MOCKSLATE

Schedule Survivor — Official Rules

Rules version: games-survivor-2026.draft-1

Working draft — subject to attorney review before the contest opens. The scoring rubric is published and frozen before entries are accepted.

Entry

  • Free to enter — no purchase necessary. MockSlate Pro is not required and never affects prize eligibility or odds.
  • Entrants must be 18 or older with a MockSlate account, US only at launch. Void where prohibited.
  • One entry per person per season. Entries may be withdrawn and re-made until entries lock at the Week 1 kickoff.

How to play

Pick one game each week. You survive if its combined final points land in the top half of that week’s slate. Example: you pick Chiefs–Raiders and it ends 24–7 — that’s 31 combined; if 31 lands in the top half of the week’s ~16 games you advance, bottom half you’re out (a tie at the cutoff counts as surviving).

Both teams in your pick burn for the season — you can never use either again. Each pick locks at its own game’s kickoff; miss a week and you’re eliminated. Because every pick burns two teams, 16 picks use up all 32 — Week 16 is the furthest anyone can go, and by Week 17 the last survivors are boxed in. Most pools empty around Weeks 11–14.

  • Each week, pick one game before it kicks off. Picks lock per game, at that game’s kickoff — you may pick or change to any game that hasn’t kicked off yet. Once your picked game kicks off, the pick is final.
  • Both teams in your picked game are burned for the rest of the season — you can never pick a game involving either team again.

Survival & elimination

  • You survive a week if your game finishes in the top half of that week’s games ranked by combined final points. Bottom half, you’re eliminated.
  • With an odd number of games, the exact-middle game counts as surviving. Ties in combined points at the cutoff round in the players’ favor (a tie with the cutoff game survives).
  • Missing a pick deadline eliminates you. A week with no pick at grading time is an elimination.
  • If every remaining game in a week involves a team you’ve burned, you have no legal pick and are eliminated (boxed in). Running out of teams is how you lose — manage them wisely.
  • Because each pick burns two teams, a run of 16 picks uses up all 32 teams — so Week 16 is the maximum survivable week; any player still standing at Week 17 is boxed in. Realistically the pool empties earlier (around Weeks 11–14).
  • A postponed game eliminates you — your pick is locked in, and if the league doesn’t play it that week, that’s the risk you took.

Winner, prize & tiebreakers

  • Last player standing wins the $100. The contest ends when the player pool empties; the winner is the last player eliminated.
  • If the final surviving players are all eliminated in the same week, the winner among them is whoever’s picks scored the most combined points across the whole season. If still tied, the earliest-submitted entry wins.
  • Weekly results are graded automatically from final scores after each week completes; anomalous weeks (a missing result, a postponement) are held for human review before anyone is eliminated.
  • Sponsor: MockSlate (sponsor identity finalized in the attorney-reviewed rules).

MockSlate's prize games are free-to-enter skill contests — no purchase necessary. Pro-exclusive games are prize-free and carry no cash award. Not affiliated with the NFL or any team.

MockSlate is an independent fan tool and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, FIFA, or any team or national federation. Team names are used for identification purposes only.