What is a survivor pool?
A survivor pool (also called an eliminator pool) is a season-long NFL contest where the format itself is the whole game: pick a winner each week, never repeat a team, and survive one loss at a time. Whoever’s left standing at the end takes the pot.
The standard rules
Formats vary — see the variants below — but almost every survivor pool starts from the same four rules.
- 01
Pick one team a week
Before kickoff, choose one NFL team you think will win outright — the final score, not the point spread.
- 02
Never the same team twice
Once you've picked a team, it's unavailable to you for the rest of the season, no matter how good its matchup looks later.
- 03
One loss and you're out
If your team loses — some pools count a tie as a loss too — your entry is eliminated. For good, unless the pool runs a buyback (see below).
- 04
Last one standing wins the pot
Whoever's still alive when everyone else is eliminated takes it. If more than one entry makes it to the end of the season, pools use a tiebreaker (see below) or split the pot.
The pool in the last figure is an example, not a statistic — every survivor pool has that shape, whatever its size.
Common variants
Beyond the standard rules above, pools invent their own twists. These are the ones that come up most.
Multiple lives (1–5)
Instead of one loss ending your entry, some pools give every entry a set number of lives — commonly two or three, sometimes up to five. A loss costs a life, not the entry; you're only out once your lives run out.
Team-use limits
The standard rule bans reusing a team for the life of the entry. Some pools loosen that into a cap instead — a team can be used more than once, up to a set number of times (twice each is common), rather than being retired the first time you pick it.
Multi-pick weeks
Late in the season, when fewer teams are left to choose from, some pools require two or more picks in the same week instead of one. Every pick has to win for the entry to survive that week.
Bye passes
Every NFL team gets one bye week, so by midseason a player who's used a lot of teams can run into a week where nothing they have left is playing. A bye pass lets an entry sit out that week without being eliminated, usually capped at one or two per season.
Auto-picks
If you miss the deadline and don't submit a pick, some pools eliminate you outright; others auto-assign a team on your behalf — commonly whichever of your remaining, unused teams is the biggest favourite that week — so a missed alarm doesn't end your season.
Revivals and buybacks
A way back in after you're eliminated, usually a one-time paid re-entry before a cutoff week, or a separate second-chance bracket that runs alongside the main pool.
Pick-losers pools
A reversed version of the format: you pick the team you think will lose, and a win eliminates you. Same one-pick-a-week, no-repeat-teams structure, inverted.
Against-the-spread scoring
Instead of just winning or losing, your pick has to beat the point spread. A 10-point favourite that wins by 3 doesn't cover — it's not automatically the safe pick it looks like straight up.
Tiebreakers for a shared win
If more than one entry survives to the end of the season, pools need a way to settle it. The common ones: total weeks survived before your first loss, combined points scored by your picked teams across the season, and net margin of victory across every pick you made.
What Survivor supports today
Survivor’s rules engine currently models exactly the standard format above: one pick per week, one life per entry, no reusing a team, straight-up results against the final score.
It does not model any of the variants listed above — not multiple lives, not buybacks or revivals, not multi-pick weeks, not bye passes, not auto-picks, not pick-losers formats, and not against-the-spread scoring.
If your pool runs the standard format, Survivor tracks it exactly. If your pool runs a variant, Survivor can still show you the matchups, odds and context for every game — but its pick validation and used-team tracking assume the standard rules, so treat anything variant-specific (an extra life, a spread cover, a second-chance bracket) as your own responsibility to track for now.
Where to actually join one
Survivor doesn’t run pools — these places do. A few well-known ones, from free office-style games to the famous big-money contests:
Large paid survivor contests with real prize pools, plus tools to run a private pool with friends for money.
ESPN's free survivor game — the easiest way to try the format with zero stakes. Runs every season in their fantasy games hub.
Free, and you can make a private group for your friends or office in a couple of minutes.
The classic commissioner tool — you host the pool, set the rules and the buy-in, and invite your people.
Another long-running host for office and family pools, survivor included, with flexible rule options.
The famous one — a $1,000-entry Las Vegas contest with a multi-million-dollar prize pool. Registration is in person in Nevada (proxies exist).
None of these are affiliations or endorsements — just the places people actually play. Whichever one you join, Survivor sits alongside it and tracks your picks.
If you’re already playing one
Survivor is a companion tool for the standard format above — it tracks every league and every entry you’re running, so you always know which teams are still available. It doesn’t run pools or hold entry fees; it works alongside whatever does, including Splash Sports, ESPN, Yahoo, RunYourPool, or a commissioner’s spreadsheet.
