Official League Rules

Brief History

The Simple Office Pool was created for those of us who don't have the knowledge or the time to play in the "real" fantasy football pools. The rules are simple, but the rewards are large. Because of its simple nature, you can potentially get more people to participate, making the payouts even larger.

Sheets

Each week, you can buy a "sheet" for $2. You can purchase as many "sheets" as you like for a given week. The more you buy, the better your chances at winning!

Each sheet will have all the games for that week, and a space for the Game of the Week total score. All you have to do is select which team is going to win each game, and decide what you think the TOTAL score for the Game of the Week will be. That is all there is to it. The winner for each week is the person who selects the most correct game winners.

You can make changes to any games on your sheets up until the start time for that change. Just don't forget to make a choice!

Ties

In the event of a tie (All Rules are cumulative):

The winner will be the person whose Game of the Week total score is closest to the actual total score, WITHOUT GOING OVER (hereafter known as the Price Is Right rule).
If that doesn't solve the tie, then it is the person who is closest in total score, disregarding the Price Is Right Rule.
If that doesn't solve the tie, then it is the person who chose the winning team for the Game of the Week.
If that doesn't solve the tie, then it is the person who scored the most points for that week (see Vegas Odds and Ultimate Winners Fund)
Finally, if that doesn't solve the tie, the tied players can decide to split the winnings, or come up with some other satisfactory way to break the tie. If the tied players cannot come to an agreement on how to break the tie, the winnings will be split.

So to clarify, in the event of a tie, the only time the Price Is Right rule is removed (step 3 below) is if none of the players who are tied have a Game of the Week score (GWS) lower than the actual GWS. Therefore, the steps for determining a winner is:

The player with the most wins. If a tie:
The player with the GWS closest to the actual GWS without going over (The Price Is Right). If still a tie:
The player with the closest GWS wins. If still a tie:
The player with the Game of the Week Winner. If still a tie:
The player with the most points for their sheet. If still a tie:
Split the payout, or come up with another way to break the tie.

All winner rules are cumulative, so only the players that tie in step 1 will be considered in step 2. Only the players tied in step 2 will be considered for step 3, etc. Are we confused? To the examples!

Example 1

Player A - 10 wins
Player B - 9 wins
Player C - 9 wins
Player A wins the pool for that week.

Example 2

Player A - 10 wins, Game of the Week Score (GWS) 42
Player B - 10 wins, GWS 46
Player C - 9 wins, GWS 44
Actual GWS: 44
Player A wins the pool for that week because he had the most wins (tied with B), and was closest in GWS without going over.

Example 3

Player A - 10 wins, Game of the Week Score (GWS) 46
Player B - 10 wins, GWS 45
Player C - 9 wins, GWS 44
Actual GWS: 44
Player B wins the pool for that week because he had the most wins (tied with A), and was closest in GWS.

Example 4

Player A - 10 wins, GWS (Game of the Week Score total) 46, Team 1 chosen for Game of the Week
Player B - 10 wins, GWS 45, Team 1 chosen for the Game of the Week
Player C - 10 wins, GWS 45, Team 2 chosen for the Game of the Week
Actual GWS: 44
Actual Game of the Week Winner: Team 2
Player C wins the pool for that week because he had the most wins (tied with A and B), and was closest in GWS (tied with B), and chose the winning team in the Game of the Week.

Example 5

Player A - 10 wins, GWS 46, Team 1 chosen for the Game of the Week and their sheet scored 15 points
Player B - 10 wins, GWS 45, Team 1 chosen for the Game of the Week and their sheet scored 10 points
Player C - 10 wins, GWS 45, Team 2 chosen for the Game of the Week and their sheet scored 11 points
Player D - 10 wins, GWS 45, Team 2 chosen for the Game of the Week and their sheet scored 12 points
Actual GWS: 44
Actual Game of the Week Winner: Team 2
Player D wins the pool for that week because he had the most wins (tied with A and B), and was closest in GWS (tied with B), and chose the winning team in the Game of the Week, and they scored the most points on their sheet.

Example 6

Player A - 10 wins, GWS 46, Team 1 chosen for the Game of the Week and their sheet scored 15 points
Player B - 10 wins, GWS 45, Team 1 chosen for the Game of the Week and their sheet scored 10 points
Player C - 10 wins, GWS 45, Team 2 chosen for the Game of the Week and their sheet scored 12 points
Player D - 10 wins, GWS 45, Team 2 chosen for the Game of the Week and their sheet scored 12 points
Actual GWS: 44
Actual Game of the Week Winner: Team 2
Player C and D split the pool for that week because they had the most wins (tied with A and B), and were closest in GWS (tied with B), and chose the winning team in the Game of the Week and scored the same amount of points on their sheet. Alternately, they could have decided to challenge each other to a game of their choice, or some other method to break the tie.

Payouts

The payout for each week is typically 80% of the amount paid in for that week. This percentage is selected at the time the league is created and might be different based on the individual leagues.

Example: If 5 sheets were bought for a total of $10, $8 would be the payout for the week. The remaining 20% will go into the Ultimate Winners Fund.

Ultimate Winners Fund

The Ultimate Winners Fund grows every week with a percentage of the amount paid each week. At the end of the regular season (18 weeks), the person with the most points earned will get the Ultimate Winners Fund. In the event of a tie, the player with the most correct choices during the season will be the winner. If there is still a tie, then the winners will come up with a way to either split the money or decide on the actual winner, with an arbiter selected. Such methods could include deciding on the winner of the Super Bowl, an exciting game of Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock, hopscotch competition, etc.

If you want to qualify for the Ultimate Winners Fund, you must pay for all 18 weeks up-front at the beginning of the season ($37). In doing so, you will receive your 18 sheets up front to use as you will throughout the football pool.

If you decide you don't want to pay up-front, you can still buy a sheet on a weekly basis and still win the weekly pools, but you will not be eligible for the UWF at the end.

Vegas Odds

Vegas Odds are given for each game. These odds will help determine who is at a severe disadvantage and can alter the amount of points that are assigned to each game. These odds can also be used to help you easily make your picks based on what the "experts" think about each team's chances of winning.

Points

Except for tie breakers, points are only used for people who are playing for the Ultimate Winners Fund (UWF). Each team that you correctly choose as the winner is worth 1 point normally. If you choose a team that is an underdog (according to Vegas Odds), but less than a 5 point underdog, it is still worth only 1 point. If the team is a 5 to 9 point underdog, that team would be worth 2 points if they win. Finally, if the team is a 10 point or more underdog, then the team is worth 3 points if they win. These points will be totalled at the end of the season to see who is the Ultimate Winner. The points are clearly shown on each game when you are picking the teams for the week.