Contest Game Styles

Every contest begins with a game style — the foundation for how entries are created and scored.

Salary Cap

Build a lineup under a fixed salary cap. Every player has a salary value, and your lineup must stay within the contest’s salary limit while meeting all position requirements.

Supports multiple leagues within the same sport.

Pick’em

Select teams from curated matchups — no salary cap or lineup building required. Each correct team pick earns points, and your total score determines your position on the leaderboard.

Pick’em contests support multiple leagues and multiple sports.

Contest Games (Slate)

Every contest is tied to a specific group of real-world games known as a slate. Players or teams available for selection come only from the games included in that slate.

Predefined Slates

iDraft uses schedule-based slates for each sport that group games into common windows — for example full-day, early-only, or late-only slates.

Custom Slates

When creating a new contest, you can choose your own set of games to form a custom slate. This lets you focus on specific teams, leagues, or time windows.

Slate Locking: All contests lock at the scheduled start time of the first game in the slate. Once locked, no new entries or lineup changes can be made.

Access Type

Access determines who can join a contest.

Public

Open to all eligible iDraft users until the contest fills or locks. Public contests are listed in the lobby and are scored automatically once games are completed.

Private (Coming Soon)

Invite-only contests designed for friends or groups. Players will be able to create private competitions and share access links or codes in a future update.

Contest Type

Defines how many entries compete and how results are ranked.

Multiplayer

Multiple participants compete in the same contest, ranked by score on a leaderboard. Results are finalized once the underlying games conclude and scores are recorded.

Head-to-Head (Coming Soon)

A one-on-one format where two entries are matched in a single contest. Head-to-head contests are under development and will be available in a future update.

Results & Leaderboards

Contests are scored using the contest’s rules and scoring system. Entries are ranked on a leaderboard based on total score.

• Leaderboard Ranking: Entries are ordered by score after games conclude.
• Ties: If multiple entries finish with the same score, they share the same ranking position.
• Final Results: Official results are based on the final scoring recorded by iDraft.

Free & Paid Contests

iDraft offers both free and paid contests. The contest type is clearly shown in the lobby and contest details.

Free Contests

Free contests have no entry fee and no cash prizes. They are available to all eligible participants and are a great way to practice your skills, test strategies, and compete on the leaderboard.

Paid Contests

Paid contests require an entry fee to join. Entry fees fund the prize pool, and prizes are awarded to participants who achieve the highest scores based on skill-based performance. Prize amounts and payout structures are shown in the contest details before you enter.

Paid contests are not available in all locations. See our Terms of Use for eligibility restrictions and geographic availability.

Cancellations & Refunds

Entry fees are non-refundable once a contest has begun. If iDraft cancels a contest — due to game cancellations, insufficient participants, or a technical issue — all entry fees for that contest are refunded in full.

Entry & Contest Settings

Every contest uses settings that define how entries are managed and how the contest is structured.

• Entries per User: Controls how many lineups or Pick’em entries each user can submit into a single contest.
• Entry Limits: Some contests cap the total number of entries that can join.
• Minimum Contest Size: Used to determine when a contest can start. If the minimum number of entries is not reached, the contest may be canceled according to the contest rules.
• Maximum Contest Size: The maximum number of entries that can join a contest.

Create Your Own Contest

You can create contests using the same building blocks described above.

Choose a sport, game style, and contest settings, then set entry limits and access type. iDraft manages contest locking and applies the scoring rules once games are completed.

Salary Cap contests support multi-league play within a single sport, while Pick’em contests can extend across both leagues and sports.

Related Help Pages