FAQS

What are the lineup requirements?

All lineup requirements can be found on the Contest Details page. Site games use a fixed lineup for all games. User games allow the option to customize the lineup to your league requirements.

What is the scoring system?

Scoring can be found on the Contest Details tab in each contest.  Site games use a set scoring system for all contests. User games can customize scoring.

What states are eligible to play for money?

We’re available in twenty four (24) states to start the 2023 season. We will look to add more next year! See our Eligibility page for details on which states can play. Users who are not located in an eligible state during use of the site will be restricted from depositing or withdrawing funds, and from joining any site contests. 

Do I have to live in an eligible state or just be in one?

In order to be verified as an eligible user, you must reside in an eligible state. After being cleared via ID verification, you will be required to be within the boundaries of an eligible state in order to make any transactions. For example, if you live in California, you will be eligible to play in site games. However, even if you live in California, if you travel outside of California and at the time you attempt to use the service are in an ineligible state, you will be prevented from making moves or depositing/withdrawing money.

What happens if I do not live in an eligible state? How can I play?

Fantasy Sports Knockout offers user contests, which are contests created by users to play with a group of friends for entertainment only. Additionally, from time to time, Fantasy Sports Knockout offers free contests – all users over the age of 18 may play in free contests. If you do not live in an eligible state you will be limited to user games and free contests.

Why is Fantasy Sports Knockout so unique?

We combine various elements of fantasy leagues and knockout pools (aka survivor, last man standing, or eliminator pool) to create an experience that is new and will challenge even the most seasoned players!

What is a knockout pool?

A knockout pool is a very popular contest typically centered around NFL football in which users select a team to win each week. If the team wins, the user “survives”, if the team loses, the user is “knocked out” and no longer participates in the contest. Users may select a team only one time throughout the contest.

Is Fantasy Sports Knockout daily or season-long fantasy?

Actually, it’s both and neither. There are elements of both types of fantasy sports, but with a unique twist that separates it from both. We combine the two elements so that users create lineups as they would in a fantasy league, but the lowest score (or group of scores) is eliminated each week.

What are User Games? 

We offer the unique option to create your own Knockout contest for you and your friends! By clicking the blue Site Games button and selecting User Games (use the three line menu in the upper right corner on a mobile device), you switch to our User Games lobby. Create your own game with your own lineup and scoring rules, and invite up to 100 people to play! For a low fee, your league uses our statistics feed and elimination formula to create a season worth of fun for you and your friends! Note that User Games are for entertainment only and are not administered in any way by Fantasy Sports Knockout.

How are eliminations determined?

In most games, it’s simple: the lowest score each week goes home. Fantasy Sports Knockout uses a proprietary elimination algorithm to determine the eliminated entries in bigger contests were multiple entries are eliminated. See our FAQ regarding the elimination formula for a detailed explanation.

How do you determine who gets eliminated if there’s a tie?

Fantasy Sports Knockout employs a series of statistical tiebreakers based on previous weeks’ scores. There are a total of five (5) scoring categories used, and all are considered on a season-to-date basis at the time they are used:

Total Points Scored
Total QB Points Scored
Total RB Points Scored
Total WR Points Scored
Total FLEX Points Scored*

*NOTE: the players used in the flex position do not count towards the points in their individual positions. Flex player points only count towards the flex position, which adds a layer of strategy when selecting flex players for your lineup.

Why was I eliminated when I’ve scored the most points this year?

This might be the single-most asked question. Remember, our game is completely unique and not a typical fantasy game. Fantasy Sports Knockout is not about the highest score – it’s about survival. Just like in real life or in any fantasy game, the best team doesn’t always win. Using the right players at the right time is a big key. In fact, you could come in second to last every week and win the contest – but one bad week could end it all!

What is the elimination formula?

We developed a proprietary formula that focuses on creating a competitive atmosphere in the latter part of the season. The second half of the contest will always eliminate one (1) entry each week, so we have to eliminate the remainder of the entries in the first half. Grab your calculator and let’s rock! We’ll include examples as we go.

We’ll assume a full NFL season of 18 weeks and a contest with 85 entries.

Divide the number of weeks in the contest by two to determine the number of weeks in each half of the contest. (18 / 2 = 9)
NOTE: In contests with an odd number of weeks, the extra week goes to the second half
Determine how many entries must be eliminated (all contests have one Knockout winner). (85 – 1 = 84)
Add the eventual winner to the number of weeks in the second half (1 + 9 = 10), and subtract that from the total number of entries (85 – 10 = 75) to determine how many entries must be eliminated in the first half of the contest.
Divide the number of first-half eliminations by the number of weeks in the first half to determine how many entries are eliminated in each week. (75 / 9 = 8.3)
Round the number of weekly eliminations down and that’s the number of entries eliminated each week from week 2 through the end of the first half (8.3 rounded down = 8. Eight (8) will be eliminated in weeks 2-9)
Take the overage from the number that was rounded down and eliminate the additional entries in week 1 (9 * 8 = 72, leaving 3 additional entries. Eleven (11) entries will be eliminated in the first week.

Our 18-week, 85-entry contest looks like this:

Week 1: 11 eliminations
Week 2: 8 eliminations
Week 3: 8 eliminations
Week 4: 8 eliminations
Week 5: 8 eliminations
Week 6: 8 eliminations
Week 7: 8 eliminations
Week 8: 8 eliminations
Week 9: 8 eliminations
Week 10: 1 elimination
Week 11: 1 elimination
Week 12: 1 elimination
Week 13: 1 elimination
Week 14: 1 elimination
Week 15: 1 elimination
Week 16: 1 elimination
Week 17: 1 elimination
Week 18: 1 elimination

What happens if I forget to set my lineup?

An automated lineup function will set a lineup for users who don’t enter a lineup in a given week. This is to prevent users giving up, thereby saving players, and then coming back later in the season only to have all the best players available. The automated lineup will give you the highest-scoring players at each postion, season to date. While this may sound like an advantage, you can never predict player performance, and the players used will no longer be available for a potentially more favorable matchup. To guard against the potential for such a user to gain an advantage, 100 points will be added to the user’s chosen tiebreaker for the week. We do not recommend using this as a strategy!

How exactly is the chosen tiebreaker used?

Every user must select a tiebreaker when joining a contest. The tiebreaker is the user’s tiebreaker for the entire season, and cannot be duplicated in a particular contest so as to ensure a unique number. It serves as the sixth (6th) and final tiebreaker in the event that statistical tiebreakers cannot resolve an elimination situation. The user whose tiebreaker is closest to the actual score survives. The tiebreaker can be higher or lower, only the distance from the actual score matters. However, if two tiebreakers are equidistant from the actual score, the lower predicted tiebreaker would survive.

What happens if I win more than $600 in prizes?

If you win $600 or more, we are required to report it. We will require you to fill out a W-9 form in order to receive your prize.