Rules for Evan's NFL Pool

General Information

1. Each week, usually on Tuesday, I will email a link to the pool listings to everyone on the Mailchimp-managed email list.  You can add yourself to the mailing list here. There is an Unsubscribe link in every email.
2. You MUST be on the email list and receive all emails in order to be eligible to play the pool each week.
3. Each week's email will point players to a web entry for that contains all NFL games being played that week.
4. Each game will list a favorite, an underdog, and a point spread.  Point spreads come from whatever newspaper I happen to see first on Tuesday morning (or sooner), usually this web site.
5. When a point spread is an integer (e.g. 4, 5, 39, etc.), I will add or subtract 0.5, so that we do not have any ties on any games.
6. If the official point spreads change over the course of the week, we will NOT reflect that change in the pool. 
   
7. As long as you pay for each entry, and each entry is listed under a separate name or nickname, you may enter as many times each week as you wish.
8. You need not play every week, although if you don't, you may make yourself ineligible for the end-of-season payouts.

Playing

1. To play, you must select a winner for each game in the list, select a Best Bet game that will count double for you, and enter the total points that you guess will be scored in the Monday night game (as a tiebreaker).
2. We are NOT playing simple winners and losers, but rather winners and losers against the official point spread.  If the line on a game is, say:

   Favorite	Point Spread	Underdog
   Jets	6.5	Patriots

   that means that if you pick the Jets, they must win by MORE THAN 6.5 points for you to get credit for the game.  If the Jets win by only 5 or 6 points (or fewer, or the Patriots win outright), then people who picked the Patriots get credit for the game.
3. There is a column on the entry sheet called "Best Bet". As part of their entry, players must pick one game from the week's slate as their Best Bet for the week. The Best Bet game counts twice for the week for the player who picks it. This means that in a 16-game week, there will be 17 contests, plus the tie-breaker.
4. The tiebreaker will apply to the last game of the week, usually the Monday night game, and the last of the games if there are multiple Monday night games.

How to Enter

1. Return to the Pool Home Page, and click on the link to this week's entry form. Complete the form, and click Submit. You're entered!
2. Entries should be made via the web-form only. There will be a link to the current week's entry form from the home page.
3. If you prefer to keep your entries anonymous, that's fine, but I need to know who you are.  You will select a nickname, and you may hide behind that all year if you like. Please include your FULL name on your entry.
4. Standings and other public information will be listed by your nickname only.  If you do not want everyone to know you are playing, choose a nickname that is not obvious.  (But stick with the same nickname all year to be eligible for end-of-season payouts!)
5. The deadline for each week's entries will be specified in the email that announces the week's games, but will generally be shortly before the kickoff of the first game. 
6. Partial entries are not permitted. All games for the week must be selected before the deadline.
7. If you need to change your entry, email Evan BEFORE THE DEADLINE and the change can be made. Please don't make a habit of it.
8. ** IMPORTANT ** It is up to each player to make sure that his/her entry shows up on the entries page. If an entry does not show up on the entries page, it has not officially been entered. The entries page is updated every time it is refreshed, and should reflect new entries immediately.

Weekly Scoring

1. The web site will keep track of each player's correct and incorrect guesses, and will generally publish interim results throughout the weekend, and then publish the final results on Monday night or Tuesday morning.
   
2. Whoever picks the most games correctly (including the Best Bet) in a given week wins the pot for that week.
3. If two or more players are tied after all of the week's games have been played, we will break the tie by using each player's guess for total points that will be scored in the Monday Night Football game. Whichever player's guess is closest to the actual number of points scored in the game wins the week.
4. If two or more players are tied after the tiebreaker has been applied, then the week's pot will be split evenly between them.
5. All weekly results will be published.
6. If someone picks ALL the games in a week correctly, then the payout for that player will increase from $4 to $5 for every player that week, with the extra dollar coming out of the end-of-year prize pot. (In other words, the dollar that would normally carry to the end of the season will be awarded to the player with the perfect score.)
7. If someone picks NO games correctly in a week, the player who does so will receive a special prize of $1 for every player who played that week, with that dollar coming out of the end-of-year prize pot.
8. In the exceedingly unlikely event that more than one person has a perfect score (all wins or all losses), the bonus payout will be split evenly among them.

Financial Information

1. It costs $5 a week to play.
2. Of the $5 a week, $4 from each player goes to the week's winner, unless the winner has a perfect score (See above).
3. The remaining $1 goes into a pot for end-of-season prizes.
4. This is a completely zero-sum pool.  All money that gets paid in will get paid out to the winners.
5. Once you have entered, you are committed to pay your share at the end of the season.

Who Can Play?

1. Essentially anyone with email and web access. If someone that I (Evan) don't know would like to play, then I need someone else to vouch for them. (See Collection below.)
2. You must be on the Mailchimp-managed email list in order to play the pool.
3. You must be 18 years old to play the pool for money. If you are under 18, you may play for free. (See Non-Paying Players below.)

Collection

1. The worst part of running a football pool is dealing with the money.
2. Everyone who plays (except for non-paying players -- See Non-Paying Players below) is in for $5 a week per entry.
3. Players have the option to prepay for the entire season, by paying $90 before week 2 begins. We'll refund unplayed weeks.
4. All other money will be collected and all winnings will be paid out at the end of the season.
5. Payouts will not be made until all owed money is received.
6. Everyone who plays is on their honor to pay in.
7. If any money is not paid in, then payouts will be reduced proportionally to all players, or by some other mutually agreeable arrangement.
8. If someone wants to play who I don't know, then a known player must vouch for them, and make good on any debts they owe at the end of the season.
9. Everybody knows all this stuff going in, and so there should be no excuses at the end.
10. I reserve the right to use peer pressure, public embarrassment, and any other means at my disposal to get stragglers to pay up at the end of the season.
11. If you fail to pay in a timely manner at the end of the season, you may be permanently banned from the pool. You also risk being excluded from many really cool parties, and considered a pariah in important social circles. Plus you may get really bad breath, and the fleas of a thousand camels may infest your armpits.

The End of Season Payouts

1. There will be eight payouts at the end of the season. 
   
2. The amount to be paid out will be calculated as a percentage of the money paid in.
3. I reserve the right to adjust payouts by no more than five percentage points (5%) to include an additional payout. Any decision to do so will be announced publicly and posted on the pool home page no later than Week 12.
4. The prize pool will be:

Honesty and Integrity

1. I, Evan, will play in the pool. So will members of my family. One or more of us may even win once or twice. If this troubles you, please don't play.
2. To keep the pool honest, all entries in the pool are automatically posted on the web site as soon as they are entered
3. Any other circumstances that the rules do not account for will be judged on the basis of logic, reasonability, and integrity.
4. If you have a problem with my decisions, let me know. If the problem persists, then please don't play.
5. This is supposed to be fun.
6. If this were just about money, it'd cost a lot more to enter the pool each week.

Non-Paying Players

1. There may be non-paying players in the pool each week. They do not pay in, and cannot receive payouts, either week-to-week or at the end of the season. They are playing for pure recreation, or for inclusion in the seasonal standings.
2. Anyone under the age of 18 who wishes to play must play for free.
3. Each week's entries will also include a random number generator ("dartboard") as a non-paying player, as well as non-paying entries for Favorites, Home Teams, and others.
4. If you would like to be a non-paying player, let me know BEFORE the first week's deadline. If you wish to change the status of a player from paying to non-paying, or vice-versa, please select a different nickname after the change.

Down Computers and Networks

1. From time to time, the computer that hosts the pool may go down. We'll do our best to keep it running during the outage.
2. If the outage lasts a significant amount of time or stretches past a weekly deadline, we may reduce the number of required weeks to qualify for the end-of-season pot.

The Rules

1. The rules are subject to change at any time.  I will do my best to send out a note to all players if the rules do change.
2. It is assumed that anyone who plays in the pool has read these rules.
3. If you have a gambling problem, please call 1-800-GAMBLER