Commissioner setup guide

Prop Picks: Commissioner Setup Guide

Run a prop sheet for one big game: pick the game, start from a ready-made pack or write your own questions, publish, and the sheet locks itself at first pitch. Automatic results, corrections, voids, the tiebreaker and paper entries explained.

Watch parties, offices & big-game nights · 5 min read

Prop Picks is a prop sheet for one big game: a World Series game, the Super Bowl, a rivalry night. Everybody answers the same questions (who scores first, total runs over or under, will anyone hit a home run) plus a tiebreaker, and the sheet locks itself at first pitch. Most points wins.

It is built for the night itself. Every tap on the sheet saves on its own, so nobody loses their picks to a closed tab in the last minute before the game, and the lock is enforced by our server clock rather than by anyone's phone. Before lock nobody can see anybody else's picks. After lock everyone sees how the room picked, question by question.

Results come in two ways. Almost every library question grades itself from the official MLB play-by-play, the same feed Event Bingo marks itself from: the result and the score, home runs, doubles, triples, steals, errors, double plays, walks, the first batter and the first pitch, extra innings and walk-offs, and named players' hits, home runs, RBIs, strikeouts and outs, so most of the sheet grades itself as the game goes. Everything else, including any question you write yourself, you settle on the Results screen with one tap. A correction regrades every sheet at once, and a voided question counts for nobody.

QUESTIONS COME IN TWO KINDS, and you choose which you want when you create the sheet: GAME PROPS (who scores first, total runs, extra innings) and PLAYER PROPS, which are about a particular man — how many he strikes out, how deep he goes, which of the two starters records more. You can have either or both, and you can add either kind by hand afterwards; the choice at setup is a starting point, not a lock.

A PLAYER QUESTION DOES NOT CARRY A NAME UNTIL THERE IS ONE TO CARRY. It is written against a role (the home starter, the away starter) and the real name arrives on its own when the probable pitchers are announced, usually days ahead. That is what makes player props work for a SERIES: Game 1's starter is not Game 4's, and each game's questions name that game's man rather than a name you typed in last week. Until a starter is named the question is held back from every sheet and counted against nobody, so no player is marked short for a question they were never offered.

Creating the contest

From your org console, New contest, then Prop Picks. Three steps.

Which game: Pick it from the real MLB schedule and the sheet takes its team names, its first-pitch time (the default lock) and its automatic results from that game. A game that is not on the schedule can be typed in; you then enter every result yourself.
Which kind of questions: Game props, player props, or both. Game props are about the game (who scores first, total runs, extra innings); player props are about a particular man and fill their names in from the real starting pitchers. It only decides what you are offered to start with; you can add either kind by hand at any time.
Start the sheet from: A ready-made pack (fifteen questions that work for any baseball game, thirteen about the two starting pitchers, or a pack written for a specific game such as World Series Game 1), or an empty sheet. A pack is only a starting point: every question can be edited, removed or reordered afterwards. The starters pack works on a SERIES as well as a single game, because its questions name roles rather than people.
Contest name: Suggested from the game, and yours to change.

Building the sheet

On the Sheet screen. Change anything you like until the first answer comes in.

The library: Every library question has a written rule that says exactly how it settles, and is marked either "graded automatically" or "you enter the result". Add one with a tap; a question already on the sheet says so.
Write your own: Yes or no, pick one from a list, or over/under a line you set. A question you write is always graded by you. Save a good one to your library and it is there for your next contest.
Waiting on a starter: A player question with no announced starter yet says so on this screen, with a box to type the name in yourself. It is held back from every player's sheet until it has one, and counted against nobody, so nobody is marked short for it. Type the name the way MLB spells it in full, because grading matches it exactly. Once you have typed one we never overwrite it, even if the feed later disagrees; it is yours.
When a starter is scratched: If the announced starter changes before picks lock, we rewrite that question with the new name, clear the answers to THAT ONE QUESTION, and email everybody who had answered it so they can re-pick. Nothing else on their sheet is touched. This is the only change we ever make to a published question without you. After the lock a name never changes: a starter who is announced and then does not pitch voids his question under the written participation rule, and a question that never got a starter at all is voided at the lock with the reason shown on the sheet.
Points: Every question is worth 1 point unless you say otherwise. Make the hard ones worth more.
The line: On an over/under question, the number. Use a half (8.5, not 8) and it can never land exactly on the line; if a whole-number line is hit exactly, that question is void.
Lock time: First pitch by default. Moving it earlier is for a question about something that happens before the game, and you are asked to confirm that. It can never be after the game starts, and it cannot move once a result is in.
Publish: Nobody can play until you publish. Publishing checks the sheet first: every question needs two answers, every over/under needs a line, and the lock has to be in the future.
Frozen once answered: The moment anybody answers, the questions stop changing, because changing a question under someone who already answered it changes what they said. If you must change it, Clear all answers wipes every sheet so everyone starts again; it is recorded in the contest's history.

A series: every game in one contest

Choose "A series" on the first step of New contest, Prop Picks.

What it is: One contest across several games, such as the World Series: one sheet per person, its own questions for each game, and each game locking at its own first pitch. Picking "A series" selects every listed game between the same two teams; tap a game to leave it out. The pack you choose is added to every game, with that game's home and away teams.
Questions per game: On the Sheet screen, switch games with the arrows. Write every game's questions up front, or add each game's as the series goes: a game's questions freeze only once somebody answers one of THAT game's. "Copy Game 1's questions" copies a game's questions onto the one on screen, with the right team names for that game.
Publishing each game: Publishing the series opens Game 1. Every later game stays hidden from players until you press "Publish Game N" on the Sheet screen, so you can change its questions freely until then. A game can be unpublished again while nobody has answered it.
Who is ready: The Participants tab lists every sheet with whether the player has submitted, the series tiebreaker, and answers out of questions for each published game, with how many sheets are ready for each game at the top. Overview shows the count for the game that is open now. Picks count as they are saved, so a ready sheet is in play even before the player presses Submit. A series sheet needs its series tiebreaker until Game 1 locks.
A recap after every game: Switch on the recap in Communications and each game gets its own write-up in the Column once all of its questions have a result: who scored most, the questions that caught people out, and the series standings. It is held for you and then sends on its own, like the weekly Pick'Em recap.
Locks and late joiners: Each game locks at its own first pitch, set per game on the Sheet screen. Somebody can join after Game 1 has locked and play the games still to come; they simply have no points for the games they missed.
Tiebreakers: The series has its own tiebreaker (total runs across the series, which locks with Game 1) and every game has its own (total runs in that game). Each fills itself in from the final scores.
Winners: Choose the series, each game, or both. The standings have a Series table and one table per game, each ranked by points and then its own tiebreaker.
A game that is not needed: When an MLB series ends early, the games it did not need are voided for you as soon as the deciding game is final, and the sheet is finalized once every question has an answer. Their questions count for nobody. Any sheet finalizes itself the same way once every game is over and every question is answered; to correct a result afterwards, press Reopen in Results, and a reopened sheet then waits for you to finalize it again. For a game with no live feed, press "Not needed: void this game" on the Sheet screen; it appears once an earlier game has locked.

During and after the game

On the Results screen.

Automatic results: Questions marked automatic grade themselves from the MLB play-by-play every ten minutes or so. A question decides as soon as it can: a home run in the 3rd settles "Will anyone homer?" right then, while No, Under and head-to-head questions wait for the final out. A missing or partial feed never resolves anything, and an official scoring change is picked up on the next check. "Check the box score now" grades the score questions on demand.
Settling a question: Tap the answer that happened, or for an over/under type the number and the line decides. Every change keeps a history: what it was, what it became, and who changed it.
Corrections and voids: Change an answer and every sheet is regraded at once. Void a question and it counts for nobody. A result you enter is never overwritten by the automatic one; Clear hands a question back to the box score.
Tiebreaker: Total runs scored by both teams, filled in from the final score (or by you on a typed-in game). A tie on points goes to the answer closest to the actual number, over or under.
Finalize: When every question has a result, Finalize makes the standings final. Reopen if something needs correcting; it is recorded.
Sheets per person: One by default. On the Sheet screen, pick 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 to let each player fill that many sheets. Each sheet has its own name and its own place on the leaderboard, and a player switches between theirs, or adds another, at the top of the sheet. New sheets stop at the lock. Lowering the number stops new sheets but never removes one somebody already has.
Paper entries: Somebody filled in a printed sheet? Add them by name on the Results screen and key in their answers before the lock. The printable sheet is on the contest's Rules tab.
Everyone's Picks: Once picks lock, every player gets an "Everyone's Picks" tab beside the leaderboard: one row per sheet, one column per question, with the room's split under each question and a tick or a cross on every answer once it is settled. On a phone it reads a question at a time, with the room sorted into the answers it gave. On a series it has a tab per game, and a game that has not locked yet stays sealed while an earlier one is open to read. Before the lock it shows nothing to anybody, you included: the only picks you can see early are the paper ones you keyed in yourself.

FAQ

Can I change the questions after people have started?

Not while anyone has an answer on the sheet. Clear all answers first (everyone starts again), then edit. This is deliberate: a question that changes under somebody who answered it changes what they said.

What happens if somebody tries to change a pick after the lock?

It is refused by the server and their last saved answer stands. The countdown on the sheet is corrected for the phone's own clock, but the server's time is the one that counts.

Which questions grade themselves?

Almost every library question grades itself from the official MLB play-by-play, the same feed Event Bingo marks itself from: the result and the score, home runs, doubles, triples, steals, errors, double plays, walks, the first batter and the first pitch, extra innings and walk-offs, and named players' hits, home runs, RBIs, strikeouts and outs. Questions you write yourself, and a couple of judgement calls (a replay overturning a ruling), you settle with a tap.

Can people see each other's picks?

Not until the lock. After it, everybody can: the "Everyone's Picks" tab shows every sheet against every question, which is most of the fun of a prop sheet. The lock is the only thing that opens it. There is no setting to open it early and no commissioner view that sees in first, because a commissioner is usually playing too. On a series each game opens on its own first pitch, so Game 1 can be read while Game 3 is still secret.

How are ties broken?

Most points wins. Level on points, the tiebreaker answer closest to the actual total runs wins. A sheet is ranked once every question and the tiebreaker are answered.

What does it cost?

Nothing. Prop Picks is free on every plan, including Free, with no limit on how many people play.

Ready to run yours?

Set it up in a few minutes — every option here is right there in the wizard.

Start a Prop Picks contest