House Rules
Nine teams, five tiers, one month. Here is how points are won.
How It Works
Build a roster of nine national teams across five tiers before the first whistle. Every match your teams win and every round they survive adds to your total. The longer the odds, the bigger the multiplier, so a Wildcard on a deep run outscores a Favorite cruising to the quarters.
Buy-in is $25. Rosters lock the moment the first match kicks off.
Tier Structure
| Tier | Name | Picks | Multiplier | Teams |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Favorites | 2 | ×1 | Spain, France, England, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Germany |
| 2 | Contenders | 1 | ×1.5 | Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Colombia |
| 3 | Dark Horses | 2 | ×2.5 | United States, Morocco, Japan, Uruguay, Mexico, Switzerland, Turkey, Ecuador, Sweden, Croatia, Senegal |
| 4 | Underdogs | 2 | ×4 | Austria, Canada, Paraguay, Czech Republic, Scotland, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Algeria, South Korea |
| 5 | Wildcards | 2 | ×7 | Iran, Australia, Tunisia, DR Congo, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Panama, Qatar, Iraq, New Zealand, Cape Verde, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Curacao, Haiti |
Group Stage Scoring
Match Results
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Win | 3 |
| Draw | 1 |
| Loss | 0 |
Advancement Milestones
| Milestone | How Earned | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Group winner | Finish 1st in your group | 4 |
| Runner-up | Finish 2nd in your group | 3 |
| Best 3rd | One of the 8 (of 12) third-place teams that advance | 1 |
Knockout Stage Scoring
No more match-plus-milestone bookkeeping. In the knockouts, surviving a round is a single number, and it climbs every time your team comes back out.
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Win Round of 32 | 8 |
| Win Round of 16 | 11 |
| Win Quarterfinal | 15 |
| Win Semifinal | 19 |
| Champion | 50 |
| Runner-Up (lost Final) | 8 |
| Win 3rd-Place Match | 8 |
Points by Tier
Every base value above, multiplied across all five tiers.
Full points table
| Achievement | T1 ×1 | T2 ×1.5 | T3 ×2.5 | T4 ×4 | T5 ×7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per match | |||||
| Win a match | 3 | 4.5 | 7.5 | 12 | 21 |
| Draw a match | 1 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 4 | 7 |
| Group advancement | |||||
| Group winner | 4 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 28 |
| Runner-up | 3 | 4.5 | 7.5 | 12 | 21 |
| Best 3rd | 1 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 4 | 7 |
| Knockouts | |||||
| Win Round of 32 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 32 | 56 |
| Win Round of 16 | 11 | 16.5 | 27.5 | 44 | 77 |
| Win Quarterfinal | 15 | 22.5 | 37.5 | 60 | 105 |
| Win Semifinal | 19 | 28.5 | 47.5 | 76 | 133 |
| Win 3rd-place match | 8 | 12 | 20 | 32 | 56 |
| Runner-up (lost final) | 8 | 12 | 20 | 32 | 56 |
| Champion | 50 | 75 | 125 | 200 | 350 |
Tiebreaker
Tied on total points? The win goes to whoever guessed closest to total USA goals scored in the tournament.
Edge Cases
- Extra time or penalties: A knockout win counts the same whether it comes in 90 minutes, extra time, or on penalties. No bonus, no penalty for how it is won.
- Group-stage draws: In a draw, both teams bank the draw points, each scaled by its own tier multiplier.
- Best 3rd advancement: Eight of the twelve third-place teams advance. Those eight collect the Best 3rd bonus.
- Multiplier application: Every base value is multiplied by the team's tier, so the same result is worth far more from a Wildcard than from a Favorite.
That is the whole book. Now go build a roster nobody else at the table would dare to.
Make your picks