The Ultimate Pigskin Pickem (UPsP) is essentially three types of traditional pools wrapped up into one shiny package.

1. Straight Pick Em':
This is very straight-forward... each week you select the winner of each NFL game as detailed on the 'picks' page. The person who correctly picks the most winners (based on the actual winner of the game, not a point spread) for each week will win a weekly Straight Pick Em' pot. In the event that there is a tie for the most correctly picked winners, the person who most closely predicted the winning team's score in the tiebreaker game (as noted on the 'picks' page and typically the final game of the week) will be deemed the winner of the weekly Straight Pick Em' pot. If multiple people are still tied, the person who most closely predicted the losing team's score in the tiebreaker game will be deemed the winner of the weekly Straight Pick Em' pot. If there is still a tie, the remaining tied players will split the weekly Straight Pick Em' pot.

2. Confidence Pool:
In addition to selecting a winning team in each matchup for the Straight Pick Em' competition, each week players will also assign a confidence value to each matchup. These values are used to indicate how confident a player is in that particular pick, essentially ranking the picks from best to worst. For example, if there are 16 games being played in a particular week, players would assign a value of '16' to the matchup which they felt was a 'sure thing' and a value of '1' to the pick they are least confident about. For each matchup that the winner is correctly predicted, players will receive the amount of points they assigned as the confidence value (Click here to see an example: Assigning Confidence Values). The player who has the highest point total each week will win the weekly Confidence Pool pot. In the event that there is a tie for the most confidence points, the person who correctly predicted the most matchup winners will be deemed the winner of the weekly Confidence Pool pot. If there is still a tie, the remaining tied players will split the weekly Confidence Pool pot evenly between them.

3. Survivor Contest:
This contest works differently from the other two pools in that instead of predicting all of the matchups each week, players will only select a single team each week. The team selected as the player's 'Survivor' must not lose that week in order for the player to 'stay alive'. If the 'Survivor' pick loses, the player will 'lose a life' and once the player loses two lives, they are eliminated from the contest. Each week players must select a new team as their 'Survivor' and may never pick a team that has been previously selected during the entire season (Example: a player selects the Ravens to be their 'Survivor' in week one. Regardless of if the Ravens win or lose in week one, the player may never pick the Ravens again as their 'Survivor'). The last player remaining in the contest who has not been eliminated will win the Survivor pot. The contest will result in a tie if one of the following scenarios occurs:

i) Multiple players are eliminated in the same week and there are no un-eliminated players remaining in the contest
ii) The NFL regular season ends and there are multiple players with two lives remaining
iii) The NFL regular season ends and there are no players with two lives remaining and multiple players with one life remaining

In the event of a tie the tied players will split the Survivor pot evenly between them. If a player fails to submit picks for a given week, they will 'lose a life' as if they selected a losing team.

Cumulative Pots
In addition to the weekly pots and the Survivor Contest, there will also be two pots awarded to the players who have the highest total scores in the Straight Pick Em' and Confidence Pool at the end of the NFL season. The total score for the Straight Pick Em' contest is based on the total number of correct matchup winners picked by each player over all 18 NFL weeks. The total score for the Confidence Pool is based on the sum of a player's Confidence scores over all 18 NFL weeks. In the event that there is a tie for either cumulative pot, the tied players will split the cumulative pot evenly between them. There will be no 'tie-breakers' for the cumulative pots. If a player fails to submit any picks for a particular week, they will receive a weekly score to add to their cumulative totals equal to one point less than the player who scored the lowest total in the Straight Pick Em' and the Confidence Pool (the lowest score will be determined only from those players who submitted a completed pick sheet). If a player submits a partially completed pick sheet, they will be awarded cumulative points equal to the greater of their actual score or one point less than the player who scored the lowest total in the Straight Pick Em' and the Confidence Pool.

NFL Ties
In the event that a matchup ends in a tie, all picks for that matchup will be scored as a loss for the purposes of the weekly and overall Pickem' and Confidence pools as players were not able to correctly pick a winner. Any player who selected one of the teams from the tied matchup as their Survivor Contest pick will not lose a life in the Survivor Contest as the team they selected did not lose.

Postponements and Cancellations
In the event that the NFL postpones or cancels any matchups during the season, the following scenario-based adjustments will be made in the UPsP:

scenario 1) If the gametime is moved to another time during the same week prior to any of the next week's matchups starting, then the starting time will be updated in the UPsP system and the week will continue as normal,
scenario 2) If the game is cancelled or the gametime is moved to another time that is set to occur after any of the matchups in the following week are set to start and,
a) None of the current week's matchups have started, then the starting time will be updated in the UPsP system and be considered part of the matchups in the new week the game is moved to, unless that new time is after the end of the regular season at which point it will not factor in to the UPsP at all or,
b) Any of the current week's matchups have started, then the same action as sub-section a) will be applied, plus all current confidence values will be adjusted down to account for the missing matchup (including the values of the started games),
scenario 3) If the game has already started prior to its cancellation or postponement to another time that is after any of the matchups in the following week are set to start, then it will be scored as if a tie with both teams having a final score equal to the current high score, and will not be included in the week in which it resumes.

*Updating the UPsP system for these scenarios is a manual process and thus will be completed as promptly as reasonable and every effort will be made to accommodate players' ability to correct their remaining picks.

Submission Deadlines
Players may make and edit their selections for each contest at any time prior to the start of that specific matchup's start time. The pick cutoff time for each game is based on the posted start time on NFL.com, however the system time may vary from actual time or your system's time, so picks should be submitted well before the posted start time to ensure you won't be 'locked' out. Players may modify their picks at any time prior to the start time of each matchup and picks/confidence values are stored automatically after the selection is made, and do not need to be submitted. Players may make their selections for any matchup through out the season at any time and do not need to make picks on a week-by-week basis. It is the player's responsibility to make their final selections well in advance of the start time.

Buy-in
In order to participate in the UPsP, players must pay a $65, one-time buy-in fee. The fee covers the entire NFL season with over 39 chances to win. Players can pay via PayPal by following these instructions, or may pay with cash or check by contacting payments@ultimatepigskinpickem.com.

Payout Schedule
The payout schedule for each pot is based on the total pool of 'prize cash' comprised of the entry fees collected from each participant less the Cumulative Pickem' Pot award.


2023 Payout Schedule

• Weekly Confidence Pot: $170 cash / week
• Cumulative Confidence Pot: $550 cash
• Weekly Pickem' Pot: 5 points added to your cumulative Confidence Pool score and $5 off your 2024 Buy-in fee.
• Cumulative Pickem' Pot: 100% discount on 2024 buy-in and $65 cash
• Survivor Contest: $725 cash