Picks reveal fairly. Every pick stays hidden until its game locks, then becomes visible to the pool — nobody gains anything by waiting to see the room.

Your job for 18 weeks: post the carnage, stoke the rivalries, and — at the end — pay the winners.