Instructions

Instructions aren’t really needed for a nice and easy «pick your winner» kind of game. All settings are therefore set that way. You can get started right away. For those of you who like it a little more intense, here are some possibilities:

1. Functions for your personal pool

Anyone has the option to start a pool for your friends, club, company, division, relatives etc for free. The person starting the pool is the administrator.

Anyone can participate in a pool as long as they know the name.

The administrator is also a participant in the pool and additionally can:

• Set the name and logo for a pool
• Invite others to join the pool with an invitation form
• Change, add and delete participants in a pool
• manage virtual stakes and winnings
• set the winnings calculation for each individual pool
• manage extra point questions and weight them accordingly
• decide if you want a pool to be public or hidden
• add picks of other participants after the fact
• choose someones else to be administrator
• delete the pool

A pool participant has the opportunities to:

• upload their avatar and customize it
• pick how a competition will end (by date or by groups)
• calculate the pool ranking based on picks made
• change a pick
• see what other participants in his pool have picked
• check how many points she has already received
• see the ranking within your own pool
• check what top ten ranking you are at
• send others a private message
• use the chat for your own pool

Theoretically there is an unlimited number of participants per pool possible. However, based on experience we recommend 2-50 particpants per pool. There can be an unlimited number of pools.

All important tables are available as print version. Some can even be downloaded as Excel-tables.

2. Make your pick

For every competition you can can make your pick up to 5 minutes before the kick off.

The evening before the game participants that have not yet made their picks and have activated the „Send reminder“ button will automatically receive an e-mail reminder.

You can make your picks for all games at the same time. Exceptions are competitions with group system (for example, you can pick your groups A-Z, but the quarter and semi finals can’t be picked until the group winners are set). But we try to configure them as fast as possible.

The pool administrator can add picks of participants later. If this happens after game start the pick will be specially marked. That way all pool participants are aware which picks got altered at a later point by the administrator.

3. This is how your pick is valuated

The following can happen if a pick is made:

• Correct end result (exact score) => X points
• Participant picked the end result with the right score spread => Y points
• The winner got picked correct (winning team or draw) => Z points(s)
• End result is completely wrong or there was no pick made => 0 points

Default setting:

• X=3 points
• Y=2 points
• Z=1 point

New: The administrator may set X, Y, Z for a pool.

Example: The game ends 1:2.

• 1:2 picked => X points
• 0:1 picked => Y points
• 0:1 picked => Y points
• 0:0 or 2:1 picked => 0 points

The end result is the result after the whole game (incl. extra time, penalty, golden goal etc.). As an example: Therefore there is no penalty possible in a quarter final of a soccer championship.

4. Extra point questions

The administrator of a competition has a selection of extra point questions. Every single question can be activated for a pool and connect certain extra points with it. The extra point questions also have to be answered by a certain dead line.

The administrator can add answers of individual players after the dead line(but please try to let that be the exception).

The administrator can suggest further questions online. They should go online within two business days. An activated question is immediately available to the whole community. The person suggesting the question is also responsible to provide the correct answers in a timely fashion.

5. Who won the pool?

The person with the most points in the end wins the pool.

6. Virtual stakes

We explicitely state that there are countries in which the start/use/participation of private gaming pools are prohibited. This service does NOT support those pool.

Virtual stakes are only used to enhance your experience. The pool administrator sets the amount. It is a one time stakes for the entire pool. The website providers are not involved or responsible for any kind of payment.

The virtual winnings calculation can be configured by the administrator himself. The following options are available:

6.1. Fun factor

The most fun one of course. The total of the virtual stakes is distributed to all the participants. No one walks away empty handed. Our recommendation of course!

1. The total of all virtual stakes is divided by all points made.
2. This is the value per point.
3. To calculate the winnings of each participant you multiply the points made by the value per point.
4. In case someone got the extra point question(s) right, these points get added. The administrator sets those.
5. Rounding differences will be ignored.

In the members only area you can see these calculations in real time for the your individual pool(s).

6.2. Percentage

1. Der Admin bestimmt für die Plätze 1-10 die prozentuale, virtuelle Gewinnausschüttung.
2. Die Summe aller Einsätze wird entsprechend den vom Admin bestimmten Prozentsätzen verteilt.
3. Kommen 2-X Mitspieler auf den gleichen Rang, wird der nächste (die nächsten X) Rang(e) gestrichen und die Summe beider (der X) Ränge an die Leute auf diesem Rang verteilt.

6.3. Set

1. The administrator decides on set virtual winnings for rankings 1-10.
2. These get distributed to the according ranking.
3. If 2 or more participants get the same ranking, the next (or several depending on how many share the ranking) ranking(s) is deleted and the total of both (or several) winnings per ranking will be distributed to the ranking.

The virtual winnings calculation is done in real time and can be downloaded as an Excel file.

6. Cancelation

All users can cancel their profile themselves. Starters of a pool get a special message to cancel. All data and picks will be deleted when you cancel the account.

7. Other competitions (Leagues, different sports etc.)

A limited selection of competitions is already given (for example Ice Hockey World Championship 2009, Soccer Champions league).

Following options:

• anyone can start a new league or a new competiton as competition adminstrator (AND manages these afterwards)
• a new league is available to the whole community after being activated by the PickTeam (that’s us ;o)
• anyone can apply to become a moderater for a certain league (up to 5 per league)
• the moderator assists the competition administrator in taking care of the game schedule and the results