Courthouse Football Pool Rules

COURTHOUSE FOOTBALL POOL RULES

This pool was started by a County Employee strictly for the enjoyment of other County workers, friends, relatives and associates. All monies collected are paid out in full to the winners either weekly or at the conclusion of the season. This pool has no restrictions who participates except there will be a maximum of 60 participants allowed.

The cost to participate $34.00 ($2.00 per week for the 17 weeks of the season). You do not have to play every week but there will be money awarded at the end of the season to that individual/those individuals who pick the best for the season and it would be very, very difficult to win the final money if one missed a week. You must prepay before the season starts with either cash, cashiers check or money order. No refunds will be given for missed weeks or if you quit picking at some point during the season.

If you will submit a paper sheet for your picks, you will be given a blank pick sheet on Tuesday each week. Use this sheet only to make your picks as I use a 'key' to determine the picks correct. You can also submit your picks utilizing the internet, the choice is yours.

For paper entries, highlight or place an 'X' in the '[ ]' box found in front of the team you predict will win for every game, including the Monday Night Game and PRINT your name in the space provided. Some people sign their name and signatures are often unreadable. I have to know who the picks are from to give credit to the proper person. In the parenthesis provided for the Monday night game, write in your predicted score. This will be used as a tie-breaker in the event more than one person has the same number correct for that week. If you give less points to the team you are picking than the opposing team, those will be the scores used. I make no assumptions about how you make your picks and will not automatically assume you reversed the scores although if I notice that in time, I will bring this to your attention.

You must submit your picks before the first game of the week begins but I prefer before the close of business day the first game is being played if you are submitting paper. For normal weeks that would be 5:00 p.m. on Friday or in the case of Thursday night games, 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. If you wish to make changes of any kind to your picks, you can do so up until the start of that particular game. Check your picks sheets before turning them in as it is totally your responsibility to be sure they are complete.

The payback for any week will be all money collected for the week less $5.00 if the total is $64.00 or less and $60.00 if the total exceeds $64.00. The additional money will go into a year-end pot to be paid to the individual(s) who pick(s) the best for the year. In the case of a tie, the money will be split among those tied. Below is a breakdown of how the final money will be split:

If <= $150;	Pays 1 place (full pot)
If > $150 <= $300;	Pays 2 places (60% 1st, 40% 2nd)
If > $300 <= $450;	Pays 3 places (50%, 30%, 20%)
If > $450 <= $700;	Pays 4 places (40%, 30%, 20%,10%)
If > $700;	Pays 5 places (30%, 25%, 20%, 15%, 10%)

If any of the final places are tied, any remaining places will be combined to accomodate the number of participants tied. For example, if there are two people tied for 3rd place, the 3rd & 4th place money will be combined and divided between the two tied.

If you forget to put down a Monday Night score, it will be considered zero and zero. We will, however, try to notify you of your error prior to the deadline so you can correct this omission if it comes to our attention in time.

If you fail to pick a winner for one of the games, it will be counted as incorrect, though we will try to notify you of this fact prior to the game so you can correct this omission, if it comes to our attention in time. If you submit via the internet, your form will be verified before it is submitted. You have to enter a name and e-mail address and pick a team for every game that week or you will be shown an error message and you will not be able to submit until the correction is made.

If you inadvertently mark both teams for any game, that pick will not be counted unless you make a clearcut effort to indicate which team you actually meant to pick.

If there is/are Thursday, Friday or Saturday games, I will make every effort to put that down as notes on the pick sheet for that week but it is up to you to be aware of the dates of all games.

The tie-breaker is calculated as follows: The difference between what you predicted and the actual score for both the home and visiting teams will be added together. The person with the lowest sum will win for that week. In the case these numbers are equal for any two or more people, the pot will be split among those individuals.

Remember that this is a game purely for entertainment. Do not get overly upset with me or anyone else involved in this endeavor if things do not work out as you might wish. We make every effort to eliminate errors and to make things fair for all players but if you believe a mistake has been made in calculating your total or the tie-breaker, let me know so I can recheck. I want you to be happy but I don't expect any unnecessary grief.

I use a program I wrote myself to assist me in keeping track of this pool. This is how I am able to have detailed data about the leader board and the ratings boards on a weekly basis (it would be far too difficult to compile that data by hand). Keeping this in mind, there may be times when some or all of this data may be inaccurate since this program is constantly evolving and glitches occasionally occur. So, if you notice an error, please point it out to me but realize I am not doing this on purpose, it is simply a glitch that I will fix as soon as I can after I realize it has occured. Thanks!

If you know of anyone who might be interested in joining in on the fun, encourage them to do so and let me know so I can get them set up. The maximum number of participants will be limited to 60 and this will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Participation is not limited to people living in Rawlins as a person can make their picks utilizing the internet.

For those people who pick via the internet, here are some guidelines and suggestions. When you have selected a winner for each game and have input your name and e-mail address, print the screen using the provided button. This copy will have a date stamp on it and if there are any problems in receiving your picks, this can be used to give you credit for the week. I can only accept something of this type, with a date stamp prior to the date of the first game to give you credit for the week. As hard as I have tried to make this a simple, dependable process, due to the nature of the internet, occasionally I do not receive a submission and to assure you will get credit, keep this printout for your protection. When you submit your picks, you should be taken to a 'Thank-You' page. Then, you should receive a confirmation e-mail that the submission was successful if you entered your correct e-mail address in the space provided. If either or both of these do not take place, contact me so I can check to see if I received your picks. This process works well but it is by no means infallible and you will want to protect yourself.

If you are going to be absent for any week but would like to make picks for that week and don't or will not have internet access, let me know in advance so I can get you a schedule printed out so you can submit your picks before you leave.

If you have a computer with Windows 95, 98 or XP, I can supply you with a CD which will contain everything you need to install a program for keeping track of your picks or to administer a pool of your own for a nominal cost. This disk will also contain all schedule files for the year.