Tool 02 · Survivor
Commissioner board
Someone had to make the spreadsheet. Not this year.
How it works
- 01
Pick a team
Tap the week, choose a team you believe wins. That's the whole strategy.
- 02
Mark the result
Survived or eliminated. The board updates and the used team gets locked out.
- 03
Watch the list shrink
Used teams grey out for the rest of the season, so you can't repeat by accident.
- 04
Share the board
Print it, or send the picture to the group when someone finally goes out.
Running it without a spreadsheet
The commissioner's job in a survivor pool is not picking games. It is being the single place the truth lives — who picked what, who is out, and which week they went out in. Every survivor pool that falls apart falls apart on that, usually around week six, usually because the record was a group chat.
This board is one grid: players down the side, weeks across the top, a pick in each cell. Mark a pick as survived or eliminated as results come in, and the player's status updates itself. Anyone who is out stays visible with the week they went out in, which is the question people actually ask.
Three things save a pool more than anything else. Write the rules down before week one — pick deadline, what happens on a tie, what happens if everyone is knocked out in the same week, and whether there are rebuys. Collect the money up front, because chasing it in November from someone eliminated in September is miserable. And post the board every week, so nobody has to ask you who is left.
That last one is what the print and share buttons are for: the board exports as a clean image with no ads and no site furniture around it, which is a thing you can drop straight into the group chat or pin to a wall.
Playing rather than running it? Use your own picks board instead. Need to explain the format to a new player? Send them the rules.
Questions
What happens if everybody is eliminated in the same week?
Decide this in advance, in writing, before week one. The two common answers are to split the pot between everyone who reached the final week, or to replay that week with the survivors' picks voided. Either is fine. Deciding it afterwards, with money on the table, is what turns a pool into an argument.
When should picks be locked?
At the kickoff of the first game a player's pick could involve — usually Thursday night for anyone taking a Thursday team, and Sunday's first kickoff for everyone else. A single stated deadline for the whole pool is simpler to run and easier to defend than a per-game one.
Do I need to collect picks through this board?
No. Picks arrive however your group already sends them — group text, email, a shout across the office — and you type them in. There is no login for players, nothing for anyone to sign up for, and nothing for you to chase besides the picks themselves.
How does a survivor pool work?
Every week you pick one team to win. If they win, you're through to the next week. If they lose, you're out for the season. The catch is that you can only use each team once, so you can't ride one good team all year.
What happens on a tie?
Most pools count a tie as a loss, some count it as survival. Pickani lets you mark a tie separately so your board matches whichever rule your pool uses.
Can I change a pick I already made?
Yes. Tap the week and pick a different team, or clear it entirely. Your board is yours — Pickani is not the referee.
Does it tell me who to pick?
No. This is a tracker, not a prediction engine. It keeps a perfect record of who picked what and which teams are gone, which is the part people actually get wrong.