The rules of the chop.

Your chop

$100.00 in fictional play money per player. Free entry, with no cash prizes. Past simulated distributions stay with the player.

Classic Chop

Classic Chop needs one selection each round. Win, push or void to survive. A losing or missed pick chops the player.

Double Chop

Double Chop needs two selections from two different physical games. Both must win, push or void to survive. Any loss chops the player; an incomplete ticket at Lock counts as a missed pick and also chops the player.

Weekend Chop

Weekend Chop needs exactly one college football selection and one NFL selection. The sport comes from the game, not the day it is played. Both must win, push or void; any loss or an incomplete ticket at Lock chops the player.

Slice Chop

Slice Chop needs one selection. The first losing or missed-pick round leaves a player SLICED. Rebuy once with $100.00 in simulated play money before the next round’s picks close; the player stays SLICED. A second losing round, or no rebuy, chops them. A rebuy never refills Point Bank.

Spread options

Standard Lines

Standard Lines is the default for new leagues. Use the official sportsbook’s posted spread or total, or an underdog or Pick’em moneyline. Favorite moneylines and alternate spread adjustments require Point Bank. Every price must be -200 or better.

Point Bank

Point Bank is optional: each player starts with 6 points, chosen from 3, 6, 9 or 12 at league creation (6 is the default). A safer alternate spread costs its movement from the standard spread; a harder alternate spread can earn its movement. Either way the move is at most 3 points, on a line the official sportsbook actually offers. A favorite moneyline costs the distance from its standard spread to zero, up to 3 points, so a favorite of more than 3 can’t be taken on the moneyline; an underdog or Pick’em moneyline costs nothing. Every selection must be priced -200 or better. The bank never goes above its starting size: a harder line can still be taken when the bank is full, for its better price, but only the room left is banked. Only awarded picks change the bank. Every debit on a ticket must fit the bank from before that ticket: points earned on a ticket can’t pay for its own debits and count from the next round. Points earned on a two-pick ticket are banked once the ticket is complete, worked out for the whole ticket, so the bank is the same whether its picks are awarded together or one at a time. A push keeps the actual effect; a true void reverses only the actual effect, once. A reversal larger than the bank holds stops at zero, and the shortfall is recorded. The bank carries across rounds and a Slice rebuy does not refill it.

Original spread rule

A league created before Standard Lines and Point Bank keeps its original spread rule: up to 3 bought points on an actual sportsbook alternate spread priced -200 or better. Totals cannot buy points.

Games and claim lanes

Pick Priority

Picks use Pick Priority. Each physical game has one spread lane and one total lane. Either team’s spread, alternate spread and moneyline share the spread lane; Over and Under share the total lane. One side and one total from the same game may go to different players. Manual and provider copies of one game share these lanes.

First-come leagues

A first-come league keeps one player per physical game, across spreads and totals. A manual matchup and its provider copy are the same game when they can be matched reliably. Another player cannot claim the other side or market.

Priority and private rankings

Pick Priority

Rank choices privately before the pick deadline. In a league that plans Round 1’s pick deadline, Round 1 rankings open as soon as a player joins and close at that deadline; they follow the same rules as any ranking, and nothing is charged until picks are resolved. The commissioner resolves rankings in saved priority order: a random order in round 1, drawn from the final roster when Round 1 starts, so when a player joins or ranks never changes it; then the old #1 moves to the back each round while chopped players drop out. Each player gets their highest eligible choices for their mode. Rankings stay private until Resolve; then the Pick Audit shows every member the priority order and each evaluated choice. Awarded picks never move in a later Resolve. The commissioner can rank only for players they added who haven’t joined the league themselves.

First-come leagues

Submit your own pick before the deadline; an eligible matchup is claimed first come, first served. The commissioner can enter picks for players they manage. There is no ranked Resolve in a first-come league.

Round 1 and the roster

Pick Priority

Round 1 starts after registration closes, with at least 5 players (up to 12), every one with a confirmed play balance. If fewer than 5 have joined when registration closes, Round 1 doesn’t start: no round opens, no ticket is built and nobody is chopped. The commissioner can reopen registration so more can join. Round 1 rankings made during registration carry into Round 1 when it starts, with no need to enter them again, and Round 1 starts on the planned pick deadline players were shown. If Round 1 can’t start because registration closed short of players, those rankings are cancelled and each player is told privately; nothing was charged, and they rank again if registration reopens. If registration is extended past the planned Round 1 pick deadline, Round 1 moves to the first same weekday and time after registration closes. A removed player’s ranking is deleted, and changing the chop or spread option before Round 1 clears every Round 1 ranking (each player is told privately and ranks again under the new rules).

First-come leagues

Round 1 starts after registration closes, with at least 5 players (up to 12), every one with a confirmed play balance. If fewer than 5 have joined when registration closes, Round 1 doesn’t start: no round opens, no ticket is built and nobody is chopped. The commissioner can reopen registration so more can join. Picks open when the commissioner starts Round 1.

Fallback, Resolve and Lock

Pick Priority

After Resolve, a player without a full ticket can submit fallback choices until Lock. Before the deadline, eligible fallbacks may be edited. After the deadline, a submitted fallback is frozen. Only a missing slot lost to a higher-priority lane claim may reopen; its replacement locks immediately. Point Bank, same-game or other failures do not reopen a slot after the deadline. Resolve again awards waiting fallbacks in priority order without moving earlier awards. A player whose Round 1 rankings made during registration were all removed when Round 1 started has the same fallback right. Before the deadline, Lock waits for a complete ticket; at or after it, an incomplete ticket at Lock is a missed pick.

First-come leagues

Picks and edits close at the deadline or when the commissioner locks early after all picks are in. A missing pick at Lock is a missed pick once the deadline has passed.

Kickoff and locked lines

A new or edited selection must be made before the earliest reliably known kickoff of its physical game, and the game must kick off after the pick deadline. No new live picks. A line, price and Point Bank cost lock when the pick or ranking is submitted, including moneyline and potential earned credit; the actual capped bank effect is saved on award. Later market movement does not alter it. Later kickoff information does not undo a legitimate already awarded or locked selection. A Round 1 ranking made during registration is checked again whenever Round 1’s planned pick deadline moves and when Round 1 starts: a choice whose game now kicks off at or before Round 1’s pick deadline is removed, and the player is told privately. Its line and price are never changed.

Shared tickets

2-leg preference

The league prefers 2-leg simulated parlays. In Double and Weekend, a player’s two selections ride on the same ticket and come from two different games. Lock builds tickets once and keeps each player's selections together; the draw cannot be reshuffled. With an odd number (three or more) of Classic or Slice selections, one ticket carries three; in Double and Weekend, each player’s two selections make their own ticket. No ticket has a single leg: a lone Classic or Slice selection rides on no ticket.

4-leg preference

The league prefers 4-leg simulated parlays. In Double and Weekend, a player’s two selections ride on the same ticket and come from two different games. Lock builds tickets once and keeps each player's selections together; the draw cannot be reshuffled. Tickets may have fewer legs, split as evenly as possible: two or three in Classic and Slice, or one player’s two selections riding alone in Double and Weekend when an odd number of players have complete tickets. No ticket has a single leg: a lone Classic or Slice selection rides on no ticket.

Round pot

Each round with at least one ticket allocates 25% of the shared simulated pot to its tickets and keeps the rest in reserve; a round with no ticket stakes nothing. Stakes are divided by the number of selections, with every cent accounted for. Slice rebuys join the shared pot. Raise the Stakes: from Round 2, with two or three players left and before any pick is in, any of them can propose a bigger share for that round only, in 5% steps (up to 50% in Round 2, 75% in Round 3 and 100% from Round 4). It applies only if every player still in approves within 12 hours, and at least two hours before the pick deadline. Picks wait while the vote is open; one rejection, or the vote closing first, keeps 25%. If a round stakes the whole pot and its tickets lose, the pot is empty: the league ends and everyone still in is chopped.

Grade and settle

Final provider scores automatically grade each locked selection as win, loss or push and calculate the normal simulated return from locked odds, including a moneyline’s locked price. A moneyline on a tied game waits for the commissioner’s documented result. Uncertain games stay pending; a true void or provider error needs a documented commissioner correction. Pushed or voided legs drop out of the return calculation; an all-push or all-void ticket returns its stake. Only positive net round profit is split equally among players who survived that round.

Final pot

Classic, Double and Weekend Chop

The last survivor takes the remaining pot. At the 6-round limit or below $1, the remaining survivors split it. If everyone is chopped, the players who started that round split the balance. Indivisible cents follow roster order.

Slice Chop

The last player not chopped takes the remaining pot. At the 6-round limit or below $1, all players not chopped split it. Rule C: a player first sliced in that final round pays up to one original $100.00 rebuy from their own final share, never below $0; that amount goes to the other finalists. If everyone is chopped, that round’s starters split the balance. Every cent is conserved.

Commissioner responsibilities

Start with at least 5 confirmed players, expand by two up to 12 before the registration deadline set when the league was created, and open round 1 after registration closes (before its planned pick deadline, when the league plans one; the commissioner can plan or move that deadline before Round 1 starts). Choose the official odds source, set each round’s deadline, Resolve ranked picks where used, Lock once eligible, refresh and review final results, then settle the ledger. Enter a documented correction only for a provider error or a result the provider cannot establish. A manual matchup is a backup when the odds board lacks the game.