LOTW — Lock of the Week

🔒 Official Rulebook

Lock of the Week

Everything you need to know to compete, win, and talk trash responsibly. Click any section to expand.

01 Eligible Bets 🎯 ▾

02 Locking In Your Pick 🔒 ▾

All picks are final. Once you submit your 🔒, you may not change it.
If an invalid pick is submitted, the commissioner can request clarification before it is final.

03 Missing a Pick ⏳ ▾

04 Determining Winners 🏆 ▾

Regular Season and Overall winner are determined by who has the most units.
A unit is the equivalent of a typical bet total so that bettors of all levels can be measured against each other. If you finish the year +2.5 units, you'd have expected to win $250 if you were a $100 bettor.

05 Betting Odds & Unit Calculation 📊 ▾

For bets with odds below even money (-101 or worse), the lock bet will be the number of units necessary to win 1 unit.
Example: A -110 bet is a 1.1 unit bet to win 1 unit.
For bets with odds above even money (+100 or better), the lock bet will be 1 unit with a payout equal to the odds.
Example: A +250 bet is a 1 unit bet to win 2.5 units.

06 Bounties 🔫 ▾

A bounty is triggered when there is only 1 correct pick in a given week. The bounty price per losing player is set by the commissioner at league creation.
Bounties are separate from and in addition to the league entry fee.
Pushes and no-entries are excluded from bounties.
Failure to pay a bounty by the conclusion of the following week will be subject to a penalty as determined by the commissioner.

07 Entry Fees 💵 ▾

Entry fees are due to the commissioner before the start of Week 1. Failure to pay on time will result in removal from the league.
The entry fee consists of prize pool and parlay contributions (if applicable). Parlay winnings will be applied to the overall prize pool.
Pushes and no-entries are excluded from bounty calculations.

08 Parlays 🎰 ▾

The parlay portion of the entry fee is applied to a real-life parlay bet placed with a legal sportsbook by the commissioner.
The parlay consists of all league player selections for that week.
Where contradictions exist (e.g. both over and under selected for the same game), those legs are excluded from the parlay.
Where incompatible bets exist on the same side (e.g. moneyline and spread for the same team), the higher-odds selection is used.
Line movement between lock time and parlay submission should be mitigated by the commissioner as best as possible — but slight differences may occur. That's gambling.
Proof of parlay submission must be provided by the commissioner. Failure to submit does not excuse the payout — the commissioner is responsible.
Parlay payout includes the original bet amount.
Example: A $15 3-team parlay at 6-to-1 pays $90 total (including the $15 stake).

09 Rule Changes 📜 ▾

Rules should be agreed upon and posted to the league page prior to the season start.
In-season rule changes require a 100% vote by all league players.
For league continuations, off-season rule changes require a simple majority.
Optional but encouraged: All rule change votes must be conducted from a body of water. 🚤

10 Prizes 💰 ▾

Regular season prize pool is 25% of total entry fees minus parlay contributions. 1st place collects 15%, runner-up collects 10%.
Example: 5-person $10/week NFL league (22 weeks), $3/week for parlays. $1,100 in entry fees = $770 minimum prizes + $330 for parlays. Regular season pool = $192.50 (25% of $770). Leader collects $115.50 (15%), runner-up $77 (10%).
Overall prize pool is 75% of minimum prizes plus all parlay winnings. Winner collects 70%, runner-up 20%, 3rd place 10%.
Example cont.: Overall pool = $577.50 (75% of $770) + parlay payouts. If parlays paid $300, winner collects $614.25 (70% of $877.50).
A parlay that pushes adds the bet amount back to the overall prize pool for that week.

🏀 March Madness

Bracket Pick 'Em

Pick against the spread each round of the NCAA Tournament. Every league is commissioner-configured — these rules are the platform defaults.

MM-1 Format 🏀 ▾

Each league runs for up to 6 rounds of the NCAA Tournament: Round of 64, Round of 32, Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, and Championship.
Each round has a maximum number of picks the commissioner sets when creating the round. You may pick fewer — but you can't exceed the cap.
All picks are against the spread. The spread is pulled from the Odds API and may update as lines move before the round locks.

MM-2 Making Your Picks 🔒 ▾

Picks can be changed any time while the round is open. Only your final saved selections count.
The round locks automatically once every player in the league has submitted their picks — or the commissioner manually locks it.
Once locked, picks are final and become visible to all players.
Other players' selections are hidden from you until the round locks. You can see how many picks they've submitted, but not which teams they picked.

MM-3 Scoring 📊 ▾

Each pick is graded as a Win, Loss, or Push based on whether your team covered the spread.
Standings are ranked by wins, then losses as a tiebreaker.
Pushes count neither as a win nor a loss.
Games are graded automatically by the commissioner using final scores from the Odds API, or entered manually.

Example: If Kansas is favored by -4.5 and wins by 7, Kansas covers — picking Kansas is a Win. Picking the opponent is a Loss.

MM-4 Round Advancement ⏭️ ▾

The commissioner advances the league to the next round from the Manage page after all games are graded.
Games for the new round are fetched from the Odds API once lines are posted. The commissioner can re-fetch at any time to pick up new games or updated spreads.
The commissioner may also add games manually if a matchup isn't showing from the API yet.

MM-5 Entry Fees & Prizes 💰 ▾

Entry fees and prize structure are set by the commissioner at league creation and apply for the full tournament.
Prize payouts are at the commissioner's discretion — LOTW is the platform, not the bank.
Entry fees are due before picks open for Round 1. The commissioner may remove non-paying players before the round locks.