Survivor Pool Commissioner Guide

How a Runtiva survivor pool works

Sixty seconds of rules before you set any.

Runtiva survivor pools are free to play. There is no entry fee, no prize, and no buy-in of any kind. Runtiva does not support or track money collected on the side, and the app says so on the review screen. Keep it friendly.

You are the commissioner because you own the group the pool lives in. You choose the rules, you invite people, and you hold two tools nobody else has: reviving an eliminated entry (if your rules allow it) and ending the pool. Everything else is automatic: rounds open and lock on the real schedule, picks are graded from official results, standings update themselves, reminders go out, and the group chat gets a card for every round, elimination, and champion.

Before you start

Ten minutes of decisions now saves a season of arguments.

What you need

• The Runtiva app, signed in, with your age and location verified (the app does this at signup). Survivor pools are free to play wherever Runtiva is available; the app confirms your state at signup.
• A group you own. If you are only a member of a group, ask its organizer to create the pool, or start your own group.
• A season with an upcoming round at least 24 hours away. The wizard only lists sports that qualify right now.
• Somewhere to reach people: a group text, an office channel, a family thread. The invite is one link.

Decide these rules before you open the wizard

Every choice below is set at creation and frozen when the first round locks. Pick them with your group in mind, not with the wizard open.

• Sport and season chosen
• Starting round chosen (the wizard suggests the earliest round at least 24 hours out)
• Style, strikes, and revive window decided
• Entries per person decided
• Missed-pick policy and picks-close rule decided, and you can explain both in one sentence
• Pool name (it will be shown in capitals)
• Invite list ready

Season timeline

When to do what, from two weeks out to the final round.

1. 2 weeks before kickoff
   Create the group and the pool. Post the rules summary and the invite link.
   People need a few days to install the app, sign up, and verify.
2. 1 week before
   Re-share the link. Check the group's Members tab and the pool's Who's in list against your invite list.
   Joining the group does not enter the pool. Members must tap Join on the pool too.
3. 3 days before
   Chase anyone who joined the group but not the pool. Remind everyone that entry closes at first kickoff.
   After the starting round locks, nobody can join and nobody can withdraw.
4. Kickoff week
   Say when picks lock: each pick locks when its own game starts. Point out the Thursday or Wednesday game.
   The most common way to go out is forgetting that an early game locks early.
5. Every round
   Watch the chat cards. Nudge anyone the standings show as not picked. Revive if your rules allow and you choose to.
   Runtiva reminds anyone who has not picked 48, 24, and 3 hours before the round closes (12 and 3 hours for daily sports). A message from you lands harder.
6. Final round
   Everyone still alive shares the crown. Post a recap in the chat. Take a screenshot of the standings.
   Co-champions are the rule. There is no tiebreaker, so say that up front.

Create the group

The group is the container. It holds the pool, the chat, and the members.

If you already run a group for weekly contests, skip this section and create the pool inside it. One group can run a survivor pool and weekly contests side by side.

1. 1

   Open the Groups tab and tap Create Group.

   You'll seeThe Create Group form opens.

   

   1. 1Have a Code? (join by code or QR)
   2. 2A group you organize
   3. 3Create Group

2. 2

   Pick a colour, type a Group Name, and add a one-line description. Leave Who Can Join on Open so an invite link or code is enough; choose Gated only if you want to approve each request.

   You'll seeTap Create Group.

   

   1. 1Group colour
   2. 2Group Name
   3. 3Who Can Join: Open or Gated
   4. 4Create Group

3. 3

   The invite sheet opens automatically with your group code, a link, and a QR code. Tap Share Invite Link to send it now, or close it and come back any time from the Invite button.

   You'll seeYou land on the new group's page. You are its Commander.

   

   1. 18-character group code
   2. 2QR code
   3. 3Regenerate Link (retires old links)
   4. 4Share Invite Link

Create the pool

Four screens. Only the pool name is required. Everything else has a sensible default.

1. 1

   On the group's Contests tab tap Create Contest, then choose Start a Survivor Pool.

   You'll seeThe wizard opens on Step 1 of 4.

   

   1. 1Start a Survivor Pool

2. 2

   Step 1, Sport. Tap the season you want. Only seasons with a round at least 24 hours from locking are listed. Tap Continue.

   

   1. 1Season chips (only seasons with a round 24h+ away)
   2. 2Continue

3. 3

   Step 2, When does it start? The wizard pre-selects the earliest round that is still at least 24 hours out. Tap a later round to start there instead; you cannot start earlier. For sports played most days you also choose how many game days make one round.

   You'll seeThe starting round sets the entry deadline and the pool's whole calendar.

   

   1. 1Suggested starting round: Pool Starts Here
   2. 2Continue

4. 4

   Step 3, Rules. Type the Pool Name (it is shown in capitals), then work down the settings. The next section explains each one.

   

   1. 1Pool Name (required)
   2. 2Entry Closes
   3. 3Entries Per Person
   4. 4Style: Classic or Strikes

5. 5

   Step 4, Review. Read the summary once more. Two footers matter: rules freeze when the starting round locks, and Runtiva pools are free. Tap Publish Pool.

   You'll seeThe pool is live and the invite sheet opens. Anyone who joins the group from now on is offered the pool.

   

1. 1Rules freeze when the starting round locks
2. 2Publish Pool

Every setting, explained

What each rule does, what the default is, and when to change it.

Entry and entries

1. 1Pool Name (required)
2. 2Entry Closes
3. 3Entries Per Person
4. 4Style: Classic or Strikes

Lives

1. 1Manual Revive window
2. 2Revives Per Entry
3. 3Strikes card (choose 1 to 3 strikes)

Teams and picks

1. 1Teams per week (2, 3, or 4)
2. 2Tick the weeks
3. 3Done

Commissioner tools

Rules that are fixed for every pool

• Ties and washouts. A tie, a postponed game, or a game with no result is a push: the entry advances, its streak is unchanged, and the team goes back into its available list.
• Streaks and strikes. A loss breaks the streak even when a strike absorbs it.
• Champions. Everyone still alive after the final round is a champion. No tiebreakers.
• Last one standing. If only one entry is left, it cannot be eliminated. The remaining rounds are a victory lap.
• Privacy. Picks are hidden from other players until each game kicks off. Yours are always visible to you.
• Withdrawing. A player may withdraw before the starting round locks. After that, entries play out.

Invite people

One code, one link, one QR. Joining the group is joining the pool.

Every invite tool lives on one sheet. It opens automatically when you publish, and any time from the group's Invite button or the pool's Share Pool action.

1. 1

   Open the invite sheet. It shows the 8-character group code, the invite link, and a QR code.

   

   1. 1Group code and link
   2. 2Regenerate Link
   3. 3Pause Joins
   4. 4Share Invite Link

2. 2

   Tap Share Invite Link to send it through any app, or Copy Code to paste it into a message. Print the QR for an office notice board.

   You'll seeThe invitee installs Runtiva, signs up, opens the link (or types the code under Groups, then Have a Code?), and is offered the pool.

3. 3

   Under Organizer Tools, Regenerate Link retires the old code and link for everyone. Pause Joins closes the door temporarily without changing the code.

   You'll seeUse these if a link leaks somewhere it should not.

What the invitee sees

1. 1Code filled in from the link
2. 2Join Group

A message that works

Short, with the three facts people need: it is free, it takes one tap a week, and there is a deadline.

Your pool, before kickoff

What the group and pool screens show you once people join.

1. 1

   The pool card on the group's Contests tab shows the rule chips, how many have entered, and when the first round locks. The ⋮ menu on the card is the same Pool Actions menu you get inside the pool.

   

   1. 1Pool card menu (⋮)
   2. 2Entered count
   3. 3Create Contest (weekly contests beside the pool)

2. 2

   The Members tab lists everyone in the group. You are the Commander. The ⋮ next to a member holds member options.

   You'll seeRemoving someone from the group does not delete a pool entry they already hold; that entry plays out.

   

   1. 1Commander (you)
   2. 2Member options (⋮)

3. 3

   The Chat tab is where the pool talks. Runtiva posts a card when a round opens, when it locks, when people go out, when you revive someone, and when a champion is crowned.

   

   1. 1Round Open card
   2. 2Make your pick

4. 4

   Join your own pool. Open it and tap Join This Pool. Commissioners play too, and your name on the standings is what makes the pool feel real.

   You'll seeYour entry appears at the top of Who's in.

   

   1. 1Join This Pool

Pool Actions: your commissioner menu

Everything you can do to a live pool is in one menu.

1. 1Pool Actions (⋯)
2. 2Manage Pool (revives)
3. 3Cancel Pool, or End Pool Early once started

1. 1

   Rename when the group settles on a better name. Tap Rename Pool, edit, Save Name. Nothing else changes.

   

   1. 1Save Name

2. 2

   Cancel only before the first lock, and only with a reason. Type why in the box (everyone in the pool will read it) and tap Cancel Pool. Once the pool has started the same slot reads End Pool Early, and it is permanent.

   

   1. 1Reason (everyone sees it)
   2. 2Cancel Pool

Run each round

Runtiva does the grading. Your job is attention.

What happens automatically

• Round opens. The next round's games appear in the pick centre and the chat gets a Round Open card with a Make your pick button.
• Reminders. Players who have not picked get a push 48, 24, and 3 hours before the round closes (12 and 3 hours for daily sports). Picking removes them from the list.
• Locks. Each pick locks when its game starts. The round closes at the last kickoff (or the first, if you chose that), and the missed-pick rule is applied to anyone without a pick.
• Results. Picks are graded from official results as each game finishes. Standings update, strikes are charged, eliminations are posted to the chat.
• Ties and postponements are pushes: the entry advances and the team returns to its list.

Your weekly five minutes

1. 1

   Open Standings. The banner at the top says how many alive entries have picked this round.

   You'll seeMessage anyone who is still missing, especially before an early-week game.

   

   1. 1How many alive entries have picked
   2. 2Alive, fell, rounds left
   3. 3Status chip
   4. 4Tap to expand pick history

2. 2

   Tap any row to expand its pick history. Locked picks show the team and the score; unlocked picks stay hidden until kickoff, for other people's entries as well as yours.

   

   1. 1A missed pick: strike
   2. 2Earlier rounds with scores

3. 3

   Read the chat cards after the round grades. A Result Corrected card means an official result changed and the round was regraded; nothing for you to do.

   

   1. 1Round Open card
   2. 2Make your pick

Revive an entry

Your one lever over the standings. Use it in the open, because the app will.

Manual revive is only available if you turned it on when you created the pool. The window closes after the round you chose, and each entry can come back at most the number of times you set.

1. 1

   Open the pool, tap ⋯, then Manage Pool. The header shows how many entries are out and whether the revive window is open.

   

   1. 1Revive window: open through round 8
   2. 2Revive

2. 2

   Tap Revive next to the entry. Read the sheet: the entry returns at the next round that has not locked, with 0 strikes in reserve, and its burned teams stay burned.

   

   1. 10 strikes in reserve on return
   2. 2Posts to the group chat with your name
   3. 3Confirm Revive

3. 3

   Tap Confirm Revive. A card is posted to the group chat immediately with your name on it, and the player gets a notification.

   You'll seeThe entry shows as Alive and Revived in the standings.

When something goes wrong

Most problems have a built-in answer. Here is the answer, and what to say.

Keeping a big pool fun

Twenty people or two hundred, the levers are the same.

• Strikes for size. With 50 or more entries a single-life pool can be half empty after Week 2. Two strikes keeps the middle of the season crowded.
• Multi-pick weeks to finish. Two or three double-pick weeks late in the season thin a pool that refuses to die, without changing the early game.
• Multiple entries for the sharks. Two or three entries each lets your competitive members hedge, and gives them something to sweat every week.
• Revive window for the casualties. Nothing keeps a group chat alive like a Week 2 loser being back in by Week 3.
• Entry names. Encourage people to name their entries (Pool Actions, then Name My Entry). Standings full of 'Grandma's Pick' and 'Lunch Money' read better than handles.
• Weekly contests beside the pool. Your group can run one-off Runtiva contests every week without touching the survivor pool. Eliminated players stay in the group and the chat.

End of season

The pool finishes itself. You finish the story.

• Champions. When the final round grades, every entry still alive is a champion. Two left means co-champions; there is no tiebreaker to run.
• If nobody is left, the pool still completes and the chat says so. Your wipeout setting decides whether an all-lose round ends it early or voids the round.
• Recap. Screenshot the final standings and post it. Each entrant also gets their own recap screen from the pool.
• Next season. The group stays. Create a new pool in it when the next season's rounds appear in the wizard.

Sport notes

Commissioner FAQ

Glossary

Survivor pools are also called eliminator, knockout, last-man-standing, suicide, or survival pools. Same game.

Commissioner

The owner of the group a pool lives in. Sets the rules, invites, can revive and end the pool. Shown as Commander on the Members tab.

Round

One set of games that counts together: an NFL week, an MLB week or game-day block, a cricket fixture cycle or match day.

Lock

The moment a pick can no longer be changed. Each pick locks at its own game's kickoff; the round closes at first or last kickoff depending on your setting.

Entry

One run through the pool. A person can hold several if you allow it; each has its own teams, strikes, and streak.

Strike

A wrong pick absorbed instead of eliminating the entry. Only in Strikes-style pools.

Push

A pick that neither wins nor loses: a tie, a postponement, or a no-result. The entry advances and the team is returned.

Revive

Restoring an eliminated entry. Commissioner-only, inside the revive window, up to the per-entry limit.

Multi-pick week

A round that needs 2, 3, or 4 different teams, all of which must win.

Wipeout

A round in which every entry still alive loses. Void by default.

Streak

Consecutive winning rounds. A loss breaks it even when a strike absorbs it.

Who's in

The standings screen before the first round locks: a list of every entry.

Flagship pool

A public pool run by Runtiva for a whole league season. One entry per person, no revives, no chat room.