Rules

The Deal

• It costs nothing to play. No entry fee, no buy-in, nothing to settle up. The prize comes from Sharky's.
• Every week is its own contest. The best score of the week wins the week. Last week does not carry over.
• The prize is posted at the bar each week. Go five for five and there may be something bigger on the line; that is Ben's call and he will say so up front.

Getting In

• Scan the QR at the bar or go to the site, and sign up with your full name, email and phone. That takes about twenty seconds and you are on the board.
• One entry per person. One email, one phone, one name. A second entry gets both of them thrown out.
• The board shows your first name and last initial. Your email and phone stay with Sharky's and are only used to confirm a winner.
• New phone, or signed out? Sign up again with the same email and phone and you are back in your own entry.

The Picks

• Each week Sharky's posts a slate of NFL games with the spread. You make 5 picks: 4 regular and 1 BONUS.
• Every pick is against the spread, using the line posted on the Picks page. The favorite has to win by more than the number; the underdog can lose by less than the number, or win outright.
• Tap a team to pick it, tick the box on one game to make it your BONUS, then hit Lock In. Nothing counts until you do.
• The posted lines are locked when they go up. They do not move all week, whatever the sportsbooks do.

The Lock

• Picks close at the first kickoff on the slate. The Picks page counts it down in your local time. After that the site stops taking picks, no exceptions and no texting Ben.
• You can change your picks as often as you like until the lock. Your latest Lock In is the one that counts.
• At the lock, everyone's picks go public on the Results page, so anybody can check that nothing moved once the games started.
• No picks in by the lock means you sit that week out. There is no auto-entry in this pool; a slate you did not build cannot win you a prize.

Scoring

Scored automatically as each game goes final. Maximum 35 points a week.

Regular games (4 per week)

The BONUS game (1 per week)

Scores like a regular game, plus a cover bonus: for every point your pick covers the spread by, you earn +1, up to +10. Favorites and underdogs alike. A push earns no cover bonus.

Worked example: you take the Eagles -4.5 as your BONUS and they win 31-10. Margin 21, minus 4.5, leaves 16.5 points of cover, capped at 10. You score 5 plus 10: 15 points, the most one pick can pay.

Half points count. Take a +1.5 underdog that loses by 1 and you covered by half a point: the bonus pays 5.5. Weekly totals can end in .5.

Winning the Week

• Highest score on the slate wins the week. Results update live on the Results page as games finish.
• You have to be at Sharky's when the last game on the slate ends, and claim within 30 minutes of it going final: show your entry on your phone and an ID that matches the name on it.
• Not in the bar? The prize goes to the highest-scoring player who is. Nobody present? It rolls into next week.
• Ties: the higher BONUS-game score breaks it. Still tied, whoever locked in their picks first. Still tied, the prize is split.

The Week

• Tuesday: the new slate and its lines post on the Picks page.
• Any time before the first kickoff: sign up if you have not, make your picks, change your mind, lock in.
• First kickoff: picks close and go public.
• Game day at Sharky's: scores post as games finish. Be in the bar when the last one ends.

All times on the site show in your phone's own time zone. For the bar, that is Costa Rica time.

Fair Play

• One person, one entry. Entries under a made-up name, or a name the ID does not match, do not collect.
• If the prize is a bar tab or drinks, you have to be old enough to drink to claim it.
• Scores come from the official final scores. If a game is postponed or cancelled after the lock, picks on it score as a push.
• Anything weird, Ben's call is final. This site keeps score and nothing else; the prize is Sharky's, arranged at the bar, and never runs through here.