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When you create a pool — or update its rules — you decide when your members can no longer change their predictions. This guide walks through every option, what each one means for your members, and how to choose well.

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The three states a prediction can be in

Every prediction (a group game or a knockout slot) sits in one of three states at any given moment:

Pending

The matchup hasn’t been decided yet — one or both teams are still TBD. Members can’t predict yet.

Open

Teams are confirmed and the deadline hasn’t passed. Members can submit or edit.

Locked

The deadline has passed. No more changes — by anyone, including you.
The predict window for a given game is the time during which it’s both Open and not yet Locked. For knockout matchups, this window can be much narrower than your lock setting suggests — see The TBD problem below.

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The one rule that governs every lock

A prediction locks at the earliest of: the match’s own kickoff, the stage’s deadline, or the bracket deadline (if applicable).
That’s it. Every option below is a way of choosing when those deadlines fall.

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Per-stage lock options

For each stage of the tournament, you pick one of three lock modes:

Per Match

Each game locks at its own kickoff. Maximum flexibility — members can predict right up to the whistle.

Stage Start

All games in the stage lock together — the moment the stage’s first game kicks off.

Custom

All games in the stage lock on a date you choose.

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Which one should you pick?

Casual pool with friends or coworkers? → Per Match. Lets people drop in predictions throughout the tournament without pressure.Skill-based pool with real stakes? → Stage Start. Nobody gets to predict the last game of a stage after seeing how the earlier ones went.Want a ceremony — everyone in by a single date? → Custom. Great for “draft night” energy.

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Quirks to know

The per-match floor always applies. Even if you pick Stage Start with a date that falls after a game’s kickoff, the per-match kickoff still wins. Members can never predict a game after it has started.
Be careful when picking Custom dates. If your Custom date falls before some matchups in that stage are even known — because the earlier rounds that feed them haven’t finished — those games become impossible to predict. This is especially risky for knockout stages. Open the tournament schedule in another tab when setting Custom dates.

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Cascading Bracket — a fundamentally different mode

Most pools predict each game one at a time. Cascading Bracket is different: members predict the entire knockout bracket in one sitting, before any knockout game kicks off, and their picks cascade through the rounds. If a member picks Argentina to beat Croatia in R32, Argentina automatically appears as the team they’re predicting in their R16 slot. The picks flow downstream: If they change their R32 pick later, the downstream slots that depended on it are cleared so they can re-pick — because the matchup they originally predicted doesn’t exist anymore.
Cascading Bracket still requires score predictions, like every other mode. Members pick a winner and a scoreline for each knockout matchup — the cascade just controls which matchup appears in each downstream slot.

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What changes when you turn it on

1

Knockout per-stage lock options disappear

There’s no Per Match / Stage Start / Custom choice for R32, R16, QF, SF, or the final. All knockout predictions lock together.
2

A single Bracket Lock Deadline appears

By default it’s set to the exact kickoff of the first knockout game.
3

The group stage works normally

Group games keep their own lock setting. Cascading Bracket only changes knockouts.

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When to choose it

Pick Cascading Bracket if you want the one-shot bracket prediction feel — the kind people gather for, debate over, and screenshot. It rewards conviction and punishes uncertainty.
Don’t pick it for casual pools. A member who misses the bracket deadline can’t predict any knockout game for the rest of the tournament — not just one.
For the full mechanics of how points cascade with team advancement, see Bracket pools.

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The TBD problem (knockouts only)

Group stage matchups are confirmed before the tournament starts, so they’re never pending. But knockout matchups depend on earlier results, so they show as TBD until those results come in. Two details that matter:
  • We update knockout matchups 2 hours after each feeding game ends. A scheduled worker waits this long to give our data provider time to confirm the result.
  • That means the matchup for the very last knockout slot of a round isn’t predictable until 2 hours after the last feeding game ends.

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How this hits each lock mode

Lock modeRiskWorst case for members
Per MatchLowA late-confirmed matchup gives only a few hours before kickoff. Members miss one game.
Stage StartMediumIf a matchup confirms close to the stage’s first kickoff, the predict window for that game might be only a few hours. Members miss one or two games.
CustomHighIf your Custom date is before some matchups confirm, those games can’t be predicted at all.
Cascading BracketHighestLate-confirmed slots only become predictable hours before the bracket-wide deadline. Members can lose a whole branch of their bracket if they don’t return in time.

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Real-world example: World Cup group → R32

The last group game of a World Cup typically ends around 10pm the night before R32 starts. R32 begins at 12pm the next day: 
 June 27                                    June 28
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 ~7pm        ~10pm     midnight                    12pm
  │            │          │                          │
  ▼            ▼          ▼                          ▼
 Last        Game       Late-confirmed             Bracket
 group       ends       R32 matchups               deadline +
 game                   become                     first R32
 kicks off              predictable                kicks off
                        (2h after game end)
For Cascading Bracket pools, that gives members from midnight to noon — about 12 hours — to fill in the late-confirmed slots and finalize their bracket. Most of that is overnight. The morning of the first R32 day is the make-or-break window for any member who hasn’t already submitted a complete bracket. For non-cascading pools with Stage Start lock, the calendar is the same, but consequences aren’t. Missing the window costs members one or two specific games rather than a whole branch.
We send reminder notifications ahead of bracket deadlines and stage starts, so members aren’t relying on memory alone. Members can read the full member-facing version of this content in When can I make my predictions?.

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Editing the rules later

You can change rules — lock modes, dates, even Cascading Bracket on/off — up until the first match of the tournament kicks off. After that, rules are frozen for the rest of the tournament. This protects every member who already submitted under the original rules.

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FAQ

A locked prediction can’t be created or edited — by the member, by you, or by anyone. Locks are enforced on our servers, not just in the UI. After a lock, only the scoring engine touches the prediction.
No. Once a lock has triggered, that window is closed for the rest of the tournament. You also can’t change any other rule once the tournament’s first match has kicked off.
Predictions they submitted before the deadline still count. Games they didn’t predict simply earn zero points for those games — there’s no penalty to their overall score beyond the missed opportunity.
We wait 2 hours after a feeding game ends before updating the matchup. The delay gives our data provider time to confirm the official result before we propagate it.