Frequently Asked Questions

OfficePoolStop.com is a free platform to host and join football pools like Pick'em, Survivor, Confidence, Margin, and more for NFL, College Football, and March Madness. We can also host virtually any sport thanks to our Custom Pick'em, Bracket Maker, and Prop Bet formats

Yes! Almost all features are available for free. Plus Mode is a one-time $10.00 fee for the entire league — not per player. It includes more clones, a higher email send limit, and the ability to edit entries on the Player Accounts page. Premium Mode is also one league fee, based on the total number of players in your league. Premium includes even more clones, additional features, and removes all ads for everyone in the league.

NFL, NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball, and more. With our bracket generator and custom pick'em options, you can run a pool for just about any sport — including NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA, MMA, NASCAR, Premier League, and English Football League (EFL)

Yes. OfficePoolStop includes a Free Bracket Maker for creating custom tournament brackets with single elimination, double elimination, styling, and printable options.

Welcome to OfficePoolStop! Our Quick Start Guide walks you through the essential steps for setting up and running your league, including reviewing your league settings, inviting players, managing your roster, and preparing for the season.

Start here: Watch the New Manager Quick Start Guide.

You can also visit the Help Center at any time to search for answers, tutorials, and instructions for specific league features.

Use the Player Status page to see which players are marked as Pending (after an invite), Active, Inactive, Removed, etc. You can also update their status directly from this page.

Tutorial: How to manage players.
To specifically remove a player: Remove a player tutorial.

Managers can assign a co-manager to help run their league. A co-manager can assist with league management tasks, making it easier to share responsibilities during the season.

Tutorial: How to add a co-manager.

Visit the Invites page in the Manager Control Panel, where you have several methods to use to invite players.

Tutorial: How to invite players.

Some email providers may block or filter league invitations before they reach the recipient. This is especially common with Yahoo, AOL, and Verizon email addresses.

Ask the player to:

• Check their spam or junk folder.
• Search their mailbox for noreply@officepoolstop.com.
• Add noreply@officepoolstop.com to their contacts or safe-sender list.

You can resend the invitation from the Invites page. However, resending may not help if the recipient’s email provider is blocking the message.

Recommended: Also send the player your league invitation link directly by text message, personal email, or another messaging service. OfficePoolStop cannot guarantee delivery to every email provider.

Yes, from the Player Accounts page. You can track fees, add online payment support, enter prizes, and export balances.

Yes, managers can export weekly or full-season data of most pool types.

Buybacks never add lives; they only redeem the player’s ability to continue after a loss by paying the fee. Since a loss always subtracts one life, a pool with only 1 life would eliminate a player immediately with nothing to redeem. Therefore, buyback Survivor pools must be set to 2 or more lives.

Go to Settings → Privacy. In the Profile Policy section, select Use Nickname (Screen Name) instead of full name.

Log in and go to your league’s pick sheet. Options vary by pool type (e.g. confidence points, tie-breakers, props).

Players can view other league members' picks from the Standings page by opening the Picks tab. This lets you compare selections, see how picks scored, and follow how everyone in the league is doing.

Tutorial: How to view player picks.

Players can use the World Cup standings page to track standings, view picks, and follow scoring as the tournament moves through each stage.

Tutorial: World Cup standings and picks tutorial.

Yes. One account can join or manage multiple leagues.

Clones let one user control multiple entries (e.g. for family members, or to make additional picks to improve their odds of winning). Visit your Clones page to create and join clones in your league.

Tutorial: How to use clones.

Rules vary by league. Some allow auto-picks; others may mark missed picks as losses. Check the Rules page or ask your manager.

AutoPick is a safety net for players who miss a required pick. It only applies when AutoPick is enabled for the league, and it does not replace a valid manual pick that the player already submitted.

General AutoPick rules

• The league manager controls whether AutoPick is enabled and which AutoPick method is used.
• If the manager allows player-controlled AutoPick, the player's selected AutoPick method is used; otherwise the league's default method is used.
• The manager can limit how many times AutoPick may be used for a player during the season. Once that limit is reached, no additional AutoPick is made.
• AutoPick fills missing picks according to the rules and AutoPick options for that pool type. It does not overwrite a normal pick already made by the player.

Survivor pools
Survivor AutoPick honors the league's Survivor restrictions, including how many times a team may be selected and, when enabled, how many times a player may pick against the same opponent.

If the first Survivor AutoPick choice is not legal:

• Last Home Team: If the home team in the last game is unavailable under the Survivor rules, AutoPick works backward through the schedule, trying the home team from each previous game.
• Biggest Favorite / Underdog: If the first choice is unavailable, AutoPick moves to the next-biggest favorite or underdog based on the point spread.
• Lowest Favorite: It moves to the next-smallest favorite.
• If no team matching the selected strategy is legal, AutoPick makes a final attempt to select another legal team from the remaining games.

Example: What if "Last Home Team" selects a team I already used?
If your league allows each team to be used only once and the home team in the last game has already been used, AutoPick will not knowingly reuse that team. It works backward through the schedule, trying the home team from each previous game until it finds one that is legal under the league's Survivor rules.

For Biggest Favorite, Lowest Favorite, and Biggest Underdog, AutoPick similarly stays with the selected strategy while searching for the next legal choice. It does not simply switch to the other team in the same game.

If no team matching the selected strategy is legal, AutoPick makes a final attempt to choose another legal team from the remaining eligible games. If no legal team exists at all under the league's Survivor rules, no AutoPick can be made.

On weeks that require two Survivor picks, AutoPick also attempts to fill the second missing pick with a different legal team. A player who was already completely out of lives before the week began will not receive a Survivor AutoPick.

The deadline set by your manager is a HARD deadline. Once this deadline hits, you cannot make or change picks for that week.

• Each game has its own cutoff — you can't pick a game once it starts, even if the league deadline is later.
• Example: If a Thursday night game kicks off at 7:15 PM, you must pick it by then. After kickoff, it is locked and grayed out on the pick sheet.
• If you previously picked a game that has now started, that pick is locked in and cannot be changed.
• Even if the game hasn’t started, you might be blocked from picking it if the manager sets a timer that begins when you first submit picks and eventually expires.

What happens when the league deadline hits?

• All remaining games are locked out — even if they haven’t started yet.
• All picks are now visible to everyone on the Standings page.
• This is true for all pool types: Pick'em, Survivor, Confidence, Bookie, etc.

Special Case: Early Games
For games played early (like 9:30 AM London games), players must submit those picks before kickoff. You do not need to adjust your main league deadline. Those early games will simply gray out once they start. Can players see each other's picks?

• Before the league deadline: Only picks for games that have started are visible.
• After the league deadline: All picks are visible to everyone.

Can managers override picks?

• Yes. Managers can submit or change picks via the Manager → Submit Picks screen — this action is logged and visible on the Settings → League Settings page.

In a Survivor pool with buybacks enabled:

• A loss always subtracts one life.
• To remain in the pool after that loss, the player must pay the buyback fee.
• A buyback does not add a life — it only lets the player continue with whatever lives remain.

Example: Start with 5 lives → lose once → you have 4 lives. You must buy back in to stay active, but you still only have 4 lives.

Important: Because a single life can’t be “bought,” buyback Survivor pools must be configured with at least 2 lives.

Yes. OfficePoolStop is fully mobile responsive.

Yes. Upload a logo and theme colors for $18.50. Discounts available for renewals or multiple leagues.

We send pick reminders before deadlines. Managers can also send reminders for players who still have picks due.

Yes. Go to Privacy Settings to change your email delivery preferences.

Check your spam/junk folder and whitelist noreply@officepoolstop.com. You may also have unsubscribed.

Premium pricing is per league (pool), not per player or per account. If you manage multiple pools, each pool has its own Premium fee based on the number of players in that pool.

Premium is a one-time fee for the season — it is not a monthly subscription. For example, if you run a 400-player Survivor pool, a 200-player Pick'em pool, and a 150-player Pick'em pool, each of those three pools would be priced separately based on its own player count.

When upgrading, enter your estimated number of players. Feel free to underestimate initially; we reconcile the final player count after Week 1 of the season.

Plus Mode works a little differently: it is a one-time $10.00 fee per league, regardless of the number of players.

Premium Mode is purchased once for the entire league, with the fee based on the league's total player count. Premium Mode removes all ads for everyone in the league and includes additional features such as more clones and the ability to make future picks.

The Premium fee you pay to OfficePoolStop is separate from any player fee or league dues that you collect from your players.

To change or remove the amount your players are shown as owing, go to Manager → League Settings → Fees & Prizes and set the player fee to the amount you want, including $0.

If you simply don't want the fee message displayed on your players' Home page, you can hide it under Manager → League Settings → Page Display & Control.

Branding is 18.50 per league. Discounts apply for renewals and multiple leagues.