Frequently Asked Questions FAQ

We have two separate FAQ pages that deal just with the postseason:

Our Playoffs and Bowls FAQ page describes the options for extending your existing PICK'EM pool into the Playoffs and Bowls

Our College Football Playoffs FAQ describes how the website handles the College Football Playoff system, and what options are available

Introductory Questions

User Information Questions - Username, Email and Password

I forgot my password. What should I do? - To retrieve your password, go to the HELP>Retrieve Password screen, provide us with your username or e-mail address, and we'll send you an email with instructions for changing your password.

I forgot my username. What should I do? - To retrieve your username, select HELP>Retrieve Password, enter your registered email address in the form provided, and we'll send you an e-mail with your username (screen name).

How do I change my username, email address, and/or password? - You can change all of your personal information from the My Account screen. Remember, usernames and email addresses must be unique to the site.

My email address has changed, and I forgot my password. How can I retreive my password? - If you were in a pool, your pool manager can change your email address using the pool roster page. When he/she does that, the computer will change your password and email it to your old and new email addresses. If you weren't in a pool, you can write us and we'll change your email address for you.

I know my username and password, but I still can't log in. - If your username and password are correct and you still can't log in, it's probably because your browser is set to not accept cookies. Cookies are harmless, and are necessary for you to use the site. Set your browser to accept cookies, and you'll be able to log in. To check if your browser is set to accept cookies, take our cookie test.

Do you have an app? - Yes! We have mobile apps for some games and our site is fully functional on your mobile device. For football pick'em and survivor, we have an app called "OFP Mobile" (iOS and Android). And for March Madness we have an app for Pick-The-Bracket that's called "TP Hoops". These apps do not work for other sports like golf or baseball and the apps do not work for other games like share pools.

What should I do if I want more than one account under the same email address? - You can easily create multiple entries under your main account and under one email address. Pool managers can limit the number of entries you can have but by default you can create as many as you like. When you go to the pick sheet in the first week of your pool, you'll see a link to add entries. After your first week the link may be gone but here it is, Add/Remove Entries.

How can I convert an entry under my account to be a separate full account? - To convert your alias entry to a full account, do the following:

Log in under your main account.
Click "My Pools" link in the left frame right below where it shows your pool name.
Click the link to "Edit" the entry.
Click the link to Convert to Full Member.
Enter an email address and password for your new full account.
Click Submit and you're done.

Pricing Questions

Is OfficeFootballPool.com free to use? - No. We charge the pool manager a Pool Hosting Fee to use our service.

How much does it cost? - The fee for most of our games is on a "per entry" basis (note that people can have more than one entry in your pool), and the per entry amount depends on what type of pool you are running. For example, football pickem pools are $3.75/entry, whereas March Madness bracket pools are $1.25/entry. Some games have a fixed fee, like square pools ($12.95). The pricing structure for each game that we offer is clearly laid out as you browse around on our home page.

For a season long pool, does "per entry" mean per week? - No, the "per entry" cost for a season long pool is for the duration of the season.

I'm the pool manager, how do I pay for using your website to run my pool? - You can pay your Pool Hosting Fee pool online by going to POOL ADMIN>Pay Hosting Fee (or by clicking here). We currently accept major credit/debit cards and PayPal.

I'm a pool member, how do I pay for my entry in the pool? - First off, our website is for entertainment and marketing purposes only. If you are trying to pay an entry fee with the hope of winning prizes, then you and your pool manager are using our website in violation of our terms of service. We have to kick people off the website all the time for that very reason. However, if you are trying to pay your share of the Pool Hosting Fee, you will have to arrange that with your pool manager offline.

Can I test out the website before I pay? - Absolutely. We encourage you to test out the site before you pay. You can set up your pool or league with no obligation to pay, so feel free to start one now. For most pool types, the hosting fee is only due after the first results of your pool are in, and in fact, we recommend you wait at least until after your first pick deadline passes (if applicable) so you know how many people to pay for.

I don't know how many people will be playing. Can I wait to pay until after everyone has joined? - Yes. We encourage you to get your pool going, and pay after you know exactly how many people will be participating. For Pick'em, we give you 3-4 weeks into the regular season before you need to pay. For Survivor pools, we ask for the hosting fee soon after your first weekend of games.

Can people join my pool after I have paid? -

Yes, in most cases, people can join your pool at any time in the season* without any interruption to your pool. We periodically look for pools with a balance due, and notify you of the additional amount due and give you a new payment due date to pay the balance.

* For some pools, it doesn't make sense to add entries later in the season (e.g. Survivor Pools where a pool member who doesn't participate in the first week would be "eliminated" and there would be no reason to join.

Pick Deadlines

What is the pick deadline? - The pick deadline is the day and time by which all pool members must finalize their picks for the week. This deadline is set by the pool manager and is clearly shown on the picksheet and in score emails and reminder notices. The pool manager can change the pick deadline at anytime.

How do I set the pick deadline for my pool? - Only the pool manager can set the pick deadline for their pool. The pool manager can set the pick deadline to whatever time he/she wants using the POOL SETTINGS>Pick Deadline page. The default pick deadline for pro football is Sunday at 10AM, Pacific Time, and the site is set up so you can leave the deadline set on Sunday all year long. Even when there's a Thursday game, you can leave the deadline set for Sunday because of our built-in safeguards which prevent people from entering or changing picks for games that have already started. Once a game starts, all picks for that game are locked.

Some managers like to set their pick deadline for Friday so everyone can print out the poolwide picks at work, and then take the picksheets home knowing that all the picks are locked.

Fantasy Football Leagues and Share Pools do not have pick deadlines. It is all based on the individual game times.

When there's an early game (e.g. Thursday), can I enter a pick for the early game only and then come back later to do my Sunday picks? - Yes, if the pool manager allows it, you can submit a partially completed set of picks. The default setting is to require a fully completed set of picks. To change that setting, the pool manager has to write the website.

The season starts with a Thursday game, as pool manager do I need to change my pick deadline for Thursday? - You can change the deadline, but it's unnecessary. The pick deadline for the Thursday game is always kickoff time, regardless of the overall pick deadline for your pool. If you haven't selected a pick for the Thursday game by then, you will be unable to make a pick for that game.

What happens if the Thursday game starts before I enter my picks? - If you miss picking a Thursday game, you get a "no pick" for that game, which is neither a win nor a loss. You can still enter your picks for the Sunday games, provided it is before your deadline. If your pool uses Autopicks, the computer will pick for you when you forget. If you don't use the Autopicker, you'll get a "no pick" for every game that you don't enter picks for.

For missed entries in a confidence pool, you lose your highest ranks first. For example, if your top rank is 16, you lose your 16 pointer when you miss entering the Thursday game.

Can I change my picks? - Yes, for pools that have a pick deadline (not Share or Square pools) you can change your picks as often as you like, but only up until the pick deadline. After that time, no picks can be made or changed. Also, you can never change a pick for a game that has already started.

What do I do if I miss the pick deadline? - If you have made use of the Autopicks feature, the website will make your picks for you. Check with your pool manager to see if Autopicks is enabled for your pool.

If you are not using Autopicks, we recommend that you immediately post your picks on your pool's trash talk message board (which is time stamped) and then try to contact your pool manager who may take pity on you and accept your late picks.

Autopicks

What if someone forgets to enter picks? Can we give him all the Home Teams? - Yes. OFP has a feature called "Autopicks" that assigns picks when people forget or are late. It works in football Pick'em and Survivor and also in Golf.

Do Autopicks include predictions for the Monday night tiebreaker? - Yes, the Autopicker picks a random tiebreaker total. For an NFL tiebreaker game (usually the Monday Night game) the Total generated is between 30 and 60 points (if your tiebreaker game is a college game, then the number generated is between 35 and 65 points). This is for Pick'em pools only.

Can I change picks made by the Autopicker? - Maybe. If it's before your pick deadline and before gametime, you can change your picks. However, most of the time, the autopicker doesn't run until after your pick deadline.

We only allow 3 sets of auto picks per year. If I do my own picks later, does it still count as an autopick? - If you enter your own picks when only 1 game is locked then the auto pick flag gets erased. If 2 or more games are locked then the autopick flag sticks.

How do Autopicks work for Survivor Pools? - In Football Survivor Pools, there are 3 Autopick options and the pool manager selects one. The most popular option is Biggest Favorite and the Autopicker gives you the biggest favorite, based on the point spread, that you haven't picked already and whose game has not yet been played. So if according to the point spread, the biggest favorite of the week is playing in a Thursday game and your deadline is only on Sunday, the Autopicks will be given on Sunday, and you WON'T get Thursday night's favorite, you'll get the biggest favorite of the remaining teams whose games have not yet started. The other 2 options are Smallest Favorite and Random.

Can the Autopicker change the picks that I already entered? - Absolutely not. The Autopicker will never change your picks. The way we have it coded, it's impossible for the Autopicker to change anything.

How do the Confidence Ranks for Autopicks work? - The autopicker always assigns the lowest rank (pts) to the earliest game (the game highest on the picksheet) and works up to the highest rank on the latest game (the game lowest on the picksheet like the Monday Night game). There is one exception to this rule: when you are set for ALL Favorites and your pool is scored straight up, in which case it assigns the highest rank on the biggest favorite and works down to the lowest rank on the smallest favorite.

I have a Best Bets pool (we pick 5 teams each week). Why does the autopicker only choose the last 5 games of the week? - With Best Bets, our auto picker functions in two different ways depending on which auto pick option is selected by the pool member. a. If the Autopick option is set to "Random", it will assign random picks on random games that haven't started. If there aren't enough games that haven't started, it will pick random games including games that have already kicked off or ended. b. If the Autopick option is set to anything other than Random, then teams from only the last 5 games (if you have a pick 5 Best Bets) will be picked according to the autopick setting (favorites, dogs, etc.). This is so that if you miss getting your picks in and are assigned autpicks, then if the pool manager is willing to shift the deadline for you, you still might be able to change some of the remaining picks if the games have not been played yet.

How are key picks assigned by the Autopicker? - The Autopicker will assign the key picks to the last X number of games on the picksheet, by game time, where X is the number of key picks you have set for your pool. If there is only one more key pick for the Autopicker to assign, and there are two or more games to choose from at the same game time, it is arbitrary which of those games gets selected by the system as the key pick. However, whichever game is chosen will be the same for all pool members.

I have Autopicks turned ON, yet some people still don't have picks this week. Why? - The most common reason people aren't getting Autopicks is because they haven't visited the site this year. We programmed the new Autopicker that way intentionally. If you want to assign autopicks to everyone, use the link under POOL SETTINGS > Default Pick Settings

Another possibility is that the pool is set to limit the number of autopicks someone can get during the course of the season. Check your pool settings to see if there is a maximum number of autopicks set.

Standings and Scoring

How do I exclude pre-season results from the season standings for Pick'em Pools? - The pool manager can change the weeks that get included in the season standings by using the POOL ADMIN>Week Settings page. You can start and stop your season standings in any week, including the pre-season, the regular season, and the playoffs.

Using this feature, you can practice during the preseason and do separate standings for the playoffs.

Is the MNF tiebreaker the closest to the total without going over? - No. Our program takes the absolute difference between your prediction and the total combined score on Monday night. You can be over or under the actual total. The person closest to the actual total is the winner. However, if you want to use the "closest without going over" method, you can add that statement to your text rules and it's easily implemented manually.

What if my Survivor pick ends in a tie? Do I get a win or a loss? - That is a setting that the pool manager has control over. By default the website counts a tie as a loss (strike) in Survivor pools. If you want a tie to count as a win (survive), you can change your setting on the POOL SETTINGS>Setup and Scoring page. Check the box that says "Count ties as a winning pick".

What are "Best Weeks?" - Using "Best Weeks," you can have your season standings based on a number of best weekly results. This way, if someone misses a week or has a really bad week, they still have a shot at winning the season prize (or bragging rights). We use your 5 Best Weeks in our free public pool, the OFP Mega Pool. A lot of private pools use 15 Best Weeks, which is the same as throwing out your worst 2 weeks in a 17-week season.

What is the difference between "Poolwide Picks" and "Poolwide Picks - 2"? - There are several differences between the Poolwide Picks and Poolwide Picks - 2 pages. The Poolwide Picks page is ordered by the weekly standings, and Poolwide Picks - 2 is ordered by the season standings. Also, Poolwide Picks only shows people who have entered picks this week, when Poolwide Picks - 2 shows everybody, regardless of whether they have entered picks for this week. Lastly, Poolwide Picks - 2 shows your Autopick option if you haven't entered picks yet.

How are ties treated? - In pools that award points, like confidence and key bonus and pools with weighted games, you get 1/2 the possible points when your game ends in a tie. For example, if your confidence picks have 13 points on the game that tied, you would get 6.5 points. If the game were worth 1 possible point, you would get 0.5 points. If your pool doesn't award points, then it just counts as a tie in the W-L-T column and it also counts as 1/2 a win if you're using Win% as a tiebreaker.

Point Spread Questions

How do point spreads work? - Point spreads on officefootballpool.com are always shown relative to the home team. A negative number means the home team is favored and a positive number means the road team is favored. Add the point spread to the home team's final score to see who covered the spread.

Who sets the point spreads? - We set the spreads on Tuesday mornings (or often Monday nights for college) based on our feed that includes lines from 7 different sports books. We use the middle line, so if the lines are -3, -3, -3, -3.5, -4, -4.5, -4.5, we use -3.5. For the default OFP lines, we always use a 1/2 point "hook" to avoid ties. So if the live line is -3.0 on Tuesday morning, we look at the history from our feed and use the last hooked line we recorded. If there are no hooked lines in the feed, then we adjust the line up (away from 0) in odd year seasons (like 2023) and down (towards 0) in even year seasons (like 2022). In 2022, if the line is -4, we'll make it -3.5. If it's +4 we'll make it +3.5.

For Share Pools, we always use the live lines and never put hooks on them artificially.

When do the point spreads get set? - We set the lines on Tuesday mornings by 9:30AM Pacific. Generally, the college lines go in sooner, like on Monday nights, but the official time for all lines is 9:30 Tuesday.

Can my pool use custom point spreads? - Yes. For Football Pick'em you can enter your own custom point spreads and over/under totals. For all other games, you have to use the default spreads.

Do the point spreads change during the week? - For most pool formats the answer is No. Once we set a line it never changes. However there are rare instances where we type the line in wrong and we will change it then. This normally happens on Tuesday and we notify everyone affected by the line change.

For Share Pools the lines (point spreads and over/under totals) can change anytime during the week. You are graded at the line that was in when you made your pick.

Special Options and Pool Operation Questions

Can other people see my picks? - It depends. The pool manager can opt to hide everyone's picks until after the pick deadline, or he can leave all the picks open for viewing. The manager can NOT change this setting back and forth during the week. Picks are always viewable once the games start or once the pick deadline passes. Note: The pool manager must write the website to get this setting changed for most pool formats. If you are a manager, write us to get your hide picks setting turned on or off.

Can the pool manager enter someone's picks after the week is over? - For Pickem and Survivor pools, yes, the pool manager can enter/change picks after the fact. Picks that get changed by the manager are flagged in the standings and poolwide picks pages so that everyone can see that a change has been made. The pool manager can also change someone's score without modifying their picks.

How do the confidence rankings work? - In pro pools where there are up to 16 games each week, you value your picks 16 (highest) through 1 (lowest) receiving points for each win corresponding to your rating. Your 16 point team is the team you are most sure will win. If they win, or cover the spread, you receive 16 points. Your 1 point team earns you 1 point for a win. If a game ends in a tie, you get half the confidence rank (e.g. 1.5 points for your 3 rank).

Standings in a confidence pool are determined by total points.

In weeks where there are only 14 games, the values go from 16 to 3, but we can set you up to make it 1 to 14 if you like. In college pools, the values start with the number of games you have and go down to 1. For example, if there are 10 games, the values go from 10 (highest) to 1 (lowest) and so on.

How many people can join my pool? - There is no limit to the number of people who can join your pool. We have hosted pools with thousands of members.

What is the best way to invite people into my pool? - We have an invitation form that contains all the information people need to register with the website and join your pool. The pool manager can find this form under POOL ADMIN>Pool Invite. Another option is to forward the email you received after you set up your pool. That email contains a link and all the directions necessary to join your pool. Finally, if people are already familiar with OFP, you can give them the Pool ID and Pool Entry Code and send them to POOLS > Join a Pool.

I'm planning to reuse my pool from last year. How do I remove players who won't be participating this year? - You can boot people out of your pool using the roster page. Find it at POOL ADMIN>Pool Roster.

I'm planning to start a new pool this year and don't want to confuse people with last year's pool. How do I get rid of my old pool(s)? - Pool managers can delete their old pools at POOLS>My Pools.

Once I boot someone, how do I prevent them from rejoining? - To prevent someone from rejoining your pool after you boot them, simply change the entry code of your pool. The other people in your pool won't be affected by the password change.

How do I change the pool entry code? - To change the pool entry code (a.k.a. pool password), go to POOL Settings>Basics. If you have a deadline to join your pool, changing the pool entry code is a good way to prevent people from joining after that deadline.

Can I use a college game for the Tiebreaker instead of the Monday Night Football game? - Yes. To set your own custom tiebreaker game go to POOL ADMIN > Set Tiebreaker Game.

How can I change the pool manager? - If you are the pool manager, you can give that role to someone else in your pool. Log in and go to this page: POOL ADMIN>Swap Manager.

Can there be 2 pool managers? - Yes, the main pool manager can designate another pool member to be a co-manager and the co-manager will have most all the same rights as the main manager. To designate a co-manager, go to your Pool Roster page, click on the username of the new co-manager and change their pool status to "co-manager" on the member detail page.

Can I change the name of my pool and keep everything else the same? - Yes. To change your pool name, go to POOL SETTINGS>Basics.

Can I divide the season into 2 parts and have winners for the 1st half, 2nd half, and full season? (Pick'em only) - Yes. On the Weeks Settings page, you can change the start and end weeks of your pool. A normal pool will start in week 1, and end in week 17. The first part of your pool would start in week 1 and end in week 8, and the second part would start in week 9 and end in week 17. You can use the week feature to do separate standings for preseason and playoffs, too. In addition, we have a Part Season Standings page, where any pool member can check what the standings would be under various start and end week scenarios.

What if my pool members have forgotten their username and/or password. - If they haven't changed email addresses, you can send them their passwords using the poolwide email tool. The poolwide email screen has a checkbox for including people's passwords in the mail you send. If they have changed email, you can change their email for them and the system will automatically change and send them their new password.

I want out of a pool. How do I remove myself? - POOLS > My Pools and click on the link to "Request Boot". If the season has NOT started yet, you will be removed from the pool as soon as you click on "Request Boot". If the season HAS started, you need to request to be removed from the pool by your pool manager.

Error Questions

Miscellaneous Questions

My company firewall prevents me from accessing officefootballpool.com at work. What can I do? - Unfortunately, as a matter of security, we no longer allow access to our website through a "back door" IP address. The only thing we can suggest is that when you are in the office, you use your phone (with wifi disabled) to access our website through our officefootballpool.com domain.

I have a pool on another site. Can I transfer that pool to OFP? - Yes, it's relatively easy to transfer your pool from another site to OFP. People do it every year and we can help you do it.

What if I still have some questions? - You can write to us at admin@officefootballpool.com directly, or you can visit our help message board by clicking here.

Can I use site with my cell phone? - Yes, absolutely! When you use your phone to access our website, you should automatically be given the mobile view of our website (with small screen-friendly menus and pages). If not, scroll down to the footer and click on the "mobile" link.

Is there an app? - Yes! We have a mobile app and it is available for both iOS and Android devices. Just type in "OFP Mobile" in your app store and have the full functionality of the website in the palm of your hands. OFP Mobile provides you with all the tools and features necessary to create, manage, and participate in the various games we offer. For certain games, OFP Mobile also takes advantage of your device's push notification functionality to send you timely reminders and alerts related to your games (e.g. "Last chance" pick reminders and notifications for cancelled events, etc.)

How can I prevent people from joining my pool now that it has started? - To prevent people from joining your pool after it has officially started, you should change your pool entry code (POOL SETTINGS>Basics). This will prevent anyone new from joining your pool. Then you should set your "Max Entrys/Person" setting to 1. This will prevent anyone who is in your pool already from adding entries, but will not affect any multiple entries that are already in the pool.

Can I do an NCAA Basketball tournament pool on OFP? - Yes, we offer several games for March Madness and they are available on OFP. We merged our 2 sites, tournamentpools.com and OFP last year and you can access all of your pools on either domain (website).

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