The Rules of the Nutt Pool
The Objective
The goal is simple: achieve the lowest total score by the end of the tournament. Unlike traditional brackets where you pick winners, here you must predict the Winning Margin.
Scoring System
The Nutt (-25 Points)
The holy grail. If you pick the Correct Winner AND the Exact Margin of Victory, you hit a "Nutt" and receive a massive -25 point bonus.
Standard Scoring & The Penalty
If you miss the Nutt, your score is the absolute difference between your predicted margin and the actual margin.
Wrong Winner Penalty: If you predict the wrong team to win entirely, you suffer an additional 5-point penalty added to your difference.
Example A: You pick OSU by 5. OSU wins by 7.
Score = |7 - 5| = 2 points.
Example B: You pick OSU by 5. OSU loses by 2.
Score = |-2 - 5| = 7 points + 5 penalty = 12 points.
Transparency Rule
To keep things fair, you cannot see other players' picks for a specific game until that game has officially tipped off or kicked off. Once the game starts, all picks unlock in the Game Center and Standings Grid, allowing everyone to follow the scores and standings live.