Survivor / Eliminator Pool
Pick one team a week. Last one standing wins.
Each week, every entry picks one team to win — lose and you’re out, and you can’t reuse a team. The last entry alive takes the pot. Keep it going past Week 18: turn on “run through the playoffs” and the postseason loads automatically through the Super Bowl, with your choice of how teams free up for January. Forgetting a pick doesn’t have to end a run — miss handling can count a strike, auto-assign the biggest favorite, or carry over last week’s team, and players can switch an entry to auto-pilot. Run it any way your group likes: classic survivor, a Loser Pool where you pick a team to LOSE each week, or against the spread with the line frozen at a set time each week so everyone is graded on the same number. Turn on the Second Chance bracket and anyone knocked out drops into a side pool that starts over, so a week-2 exit doesn’t end their season. Runs for the NFL, any sport in the games library, or a one-click March Madness bracket-survivor (pick a winner each round).
Great for:NFL season poolsMarch Madness bracket poolsBooster fundraisersAny sport with a schedule
How it runs
Survivor / Eliminator Pool, start to finish.
01
Set it up
Pick your sport/league, entry fee, strikes, and deadline. The season’s weeks are created for you.
02
Build the schedule
Pull each week’s games straight from the games library, or add them by hand.
03
Pick & survive
Entries pick one team a week. Enter results and the platform eliminates the losers automatically.
Everything you can customise
Features, options & plans.
Tune every detail to fit your group — and see exactly what is on each plan.
＋ Add-on = a paid add-on, included on Pro Commissioner. A Contest Pass unlocks the Pro tools on one contest — it does not include separately-sold modules like Fundraising, or anything account-wide such as extra admins. See full pricing →
One contest, one payment
Running just one pool? Skip the subscription.
A Contest Pass unlocks every Pro Commissioner tool on this one contest — payment reconciliation, your own branding, automatic reminders, auto-scoring and advanced reports. Paid once, no renewal, and it lasts as long as the contest does. Priced by how many entries you need.
Bigger sizes cost less per entry. Outgrow the one you picked and you can resize later, paying only the difference.
Games library
Pick your game — we bring the teams.
On Pro Commissioner, choose your matchup from our synced library: team names, logos and start times come pre-loaded. On any plan you can always type in team names yourself.
More leagues added regularly.
The complete guide
How a Survivor / Eliminator Pool works.
A survivor pool (or eliminator) is the most nerve-racking pool in sports: pick one team to win each week, never reuse a team, and one loss knocks you out. The last entry standing takes the pot. Here’s how it works, the variations, strategy, and how to run one.
What is a survivor pool?
Each week you pick exactly one team you think will win — that’s it. If your team wins, you survive to next week; if it loses, you’re out. The catch: you can’t pick the same team twice all season, so you have to spend your best teams wisely. The last entry left standing wins.
How a season plays out
Each week you pick one winner from a team you haven’t used yet:
| Week | Your pick | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Chiefs | ✅ Survive |
| Week 2 | Eagles | ✅ Survive |
| Week 3 | Ravens | ❌ Eliminated |
| Week 4 | — | Out (unless buy-back is on) |
Pick the Chiefs in Week 1 and you can’t use them again all season — so saving a strong team for a tougher week is part of the game.
Common variations
- Strikes (lives): give everyone 1–3 strikes so one bad week doesn’t end their season.
- Second chance / buy-back: let eliminated players re-enter (often through a set week) for another fee.
- Mulligans: a limited number of “forgiven” losses.
- Double-pick weeks: require two surviving picks in a week to thin the field late.
- No-pick handling: auto-eliminate, or assign the lowest-favored team.
Tiebreakers & deadlines
If several entries survive to the end — or everyone loses in the same week — pools either split the pot or break ties by a rule you set. Picks lock at the start of each week’s games (or per game), and missed picks are handled by your chosen rule, all automatically.
Run your own survivor pool
Set the rules, share one link, and let eliminations and standings run themselves.
Survivor strategy
- Don’t burn your best team in Week 1 — save big favorites for weeks when the slate is thin.
- Look ahead three or four weeks so you’re not stuck with only bad options late.
- Take the safest favorite, not the biggest one — survival is about avoiding losses, not running up margin.
- With strikes in play you can take a calculated early risk; in a single-life pool, play it safe.
Running it the easy way
ChooseASquare loads the season from the games library, tracks used teams per entry, eliminates automatically as results post, and keeps a live standings of who’s still alive. Players pick from their phone on one link. Want weekly scoring instead of elimination? See Pick’Em or a Confidence Pool.
FAQ
Survivor / Eliminator Pool, answered.
How does a survivor pool work?+
Each week every entry picks one team to win straight-up. Pick a winner and you advance; pick a loser and you’re eliminated. You can’t use the same team twice all season, and the last entry (or entries) still alive at the end splits the pot.
Can I run it for sports other than the NFL?+
Yes. The pool is sport-agnostic — build each week’s schedule from any league in your games library (college football, NBA, MLB, and more), or add games by hand.
What happens with ties, or if I miss a pick?+
You choose whether a tie eliminates or survives. A missed pick eliminates by default (or you can set it to no penalty). Mulligans and strikes — on paid plans — give entries some forgiveness.
Can people have more than one entry?+
On Pro Commissioner, yes — set how many entries each person can buy. The free plan is one entry per person.
Is it free, and how do payouts work?+
You can run a survivor pool on the free plan and keep 100% of the pot. Supporters pay you directly; the platform never holds the money or takes a cut. Set your cut, and the rest goes to the last entry standing.
Can I run a Loser Pool, or play against the spread?+
Yes — both are a setting, not a different product. Loser Pool mode flips the rule so you pick a team to LOSE each week. Against-the-spread grades your pick against the betting line rather than a straight win, and the line freezes at a time you choose each week (most pools use Wednesday at 12:00pm ET) so everyone is graded on the same number no matter when they picked. Both are on Pro Commissioner and are locked once the first week is scored, since changing them would rewrite who is already out.
What is a Second Chance bracket?+
A side pool for the eliminated. Turn it on and any entry knocked out of the main pool is automatically entered into a bracket that starts over from scratch — no extra buy-in, nothing for you to run. The last one standing there takes a share of the pot (you set the percentage, taken off the top). It keeps people who busted in week 2 still playing in November. You can optionally set a last week to join.
When exactly do picks lock?+
Your choice: at the week’s first kickoff, at each pick’s own kickoff, or at a named slot — Thursday Night (8:15pm ET), Sunday Early (1:00pm ET), Sunday Late (4:05pm ET) or Sunday Night (8:20pm ET). A slot deadline lets people keep editing past the earlier games.
Which features need a paid plan?+
The pool itself is free. Strikes, multiple entries, mulligans, buyback, double-pick weeks, auto-scoring, advanced prizes/tiebreakers, Loser Pool mode, against-the-spread and the Second Chance bracket are all on Pro Commissioner.
Every Survivor / Eliminator setting explained in plain English — lives & strikes, mulligans, buy-backs, no-pick handling, running through the playoffs and how teams free up, auto-pilot, flexible payouts, tiebreakers, and the organizer cut.
Other contest types
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