How challenges work
One game, your team, a link: how a challenge works, how lines and ties are graded, and how it differs from a pool.
What a challenge is
A challenge is the smallest thing on Sportpoolz: one game, your team, and a link that anyone can open to back you or take the other team.
- 1 Pick a game and a team. Straight up, or against the spread with the line frozen when you post.
- 2 Share the link. It unfurls as a card with your avatar and both teams in Messages, WhatsApp, X and Facebook.
- 3 Watch it play out: who picked which team, the score, and a result card to post when it's over.
When the game ends, the challenge settles itself and everyone in it gets the result. It's free, and it's bragging rights only.
Do I need an account to pick a team?
You'll create a free one in the same tap, and your pick is saved and waiting when you land back on the challenge.
Anyone can open a challenge link and see the games, the line and who picked which team. Picking a team is the step that asks you to sign up or sign in.
If you finish signing up on another device, the team you chose is shown selected there, and one tap confirms it.
Can I pick either team?
On an open challenge, yes: back the challenger, or take the other team. A head-to-head is between two people, so you get the other team.
- Open: anyone with the link picks either team.
- Capped: the same, until as many people as the challenger allowed have joined. Once it's full, people already in can still switch teams.
- Head-to-head: one person against the challenger, so the only team to take is the other one, and the challenger's team shows as their pick. If the challenger named someone, only that person can take it; if not, the first person to take the other team is the opponent.
Straight up or against the spread?
Straight up means pick the winner. Against the spread, the line is frozen the moment the challenge is posted, and it never moves, even if the books do.
The challenger chooses when posting. Against the spread, the challenge takes the line the books are showing at that moment. That number is written into the challenge, and every pick on it is graded against it.
That's the difference from a pool, where the line can move until kickoff. A challenge is one claim, so its terms stay the ones the people who answered it saw.
A posted line never changes. If it has moved and you want the new one, the challenger can cancel and start a new one: a head-to-head reopens with the same game, side and opponent at today's line.
Can I change my mind?
Until a game kicks off you can switch teams on it by tapping the other one, and once it starts, picks on that game lock.
It goes game by game: on a challenge with more than one game, each game stays open to switch until it kicks off.
A head-to-head has only one team to take, so there's nothing to switch to, and the challenger's team is the claim itself, so it doesn't move either.
When it's a tie
Lands exactly on the line? It's a tie, unlike pools. Nobody wins that game, which is how sportsbooks grade it too.
With the Bears at -3, a Bears win by exactly 3 means nobody beat the line, so nobody wins that game. Sportsbooks call that a push.
Pools give that game to the underdog instead, because one pick is a small part of a season. A challenge is one claim, so it's graded the way a sportsbook grades it.
- Half-point lines like -2.5 can't tie: the margin can never land on them.
- A game that ends level is a tie for everyone on a straight-up pick.
Can the challenger cancel it?
Yes, until the first game kicks off, and it's void for everyone: no wins, no losses.
Everyone who picked a team sees it in Messages. The link keeps working and says it was cancelled, so a link already shared still leads somewhere.
Once a game has kicked off, the results are owed to the people who answered, so it can't be cancelled any more.
What if nobody takes a head-to-head?
It voids at kickoff, because you can't win a challenge nobody took.
Nothing counts either way: no win and no loss. The link keeps working and says nobody took the other team before kickoff.
Can my opponent message me?
In a head-to-head with a named opponent, yes: once they've taken the other team, the two of you can message each other on Sportpoolz until a week after it's completed or cancelled.
That also needs you both to still be in the same private pool, and it happens in your one conversation, not a new one.
Hiding someone stops it straight away, and any message can be reported to Sportpoolz.
Open challenges never open a conversation: anyone with the link can answer them.
Can we run it back?
Once a head-to-head is completed, either of you can press Rematch to start a new one against the same person.
It's straight up or against the spread as before, on the next game between the same two teams if there is one. Against the spread takes that game's line, not the old one.
You'll both see the series record between you.
Is there money involved?
Never. Challenges are bragging rights only, same as every pool on Sportpoolz.
There is nothing to set, pay or win beyond the result itself. No money changes hands on Sportpoolz.
How is this different from a pool?
A challenge is one claim on one game (or a few). A pool is a whole season, with weekly picks and standings.
Other help topics
Still stuck?
Short questions are usually answered on the FAQ. If yours isn't, send us a message and we'll take a look.