Groups · private contests · chat
Play with your friends, not the whole internet.
A Runtiva group is a private space for your league, your office, or your family: invite by link or code, run contests only members can see, and keep the standings and the chat in one place. Free to join. Free contests and survivor pools for everyone; fixed-fee formats where available.
Weekly contests
Pick a slate, build lineups against the salary cap, and settle it Sunday night. Free formats first; paid formats with fixed fees where available.
How to playSurvivor pools
One pick a round, each team once, last one standing. Free, all season, graded automatically, with a commissioner who sets the rules once.
Survivor guidesGroup chat and standings
One room per group. Contest cards, lock warnings, results, and eliminations land in the chat, so the standings and the arguments live in one place.
Community guidelinesWhat is a Runtiva group?
A group is a private space you own or belong to. It holds your members, one chat room, and every contest or survivor pool you run together. Nothing in it appears in the public lobby.
Call it a league, a pool, a crew, or an office pool; in the app it is a group. One person creates it and becomes its organizer, the commissioner. Everyone else joins with the group's link, code, or QR. A group can hold up to 100 members and can run weekly contests and a season-long survivor pool at the same time.
Can I play fantasy sports with just my friends?
Yes. Private contests are built from the same presets as public ones and are visible only to your group. Free formats come first in the menu; paid formats with fixed entry fees are offered where paid play is available.
The organizer picks the sport, the games, the format, and the entry level. Runtiva sets every rule: scoring, rosters, prize tables, lock times, and what happens when a game is postponed. Nobody sees a lineup before lock, the organizer included, and a paid contest that does not fill is voided and refunded. It is the public contest, with a guest list.
New to the salary-cap game? How to play walks through a first lineup; the contest rules cover scoring.
Is there a group chat?
Yes. Every group has one chat room, and the app posts into it: a card when a contest is created, when entries lock, when results land, when a survivor round opens, and when somebody goes out. Members bring the rest.
Your Chats tab collects every group room and the people you follow, so a league's standings and its arguments live in one place. Group rooms are visible to members only; nothing you write is public. The community guidelines apply in every room, and reporting a message is a long press away.
What does a commissioner do?
The commissioner owns the group. They invite members, create contests and survivor pools from Runtiva's presets, remove members, and can cancel a contest before it locks. They never set scoring or prizes, never see lineups before lock, and never handle money.
That last part is deliberate. Entries, refunds, and prizes all flow through Runtiva wallets, so an organizer cannot take a cut, hold a pot, or enter on somebody's behalf. What they do get is the organizer badge, the Members tab, invite controls, and the best seat in the chat. Running a survivor pool adds two tools: reviving an eliminated entry inside the pool's revive window, and ending the pool. The Commissioner Guide covers those.
How do people join?
With the group's link, its 8-character code, or a QR code, all on one invite sheet. Open groups let anyone with the link in; a group set to Approve Requests lets the organizer confirm each person first.
An invitee installs the app, signs up (age and location are verified once), and lands in the group. If a link leaks, the organizer can regenerate it, which retires the old link and code for everyone, or pause joins without changing anything. Members who join after a contest is created can still enter it until it locks.
Does it cost anything?
No. Creating a group, joining one, chatting, entering free contests, and playing survivor pools are all free. Only a paid contest needs a funded wallet, and paid play is offered only where it is available in your state.
Paid private formats, where offered, use fixed entry fees and fixed prize tables, and they are fill-or-void: if the seats do not fill by lock, every entry is refunded. Friends in states where paid play is not available can still be in the group, play the free formats, chat, and follow the live standings.
Is it safe to play with strangers in a group?
Groups are invite-only and the chat is members-only, so you decide who is in the room. Every message is covered by the community guidelines, every report is reviewed, and blocking someone is immediate and silent.
Report
Press and hold any message to report it. Rooms are reported from their info page. Reports are reviewed, not auto-actioned.
Block
Open a profile and tap Block. They cannot message or follow you, and nobody is told.
Standing
Breaking the guidelines gets a message removed and can cost messaging privileges. Appeals go through Help and Support.
The full rules for chat, names, and groups are on the community guidelines page. Keeping play social is also the healthiest way to compete; see responsible gaming.
Questions people ask
Can I play fantasy sports with just my friends?
Yes. Create a group in the Runtiva app, share its link or 8-character code, and run private contests that only your members can see. Free contests are open to any member; paid formats, where available, use fixed entry fees.
How do I join a friend's group?
Tap their invite link, scan the QR code, or open Groups in the app, tap Have a Code?, and type the 8-character code. You need the app and a verified account; joining itself is free.
Does it cost anything to play with friends?
No. Groups, group chat, and free contests cost nothing. Only entering a paid contest needs a funded wallet, and paid play is only offered where it is available in your state.
Can I set my own scoring or payouts?
No. Private contests use Runtiva's standard scoring and fixed prize tables, the same ones public contests use. The organizer chooses the sport, the games, the format, and the entry level; the platform sets every rule.
Can my friends see my lineup before games start?
No. Lineups are hidden from everyone, including the organizer, until the contest locks. After lock you can all see each other's picks and follow the live standings together.
Is there a group chat?
Yes. Every group has one chat room. The app posts cards there when a contest is created, when entries lock, when results land, and when a survivor round opens or somebody goes out. The trash talk is up to you.
What is a commissioner on Runtiva?
The owner of a group. They invite members, create contests and survivor pools from Runtiva's presets, remove members, and cancel a contest before it locks. They have no powers beyond their group and never see lineups before lock.
Can the commissioner take a cut?
No. Entries, refunds, and prizes all flow through Runtiva wallets, and there is no way for an organizer to collect money on the side. The app does not support or track side pots.
Can friends in different states be in the same group?
Yes. Groups and chat work everywhere the app does. Whether a member can enter a paid contest is checked for that member at entry time; anyone who cannot can still play free contests, chat, and follow the standings.
What happens if a paid private contest does not fill?
It is voided at lock and every entry is refunded in full. Runtiva never runs a private contest against the house.
How many people can be in a group?
Up to 100 members by default. Free contests have no seat limit; paid formats come in fixed sizes.
Is it against the rules to play in the same contest as my friends?
No. Playing together is the point. Coordinating lineups to share a prize is collusion and is covered by the contest rules; talking trash and comparing picks after lock is not.
How do I report or block someone?
Press and hold a message to report it, or open a person's profile and tap Block. Blocking is immediate and nobody is told. Every report is reviewed under the community guidelines.
What is a survivor pool?
A free season-long game that lives in your group: one pick a round, each team once, last one standing. It runs beside your weekly contests and grades itself. See the survivor pool guides.
Start a group tonight
Free to join, standings and chat in one place. Your first contest can be live in five minutes.