bracketball: How It Works

1) Draft Budget: 100 Total Points

Every entry gets 100 points to spend in the draft. Team cost is based on seed rank. Higher-ranked teams (1-seeds) cost more and lower-ranked teams (16-seeds) cost less.

Example: a 1-seed costs 22 points, while a 16-seed costs 1 point.

2) Base Points Per Win

Scoring is per game won. Every tournament win by a team you drafted adds points cumulatively.

A champion that wins all 6 games earns 972 base points before bonuses.

3) Upset Bonus

When your team wins as an underdog, you earn an extra upset bonus on top of base points. Bigger upsets generally earn more than smaller upsets.

4) Seed Multiplier

Each seed has a weighting factor that adjusts base win points. Underdog seeds receive a stronger boost than top seeds. This is applied automatically by the scoring system.

5) Historic Upset Bonus

Certain rare first-round underdog outcomes can trigger an additional one-time bonus for 14-, 15-, and 16-seeds. Lower seeds earn a larger historic upset bonus than higher seeds (for example, a 16-seed bonus is larger than a 14-seed bonus).

6) Perfect Round of 64 Bonus

If all of your drafted teams win in the Round of 64, you earn a one-time perfect-round bonus. The bonus is based on the overall risk profile of your draft.

Your draft does not need to spend exactly 100 points. Any valid draft at or under the 100-point budget can qualify.

• This applies to the Round of 64 only.
• If any drafted team loses in that round, no bonus is awarded.

7) Draft Caps

• Max 2 one-seeds
• Max 2 two-seeds
• Max 6 combined seeds 14-16

8) Tie-breakers

• Total points (obviously).
• If tied: most Round of 4 teams drafted.
• If still tied: most Championship teams drafted.
• If still tied: split pot (or commissioner decides).

9) FAQ / Edge Cases

• Play-in teams: once decided, the winner inherits the slot and scoring.
• Vacated wins / forfeits: scoring follows official bracket advancement.
• Scoring updates: automated via SportsDataIO when games go Final.