ATROPOSSurvivor pool rules, edge cases included
The core rule fits in a sentence: pick one team a week, win and advance, lose and you're out, never reuse a team. Everything that decides money lives in the edge cases — ties, missed picks, extra lives, buybacks, and what happens when everyone loses at once. Big-contest answers below; casual pools vary, so check your commissioner's settings against each one.
Can you pick the same team twice in a survivor pool?
No — using each team at most once is the defining rule of the format. Some casual pools 'reset' team availability if the season runs long enough that entries exhaust their lists, but the major contests never do: in the Splash World Championship you spend 26 of the 32 teams, and inventory management is most of the strategy.
What happens if you miss a pick in a survivor pool?
In the major contests (Circa, Splash), a missed pick is an elimination, same as a loss. Some office pools soften this with an auto-pick (usually the biggest favorite not yet used). Missed picks are common enough to measure: large-field data shows a real no-pick hazard every single week.
Does a tie count as a loss in survivor pools?
In Circa Survivor and the Splash World Championship, yes — a tie eliminates you. Casual pools sometimes treat ties as a push (you survive but your team is still spent). NFL ties are rare but real; on near-pick'em selections the tie hazard is worth roughly a quarter point of win probability.
What are extra lives, strikes, or mulligans in survivor pools?
Commissioner options that let an entry survive one loss (sometimes at the cost of a fee or a used team). Splash Sports commissioners can enable extra lives; the major money contests do not — one loss is one elimination. If your pool has strikes, optimal strategy shifts meaningfully toward aggression early.
What are buybacks or rebuys in survivor pools?
A window to re-enter after an early elimination. Circa Survivor's 2025 rules allowed rebuys only for entries that lost the opening Thursday/Friday games, and only until the registration deadline. Office pools often allow week-1 or week-2 buybacks at a premium. After the buyback window, elimination is final everywhere.
How does a survivor pool pay out if everyone loses?
The standard big-contest rule: the pool is split among entries eliminated in the final week anyone was alive — the last cohort standing. This matters enormously: 53.6% of simulated 2026 World Championship seasons end with the whole field eliminated, so the 'everyone loses' clause is closer to the main ending than the edge case.
When do survivor picks lock?
Contest-dependent: typically at each game's kickoff or at a single weekly deadline before the first game of the slate. Circa runs holiday mini-slates (Thanksgiving, Christmas) as separate survival rounds with their own deadlines. Always check whether your pool locks picks at kickoff or week-start — it changes how late injury news can be used.
Do survivor pools continue into the NFL playoffs?
The major contests end with week 18 — survive all season and you split the pool. Some private pools run playoff extensions where team reuse is allowed (there aren't enough playoff teams otherwise). If your pool extends, inventory rules change completely; check before the season, not in January.
Contest-specific rules: Circa Survivor · Splash Survivor World Championship · Strategy: how to make picks