How to Play World Cup Pools

The Basics

Gather your group — invite friends, family members, or colleagues to join your World Cup pool. Each match day, players will predict the exact score of upcoming matches.

Unlike NFL pools where you pick a winner, World Cup pools use exact score predictions. For each match, you predict both the home and away team's goals. The closer your prediction, the more points you earn!

The Objective

The objective is to accumulate as many points as possible by accurately predicting match scores throughout the World Cup tournament.

Making Your Picks

Each match day, players enter their score predictions through the Pickster App. For every match, you set the number of goals you think each team will score using the score stepper.

Picks are open until the start of each match. You can modify your predictions at any time before kickoff. All matches are played at neutral venues during the World Cup, so there's no home advantage to consider.

Scoring

World Cup pools use a 4-tier scoring system that rewards accuracy. The default point values are:

• Exact Score (3 points) — You predicted the exact final score. For example, predicting 2-1 when the match ends 2-1.

• Correct Winner + Goal Difference (2 points) — You got the winner right and the goal difference matches. For example, predicting 3-1 when the match ends 2-0 (same winner, same 2-goal difference).

• Correct Draw, Not Exact (2 points) — You predicted a draw and it was a draw, but the score was different. For example, predicting 0-0 when the match ends 1-1.

• Correct Winner Only (1 point) — You picked the right winner, but the goal difference was off. For example, predicting 1-0 when the match ends 3-1.

Pool owners can customize the point values for each tier when creating the pool.