How to play

One team, one season, a $50.0M cap. Free & easy to play.

The idea

Every player has a price. You sign eight of them without going over a $50.0M salary cap, and you score their real NFL fantasy points every week from week 1 through week 17. Highest season total wins — globally, and inside any private group you join.

The twist is that prices move. A player who produces gets more expensive; one who disappoints gets cheaper. Finding a player before the market does is the whole game.

Your roster

Eight slots, fixed:

2 × QB
2 × RB
2 × WR
1 × TE
1 × FLEX (RB, WR or TE)

No kickers, no defenses. There is no draft and no waiver wire: anyone can own anyone, and two managers can own the same player. The only constraint is the cap.

Groups

You have one team. A group is a private leaderboard over it — create one, share the link, and everyone in the group is ranked on the same weeks, counted from the week the group was created. Nobody gets a head start for having joined the season earlier.

The cap, and why it is the interesting part

You are charged the price you paid, forever. When you sign a player, that price is locked to your team. It never rises, no matter how expensive he becomes on the open market.

So the cap check is on what you paid — the sum of your locked prices must stay at or under $50.0M. The market value of your roster is allowed to blow straight past 50, and that is the point: a roster worth $61M that you bought for $49.4M is a well-played season.

The flip side: cutting a player frees exactly the price you paid, never his current value. You cannot sell high — there are no gains to cash in, only cheap players you were early on. If a player's price falls below what you paid, you may renegotiate him down to the current price and free the difference.

This gets harder as the season goes on. Prices rise on the players who produce, so a roster you could assemble cheaply in week 1 costs far more by week 10 — the same eight players, well past the cap. What keeps you under it is the prices you locked early. Joining late is allowed and you keep the full $50.0M — but you buy at today's board, and the early edge is the one thing you cannot buy back.

A worked example

You sign a receiver in week 2 at 4.2. Over the next month he plays well and his price climbs to 6.1. Three ways it can go:

Hold him. Your cap charge stays 4.2 — the 1.9 of appreciation is free roster value, and a new manager signing him today pays the full 6.1.
Cut him. You free only the 4.2 you paid, never his 6.1. There is no selling high.
Changing your mind is free: re-add him before his game kicks off and your 4.2 comes straight back, along with his points that week, as if the cut never happened. Shuffle your roster as much as you like.
What ends it is kickoff. Once his game kicks off — or the week turns over, whichever comes first — the cut is final. Sign him back after that and you pay 6.1, like anyone else. Your 4.2 is gone for good. That is the game's central decision — a cheaply-locked player is worth holding onto.
Or he falls. If instead he slumps to 3.5, your locked 4.2 shielded you on the way down — and you can renegotiate lower: your price drops to 3.5 and 0.7 comes back to your cap.

This is an in-season rule. In the August preseason nothing is locked yet — cut and re-add as much as you like while you experiment. Your price only locks in at week 1.

Once the season starts, prices move every Tuesday

Prices update once a week, on Tuesday, and are frozen in between — everybody shops the same board at the same prices all week long.

Prices run from 1.0 to 9.5, in tenths.
A price can move at most ±0.4 in a week, so nobody doubles overnight.
The move is driven mostly by how a player performed against what his price implied he should — a 2.0 player is expected to score like a 2.0 player — and partly by how many managers signed him that week.
Every position is judged against its own position, so a good week for a tight end is measured against tight ends.
No game, no move. On a bye — or when a player is inactive or injured — his price simply freezes. Prices move on football, not on news.

In the August preseason this doesn't apply yet. There are no games to price off, so the board is rebuilt from draft consensus (ADP) as it moves — a price can jump further than the ±0.4 cap, and it isn't tied to Tuesdays. Preseason prices settle on Sep 2: that's the board you carry into week 1, and the ±0.4 weekly cap starts there.

When you can make moves

Any time, with one rule: a player locks when his own game kicks off that week. You cannot add or drop him after that. Everyone else on the board stays available, so a Sunday-night decision on a Monday-night player is still yours to make.

Change your mind in the same week and you get your original price back: re-adding a player you just cut restores his locked price, as long as no week has rolled over and his game has not kicked off. Once either happens, the cut is final — coming back later means paying today's price.

Scoring (half-PPR)

Passing: 1 point per 25 yards, 5 per TD, −2 per interception
Rushing & receiving: 1 point per 10 yards, 6 per TD
Receptions: 0.5 each
Fumble lost: −2
Two-point conversion: 2
Special-teams TD: 6

Season total is the sum of weeks 1–17. Week 18 is excluded: playoff teams rest their starters and it stops being a football question.

The short version

One team per season. Eight players, $50.0M, charged at the price you paid. Prices move Tuesdays. Points from weeks 1–17. Play the global board or a private group with friends. Free, forever.