So you think you know football? Here’s your chance to prove it, by joining us for this free game!
Every week, we’ll pick three NFL games that intrigue us in one way or another. YOUR goal is to predict the final scores of these three games as accurately as possible. Are you up to the challenge?
Gameplay:
Simply submit your prediction in the appropriate weekly thread (titled Pick3: Week x Picks) in this forum. Each user may only submit one entry (covering all three games) per week. Be careful when making your pick – it’s like placing a bet, you only have one chance, and you cannot correct your pick later on. After submitting your pick, it’s your own responsibility to make sure it actually shows up in your post. In case of technical problems, please contact the moderator of this game and/or PM menyak.
The submission deadline is the time of kickoff of the first game on the prediction list. To prevent controversy, this deadline will be enforced, so don’t wait too long to submit a prediction (especially since web browsers tend to break down at the worst possible times). If the deadline is 1pm EST, all picks must be submitted by 12:59.
Scoring:
For every game you pick, we’ll start you off with 100 points. For every point your prediction is off by, you lose points incrementally – the further you’re off from the actual score, the more points you lose (0.1 when you’re off by just one point, 0.3 for two, 0.6 for three, 1.0 for four, 1.5 for five, and so on. Be careful – if your prediction is completely off the mark, these increments can add up quickly!) Additionally, accurately predicting the margin of victory is also important. For every point by which you miss the correct margin, one point will be deducted from your own tally. Please note that you can’t score negative points in any game, so no matter how far your prediction is off, the minimum score per game is 0 points.
Example: Your prediction for Green Bay vs. Chicago is 17-0. However, the actual final score is 10-14. You lose 2.8 points for missing Green Bay’s total by a td, and another 10.5 points are deducted from your score for underestimating the Bears’ total. You lose 21 more points because you predicted a margin of victory of plus 17 points for Chicago, when in fact the true margin saw Green Bay trailing by 4 points.
Final Game Score: 100-2.8-10.5-21=65.7
However, if you guess one team’s points total exactly, we’ll award you a touchdown (plus the extra point) and add 7 points to your score.
Example: Your prediction for the preceding game was 10-0.
You gain 7 points for hitting Green Bay’s score on the nose, and still lose 10.5 points for missing Chicago’s total. For your prediction that Green Bay would score a touchdown and a field goal more than their opponents, while in fact they scored four points less, you lose another 14 points.
Final Game Score: 100+7-10.5-14=82.5
Additionally, if you accurately guess the winner of the game, you receive a 10 point bonus, no matter how far your prediction is off.
Example: Your guess for the Green Bay-Chicago matchup was 3-35.
You missed the teams’ totals by 7 and 21 points, respectively, and the game was much closer than you thought, but still pick up the 10 point bonus for choosing the correct winner.
Final Game Score: 100-2.8-23.1-28+10=56.1
Finally, if you manage to perfectly predict both teams’ scores, we’ll throw in a pair of field goals (6 more points), making a perfect guess worth a total of 130 points.
Final Game Score: 100+7+7+10+6=130
Obviously, the person with the highest score will be that week’s winner. The winner of the week will receive 100 points toward the season standings, the team with the second-highest total will receive 85 points, and the teams finishing 3rd through 50th will receive 75, 70, 66, 62, 59, 56, 53, 50, 48, 46, 44, 42, 40, 38, 36, 34, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points, respectively. The team with the highest total at the end of the season will be the Pick3 champion.
Games that are cancelled or postponed beyond Monday will not be counted for Pick3 scoring.
Tiebreakers:
Ties in the weekly rankings will be broken in favor of the person posting his or her picks before the other players with the same point total.
Tiebreakers for the season title will be:
1) Number of weeks won
2) Number of weeks finishing second
3) Number of weeks finishing third
Etc.
Prizes
Instead of common gold and jewels, our winners receive titles, icons, and bragging rights. Let the games begin…
Good luck!
Pick3 Playoff Edition
During the NFL playoffs, we’ll be offering a separate game of Pick3. All players will begin with zero points again, and we’ll be playing three rounds: the Wild Card round, the Divisional Playoffs and a final round combining both Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl. There won’t be a prize for the Playoff Edition, but it’ll be the last chance to earn some bragging rights before the long, cold off-season, so competition should be fierce!
© 2002-2024 Stefan Micke.