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How to play

A week in The Teaser League takes about two minutes on a phone. Here is all of it, in order.

Tease

+14

every pick

Legs

4

all must cover

Lock

1:00

PM ET Sunday

  1. You get invited

    A commissioner adds your email address or sends you an invitation link. There is no public sign-up and nothing to pay. You sign in with a six-digit code sent to that address — there is no password to remember.

  2. Wednesday 7:00 AM ET: the lines post

    One spread for every game that week, captured from DraftKings and frozen. That is the league’s line for the rest of the week even if the sportsbook moves later, so everyone is graded on the same number.

  3. Pick 4 teams

    Favorites, underdogs, or a mix — they do not have to come from 4 different games. You can take both sides of one game; that is called a Straddle and it uses two of your 4 slots. You cannot hold the same team twice.

  4. Every pick moves 14 points your way

    That is the teaser. A −3 favorite becomes +11. A +4.5 underdog becomes +18.5. The 14 points always move in the direction of the team you picked, which is what makes each individual leg easier — and why all of them have to come in.

  5. Sunday 1:00 PM ET: everything locks

    Each pick also locks at its own kickoff, so you can take a Thursday game on Thursday and still be deciding the rest on Sunday morning. Any slot you leave empty is filled for you at the deadline — you always finish the week with 4 picks.

  6. All 4 have to cover

    Win every leg and you are a winner for the week. One loss — and a push counts as a loss — puts you in the loser group. Every loser pays every winner the league’s juice in points. It balances to zero, and no money is ever involved.

What “cover” means

Take the score your team ended on, subtract the opponent’s, then add the teased line. Above zero and the leg covers. The four cases below are every outcome there is — and in two of them the team you picked lost the game and still won you the leg.

Exactly zero is a push, and a push counts as a loss. A line ending in a half point cannot push at all.

If you do nothing

You still play. At the Sunday 1:00 PM ET deadline every empty slot in your entry is filled for you, using a rule that is the same for everybody: the biggest remaining favorite from a game that has not kicked off, ties broken by the earlier kickoff and then alphabetically by team. It never picks a team you already hold.

Automatic picks are labelled, so you can always see which ones you did not make — and they count exactly the same as the ones you did.

Next

These are the standard settings. A commissioner sets their own league’s juice, and a league’s real numbers are shown on its invitation and inside the app.

Members join by invitation — if a commissioner has already invited you, sign in with that address. Not invited yet? Ask whoever runs your league. Back to the front page.