House Rules what the site enforces
Same principles every sportsbook runs on: you can't bet on something that already started, a bet needs two sides, and the result comes from the official stats.
1:1 bets (The Board)
▸Posting is an offer, not a bet. Nothing is on until someone takes the other side. You can pull an open offer any time before it's taken.
▸Every offer has a close time you choose (1 hour to 2 weeks). A pre-game offer also closes at kickoff. If the games start before anyone takes a pre-game offer (say the other guy swaps in a Thursday-night player), the offer is pulled rather than quietly turning into a live bet you didn't agree to.
▸Live bets are allowed, labeled, and short. Once the first starter on either roster (or the player, or the NFL team) has kicked off, anything posted or taken is a 🔴 LIVE bet: the poster must acknowledge games are underway, the offer records the score at post time, and the taker is shown it and told to check the scoreboard. Live offers stay open at most 30 minutes, because the line moves with the game. Same information on both sides — price it accordingly.
▸The card says exactly what each side holds ("Todd has Peteris −1 · taker gets Adam +1"). That text is built from the bet's terms by the site, and it is what settlement grades. Betting against your own team is allowed, but the card flags it.
▸Nothing after it's over. A matchup closes when every starter on both sides has finished; a player prop when that player's game ends; an NFL pick when that game ends. Weekly bets on a finished week can't be posted or taken.
▸Futures (win totals, playoffs, champion) stay open until week 14 kicks off — you both see the same standings. Champion bets close when the playoffs start; NFL win totals at NFL week 15; Super Bowl at wild-card weekend.
▸House lines are suggestions. Weekly lines come from ESPN's live projections, refreshed every couple of minutes while the Book is open; season lines come from the playoff simulation. Edit the number to anything you'd actually bet.
▸Spreads and totals push on the exact number (a push settles for nothing). Fantasy scores have decimals, so a .5 line can still push — 112.5 is a real score. Settlement compares in exact hundredths of a point.
▸Player props are void if the player doesn't play (bye, inactive, no stat line). Void = push, no money moves. A player who plays and scores 0 counts as 0.
▸Settlement runs Tuesday mornings from ESPN's final numbers. Custom props settle when both sides click the same winner; if you disagree the commish rules. "This week" custom props close when the week's games are over — the site can't see what a custom prop is about, so it's on the taker to know whether it has already happened.
▸Once accepted, a bet is final. Only the commish can void one, and voiding reverses the money on The Tab.
▸Stakes: $1 to $1,000 a side. The loser pays what he risked.
Pools
▸Entries close at the pool's first kickoff (Thursday night of that week). No joining, leaving, or changing picks after that — so nobody antes in after seeing half the scores. Weekly pools run weeks 1–14 only (in the playoffs half the league is on a bye).
▸Custom pools have no kickoff to lock on, so: an hour after you ante in you're committed, and once anyone else has joined only the commish can kill it.
▸Boom Pick players must be on your own roster and locked before Thursday kickoff. If you later drop or trade him, he scores 0 for you.
▸Survivor and Most Points start the week they're created and only count from that week on. Late joiners don't get a head start — entries close at the start week's kickoff.
▸Ties: High Score, Boom Pick and Most Points split the pot. Toilet Bowl: tied lows all pay. Survivor: tied lows all go out; if everyone left ties in a week nobody goes out that week, and anyone still standing after week 14 shares.
▸Cancelling: whoever started a pool can cancel it before kickoff. After kickoff only the commish can, and only to void it entirely.
The Tab
▸Every settled bet and pool writes who-owes-whom. Debts between two people net against each other.
▸Only the person who is owed can mark a debt "squared up" (after the Venmo lands). The site keeps score; it doesn't move money.
▸Every payout is written exactly once. Settlement can run twice (or the commish can hit the button) without anyone being charged twice. A commish void of a settled bet writes a reversing entry rather than deleting history.
Data
▸Scores and stats come from ESPN (the league of record), read-only. House lines come from ESPN's projections and the site's own season simulation.
▸If ESPN is down at settlement time, the bet waits for the next sweep rather than settling on partial numbers. If ESPN is down while you're looking, the Scoreboard says so and shows the last numbers it got.