Football Pool FAQs - NFL Pickem, Survivor and More!

Select a category to jump to specific questions or browse all football pool FAQs below.

General FAQs

Why should I play on Gridiron Games?

Gridiron Games provides a top-notch service for managing and playing in online football pools. Our site is simple and intuitive, mobile-friendly, and handles all the tedious administration work that comes with managing a pool so you can focus on what matters most – your picks.

How is your site different than others?

At Gridiron Games we believe running your football pool online should be simple and hassle free. We’ve worked hard to develop a solution that takes the greatest aspects of a traditional pen-and-paper format and brings them together to create a seamless online experience.

Most importantly though, we plan on changing the landscape of football pools entirely through new experiences and innovation. Today, we offer a brand new game not available anywhere else called NFL Maxout and we have plans to offer many more new games like this down the road!

Is it really free to sign up and play?

Absolutely! Registration is free, and after you’ve created your account you can play in as many pools as you like. Register now and start playing for free today!

Can I access the site from my phone?

You sure can. Not only is our site entirely mobile-friendly, it’s actually optimized for your phone! We understand the need to make picks on the run, so we’ve worked hard to give our users the best possible experience whether they play on their phone, computer, or any other device!

Where can I submit feedback?

Our customers’ voice is extremely important to us so we’d love to hear your feedback, both good and bad. If you have issues, questions, or comments that you’d like to share, you can contact us directly at any time.

Player FAQs

I forgot my login details, what do I do?

Not a problem, don’t sweat it. To retrieve your login or password information visit the Password Recovery page.

I never got a reset password email

Chances are you probably received the email but it was filtered out into your spam/junk email. Check your junk email first and if it’s still missing just fill out the form on the Password Recovery page again to resend the email.

How can I edit my account information?

You can edit your Name, Email, Password, Display Name and other account information at any time from your Account Settings.

Username vs. Display Name

Username is your unique name established when you first create your account, and along with your email can be used to sign into your account. We typically don’t allow players to change their Usernames, however if you feel you have a good reason to change it, contact us and we’ll be happy to review your individual scenario.

Display Name is your public name visible within your pools. You can change your Display Name as much as you like from your Account Settings, so get creative and make it something fun!

How can I upload a profile photo?

You can upload or change your profile photo at any time from your Account Settings. Once uploaded, you’ll be given the opportunity to crop the image to the specific portion you want!

Is my profile visible to everyone?

No, only you can view your profile. We take privacy very seriously at Gridiron Games so player profiles are only accessible to the currently logged in user. If you would like to read more on how we handle player account information, please read our Privacy Policy.

How do I delete my account?

We’d hate to see you go, but if you want to delete your account you can do so at any time from your Account Settings.

Please note: You cannot delete your account if you are commissioner of a pool that contains other members. You must first make someone else commissioner before deleting your account.

Pool FAQs

Is there a cost to run my pool?

Not anymore! All of our football pools are now entirely free! Feel free to create multiple pools and invite as many players as you like.

Can I change my pool’s settings?

Of course! Once you’ve created your pool, you can change the settings (i.e. format, scoring, tiebreakers, pick deadline, etc.) at any time from the ‘Settings’ page.

How many players can join my pool?

Feel free to invite as many players to your pool as you like! Whether your pool consists of 2 players or 200 there is absolutely no cost to run your pool on the site.

How do I invite players to my pool?

If your pool is public, it will show up within the Pool Directory where players can join at any time. If your pool is Private, you’ll need to give them the Pool ID/Name and Pool Password first in order for them to join. Alternatively, if you want to invite players directly, you can send them a link or email from the ‘Settings’ page of your pool.

How can I email players in my pool?

As commissioner you have the ability to email players individually or all at once from the ‘Settings’ page of your pool. To email a player individually simply click the green email icon next to their name. To email everyone, click the white email icon in the header at the top of the table.

How do I remove players from my pool?

We understand there may be a need to remove players from a pool, especially in the case of public pools, so you can do so at any time from the ‘Settings’ page of your pool.

How can I leave a pool I belong to?

If you want to leave a pool you belong to, you can do so from the ‘Pools’ tab of your profile or the ‘Settings’ page of your pool.

Please note: You cannot leave a pool if you are currently the commissioner. If you would like to leave, you’ll need to make another player commissioner first (through the pool settings menu) and then leave the pool afterwards.

How can I delete my pool?

At the moment there isn’t a way for commissioners to delete pools. However, if you need to delete a pool for any reason please contact us and we’ll be happy to help!

Game FAQs

What the heck is NFL Maxout?

NFL Maxout is the addicting new football pool that combines elements of NFL Survivor with a unique scoring twist. Players compete by selecting one team each week that they believe will win, with the kicker being a team may only be selected once for the entire year. If a player’s team wins they receive the amount of points that team scored in the game. If their team loses, they receive 0 points for the week. Whichever player has the most points at the end of the year wins!

What other games do you offer?

At the moment we offer four games – NFL Pick’em, NFL Survivor, NFL Maxout, and Super Bowl Squares – but have plans to offer many more in the future.

Can I make picks against a spread?

You sure can! We offer the ability to pick against the spread for all of our games by using spread data provided by a white label odds source which is an aggregation of multiple oddsmakers. Current week spread data is updated several times per day and locked once the first game of the week has begun.

What happens when there’s a tie?

Games that end in a tie are counted as an incorrect pick for all pool types (NFL Pick’em, Survivor, etc.). Even though your team technically did not lose, the goal is to pick the winner so these are counted as incorrect for everyone, regardless of which side you were on.

When are picks due each week?

This depends on your pool’s settings. For NFL Pick’em pools, we offer the following pick deadlines:

Start of Week: All picks are due before the first game of the week.
Start of Day: Daily picks are due before the first game of the day.
Start of Game: Individual picks are due before the start of each game.
Staggered: Thursday picks are due first, than all other picks before the start of the next game (usually Sunday).

For NFL Survivor and NFL Maxout pools, we offer the following pick deadlines:

First: Picks are due before the first game of the week.
Sunday: Picks are due before the first game on Sunday.

NOTE: If using the Sunday deadline players can still pick the Thursday game, however their pick will be due on Thursday and will be locked after the game begins.

What if I forget to submit my picks?

If you forget to submit your picks you’ll receive an incorrect pick for that game/week. Pool commissioners do have the ability to submit late picks for any player in the pool however, so if you forget to submit your picks we recommend reaching out to your commissioner so they can get you in after the deadline has passed.

How can I submit late picks?

As commissioner you can submit late picks for any player in your pool from the ‘Results’ page. To submit a brand new set of picks, click the ‘+’ icon located at the top of the player standings and use the dropdowns to select the desired player and teams. To update picks from an existing submission or to delete picks entirely, click the ‘pencil’ icon next to the desired player’s name and use the dropdowns to edit teams.

How do Pick’em tiebreakers work?

In the event multiple players finish the week with the same number of points, the following tiebreakers will be applied in order until a single winner is determined (you can configure your pool to play with none or all of the below):

TB1: Total Combined Score (last game of the week)

The lowest point differential between a player’s submitted score and the actual score of the game (whether or not you go over) will determine the winner. As an example, if Player A has a tiebreaker score of 45 and Player B has a tiebreaker score of 52 and the actual score of the game is 50, Player B would win the tiebreaker because their point differential is 2 rather than Player A’s differential of 5.

TB2: Total Combined Score (second to last game)

Same calculation as TB1

TB3: Highest Scoring Team of the Week

Out of the selected teams, whichever team scores the most points in their game will determine the winner.

TB4: Lowest Scoring Team of the Week

Out of the selected teams, whichever team scores the least points in their game will determine the winner.

How do I submit multiple entries?

At the moment, only our NFL Survivor and NFL Maxout pools support multiple entries however we are working on incorporating this feature into NFL Pick’em pools in the future.

Once your NFL Survivor/Maxout pool is configured to allow multiple entries (this can be done from the Settings page of your pool), you can submit your entries from the Picks page. After submitting your first entry (by selecting a team from any week), a green button will become available at the top of the page that will allow you to submit a ’NEW’ entry if needed.

What happens if all players are eliminated?

In the event all remaining players are eliminated from your NFL Survivor/Maxout pool, the system will prompt the commissioner whether they would like to continue to allow players to play. If the commissioner decides no, pool results will then be finalized and multiple winners will be crowned. If the commissioner decides yes, the system will mark the remaining player’s picks as a ‘Mulligan’ and allow them to continue playing subsequent weeks. Multiple ‘Mulligans’ can be applied in the event all remaining players are eliminated again in future weeks.

Please note: Pool commissioners will need to wait until the following week to make a decision, as pool results are calculated at the end of the week once all games are final.

When are results and winners posted?

Pool standings are updated shortly after the end of each game, and winners are posted once the last game of the week has finished.

When are numbers assigned to my grid?

NFL Squares commissioners have the ability to manually assign or randomly generate team numbers at any time by clicking the pencil icons at the top of the grid. If numbers have not been assigned by kickoff, the site will automatically generate them for you!

How do I pay for my squares?

Unfortunately due to varying state laws and how they treat online gambling at the moment we are unable facilitate any real-money transactions on the site. If your pool decides to play with dues and prizes, for charity or any other reason, you’ll need to facilitate payment offline through other services such as Venmo or PayPal. That being said, our NFL Squares grids automatically handle the administrative work of tracking dues and crowning quarterly winners so settling up is easy!

What if the game goes into overtime?

Our NFL Squares pools are set up to crown winners based on the score at the end of the 1st quarter, 2nd quarter, 3rd quarter, and game (whether that’s the 4th quarter or overtime).