How to Play
1. Get into a league
Invited? Open the link in the invitation and sign in with your email address (we email you a sign-in link; open it on the same device, and there is no password). That takes your seat for you — there is nothing else to click.
No invitation? Sign in at the Football Exchange and the first screen asks how you want to get in: enter the join code somebody gave you, take a seat in a league open to anyone, or start your own league at the bottom of that screen.
Once you are in a league, that same screen is on the Exchange menu, under Join or create a league, whenever you want another team.
When you start a league you choose who can join and when it starts: at a week you pick, or once enough managers have joined. You can invite people by email or share the join code yourself.
2. Name yourself and your team
The first time you enter a league you are asked for your name and a team name. Your name is the same in every league; your team name is for that league only. Change either any time from the Edit links on your team page.
3. Build your roster
You start with $130. Your roster has 13 slots: 2 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 2 TE, a WR/RB flex, a WR/TE flex, a kicker and a defense. Your team page (Team › Home) lists the players you own, slot by slot. The buttons along the top show how much of each position you have filled and what you have spent on it; press one to shop for players who can fill it.
You buy players in quarter shares: 25%, 50%, 75% or all 100% of one player. $130 is half of the $260 a full roster of starter-level players costs at fair value, so you cannot own everyone you want. Filling your roster with undervalued players at prices you can afford and growing your portfolio is the heart of the game.
League › Market lists every player with his price, and League › Screener lets you filter and sort by the numbers that matter to you.
4. Before the league starts
Trading opens once the league has four managers, but no earlier than a week before its first kickoff. Until the league starts, anything you sell gives you back exactly what you paid, so there is no risk in trying things out. Other teams' players stay hidden until the start.
5. Every week
- Own your players at the week's first kickoff. Whoever owns a player at that moment collects his dividend for the week, even if they sell him before he plays.
- One dividend per slot, per week. Every player's ownership is recorded at that same moment, so trading during the week cannot earn you two dividends for the same money. Sell a player after kickoff and you keep his dividend, but whoever you buy with the proceeds pays you nothing until next week. Sell before kickoff and the new player pays instead.
- Collect dividends. When the week's stats are final, usually within a day of the last game, every player pays his owners for his fantasy points: about 12½¢ per point for a whole player, less for a part. The cash lands in your account, ready to spend.
- Watch prices reset. After each week, every player's fair value is updated from what he has actually scored. Players who beat expectations go up; players who fall short, or stop playing, come down.
- Trade whenever you like. The market never closes, not even during games. Buying a player pushes his price up a little and selling pushes it down.
- Or let a limit order trade for you. Under Team › Limit Orders, tell the game to buy or sell a player when his price reaches a level you choose: buy a player you like if he gets cheaper, take a profit if he climbs, or sell if he falls. Your orders are checked after every trade and every weekly reset, and Team › Home tells you when one has filled.
6. Mind your byes
Every roster slot has to sit out one week over the season, just as every NFL team has a bye. Holding a player through his team's bye counts, and so does leaving part of a position empty — though empty room only counts during the weeks NFL teams are on bye, and covers at most two byes a week. You don't have to plan it; it happens as you play. But if you avoid byes altogether, that position's final-week dividends are cut. Team › Byes shows where you stand.
7. Win
At the end of the season your team is worth what your players could actually be sold for, plus whatever cash you are holding. The most valuable team wins the league. Along the way, League › Standings ranks your league and Exchange › Leaderboard compares everyone across all leagues.
A few ways to score returns
- Find value early. A player bought before anyone else notices him costs less, and every manager who buys in behind you lifts his price and your stake with it.
- Buy the dip. Injured or struggling players get cheap; if they come back, you're paid for the rebound.
- Chase matchups. Own a player for his good week, collect, and move on.
- Reinvest. Dividends land as cash you can spend straight away. Put them back to work: buy a bigger share of the players you believe in most, or upgrade a position where you are thin.
Every number behind all this is on the Rules page.