The scoring system you choose for your pick'em pool determines everything: how much skill matters, how often the standings change, and whether casual players can compete with football obsessives.
Here's every scoring system used in NFL pick'em pools, how each one works, and who each one is right for.
Flat Scoring: One Point Per Correct Pick
The simplest scoring system. Pick the winner of every NFL game. If you're right, you get one point. If you're wrong, you get zero.
Straight Up flat scoring means picking the outright winner — the Patriots either beat the Jets or they don't. No spread involved.
ATS flat scoring means picking against the point spread. You're not just picking who wins — you're picking who covers. The Patriots might be 7-point favorites. You pick them to cover (win by more than 7) or the Jets to cover (win or lose by fewer than 7).
In both cases, a correct pick earns 1 point. A wrong pick earns 0. At the end of the season, whoever has the most correct picks wins.
The problem with flat scoring: variance. In a 16-game week, most players end up somewhere between 8-8 and 12-4. A handful of the games are genuinely unpredictable coin flips that everyone gets wrong together, and a handful are obvious favorites that everyone gets right together. The games that actually separate the field are a small subset — and flat scoring weights them the same as every other pick.
Two players can both go 10-6 for completely different reasons. One genuinely understood the slate. The other got lucky on three games they were guessing on. Flat scoring can't tell the difference.
Who it's right for: Groups that want the simplest possible format with no explanation required. Casual pools where the goal is participation, not competition.
Confidence Scoring: Multiplying Points by Conviction
Confidence scoring keeps the same basic premise — pick the winner of every game — but adds a layer: you assign a unique point value to each pick based on how sure you are.
With 16 games in a week, you distribute the numbers 1 through 16 across all your picks. One number per game, each number used exactly once. Your most confident pick gets 16. Your least confident gets 1. A correct pick earns you those points. A wrong pick earns zero.
Example: You put 16 on the Chiefs to cover at home against the Raiders. If they cover, you earn 16 points. If they don't, you earn nothing. Meanwhile you put 2 on a Commanders-Giants game you consider a genuine coin flip. Right or wrong, that pick moves your total by at most 2 points.
The total available points in a 16-game week: 1+2+3+...+16 = 136 points. A player who goes 9-7 but correctly identified the five highest-confidence games of the week can outscore a player who went 11-5 but scattered their high numbers across games they happened to win and games they lost.
Straight Up + Confidence uses this system for outright winner picks — no spread knowledge required.
ATS + Confidence uses this system for against-the-spread picks — the hardest and most skill-based format available.
Why confidence scoring is better for competitive pools: It rewards genuine football knowledge rather than outcome luck. The player who studies the lines and correctly identifies which games are more certain than others accumulates an edge over 18 weeks that flat scoring would mask. By Week 6, the standings in a confidence pool actually reflect who's good at picking.
Who it's right for: Any group that wants skill to matter. ATS + Confidence for groups that follow betting lines. Straight Up + Confidence for groups that don't.
Pick 5 Scoring: Selection + Pick, Flat Points
Pick 5 formats add a third decision on top of the normal pick: which games do you engage with at all?
Each week, instead of picking every game, players choose any 5 games from the slate — then pick a side for each. All picks lock Friday before Thursday night's game.
Scoring is flat within the games you selected: 1 point for a win, ½ point for a push (when the final margin lands exactly on the spread), 0 points for a loss.
Why the half-point matters: In ATS formats, a push (margin exactly equals the spread) is usually counted as a loss. Pick 5 treats it as a half-win. This matters more than it sounds — in a week where you picked 5 games and one pushed, you finish at 3.5 instead of 3.0. Over a season, pushes add up.
The strategic layer Pick 5 adds: You're not just deciding who covers — you're deciding which five matchups you actually have conviction on. A week with three obvious games and thirteen coin flips rewards the player who correctly identifies the three obviouses and ignores the rest. A player who picks five genuine coin flips is playing a much harder game than a player who picks the five clearest outcomes on the slate.
Who it's right for: Groups where some players only have a few minutes each week. It's also great for serious bettors who want to play only the games they have genuine conviction on — no padding the slate with guesses.
Scoring System Comparison
| Format | Picks per week | Scoring | Max pts/week | Skill ceiling | |---|---|---|---|---| | Straight Up flat | All games | 1pt per correct | 16 | Low | | ATS flat | All games | 1pt per correct ATS | 16 | Medium | | Straight Up + Confidence | All games | Confidence 1–16 | 136 | High | | ATS + Confidence | All games | Confidence 1–16 | 136 | Very High | | Pick 5 Straight Up | Any 5 | 1pt win / 0.5pt push | 5.0 | Medium | | Pick 5 ATS | Any 5 | 1pt win / 0.5pt push | 5.0 | High |
How Tiebreakers Work Across Scoring Systems
All of these formats need a way to break ties.
For confidence formats, ties within a week are broken by the MNF combined score prediction — each player submits a predicted total before their picks lock, and whoever is closest wins the tiebreaker.
For flat scoring formats, ties are common because many players will end up with the same record in a given week. The MNF tiebreaker works here too.
For season-long standings, most pools use total correct picks (regardless of confidence) as the first tiebreaker after total points, then best single-week score.
Document your tiebreaker before Week 1. Read the full tiebreaker guide →
What Happens When Games Are Postponed
Every scoring system handles postponed or cancelled games the same way: those games are removed from the week's slate and any picks submitted for them are voided.
In confidence formats, this means the confidence points assigned to the cancelled game are returned and redistributed. If a 16-game week loses a game to postponement, players re-submit picks for a 15-game week with numbers 1 through 15.
Choosing the Right Scoring System
Your group follows betting lines and wants the most competitive format possible: ATS + Confidence. The spread knowledge requirement separates serious players from casual ones, and the confidence layer ensures skill compounds over 18 weeks.
Your group has mixed football knowledge: Straight Up + Confidence. Keeps the depth of confidence scoring without requiring anyone to understand what -7.5 means.
You want the simplest possible pool: Straight Up flat scoring. One point per correct pick, no spread, no confidence numbers. Explain it in one sentence.
You want something for people with limited time each week: Pick 5 in either variant. Five games takes two minutes. The game selection adds strategy without the time commitment of picking every game.
You want ATS without the confidence complexity: ATS flat scoring. Harder than straight up but simpler than confidence. Good middle ground.
All six of these scoring systems are available on thepickempool — same commissioner tools, same Grid, same standings, just different formats. You pick the format when you create your league and can change it in the commissioner panel before the season starts.