Tākaro SPORTS
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NFL SURVIVOR POOLS

Run your survivor pool without the spreadsheet.

Pick one team a week. Win and you advance, lose and you're out, and you can never reuse a team. Tākaro handles the grading, the eliminations and the arguments — free.

Start a pool — free on iOS

How a survivor pool works

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Pick one team a week
Choose a single team you think wins. That's your whole week.
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Never reuse a team
Once you've used a team, they're gone for the season.
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Lose and you're out
A loss — or a missed pick — eliminates you, unless your pool allows strikes.
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Last one standing wins
When one person is left, it's over. Sometimes that takes until January.

Starting one takes about a minute

  1. 1
    Open Tākaro and tap Play → Survivor Pools.
  2. 2
    Name your pool, choose strikes (0, 1 or 2) and the week it starts.
  3. 3
    Share the invite link — one tap, no codes to mistype.
  4. 4
    That's it. Picks lock at kickoff and grading happens on its own.

What the commissioner doesn't have to do

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Tally anything. Picks are graded automatically as games finish. No Monday morning spreadsheet.
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Chase people for codes. Share one link. It opens to your pool name and how many are already in.
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Rule on missed picks. Set strikes (0, 1 or 2) when you create the pool. It enforces itself.
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Track used teams. Everyone's used teams are tracked automatically — nobody can reuse one by accident.
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Remember to eliminate people. Eliminations happen on their own as results come in.

Two mistakes that end most pools early

MISTAKE 1

Everybody picks the same Week 1 favourite

Half a typical pool lands on the biggest favourite on the board in Week 1. When that team loses — and eventually one does — half the pool is gone before the end of September. Being different in Week 1 is worth more than being right.

MISTAKE 2

Spending your best teams in September

You only get each team once. Burn the strongest teams on easy early matchups and you'll be picking coin flips in December, when everyone left is doing the same thing. Good survivor players plan several weeks ahead.

Common questions

How does an NFL survivor pool work?

Each week you pick one team you think will win. If they win, you advance to the next week. If they lose, you're eliminated. The catch is that you can never reuse a team — pick the Chiefs in Week 1 and they're gone for the rest of the season. The last person still alive wins.

What happens if I forget to make a pick?

In a pure survivor pool, a missed pick counts as a loss and you're out. That's why most pools agree up front whether to allow strikes — one or two 'lives' that absorb a loss or a missed pick before elimination. In Tākaro you set that when you create the pool, and it's enforced automatically so nobody has to argue about it in Week 3.

When do picks lock?

At kickoff of the game you picked. Until then you can change your mind as many times as you like.

How many people do you need for a survivor pool?

It works with as few as five or six, but it's more fun with 20 or more — bigger pools last longer and the eliminations sting more. There's no upper limit in Tākaro.

Is Tākaro's survivor pool free?

Yes. There are no entry fees, no payouts, and no payments of any kind. Tākaro is a free sports app — a tracker and companion, not a sportsbook. Pools are played for bragging rights.

Can I run a pool that starts after Week 1?

Yes. You choose the starting week when you create the pool, so a pool that gets organised late doesn't have to pretend Week 1 happened.

What's the difference between survivor and pick'em?

In survivor you pick one team a week and a single loss can knock you out. In pick'em you pick every game each week and accumulate points — nobody is eliminated. Tākaro runs both.

Pools that start late never fill.

Build it today, chase people tomorrow. Free — no entry fees, no payouts.

Get Tākaro Sports — free