Find answers to common questions about how the tournament challenge works, scoring, and prizes.
Points are awarded for each correct pick you make. Point values increase by round as the tournament progresses, so later games still matter more without letting the finals dominate the whole bracket.
4A / 5A (24-team with Regionals)
A perfect bracket earns 136 points when no bracket-reset games are played. If an “if necessary” bracket-reset game (G13, G14) is played, it counts as its own 12-point game.
6A (16-team, no Regionals) — same per-game point values starting at Super Regionals. A perfect bracket earns 128 points when no bracket-reset games are played.
The tiebreaker breaks ties on the leaderboard when two or more entries have the same total score. You predict the combined final game score for the championship match.
Example: Championship game is team A (5) vs team B (4). You predict 9. If that's the correct combined score, and you tie with another entry on points, your tiebreaker delta is 0 and you win the tie. If another entry predicted 10, their delta is 1—you beat them.
You enter your tiebreaker prediction on the tournament detail page. You can update it any time before the championship lock.
The pick lock time is displayed on each tournament's page. Picks are locked at this time and cannot be changed after that point. Make sure to submit your picks before the lock time. If you have unsaved changes, save your bracket before the lock time or your picks will be lost.
No. Once the lock time passes, your picks are final and cannot be changed. Plan your picks carefully and make sure to save your bracket before the lock deadline.
Winners are determined by the leaderboard standings at the end of the tournament. The entry with the highest score wins. If there is a tie in total score, the tiebreaker is used to determine the winner. The participant who submitted that winning entry must also satisfy the eligibility, verification, and prize rules before receiving any published prize.
Prize details are announced separately for each tournament and are expected to be under $200 in approximate retail value. Prize winners must satisfy the eligibility and verification rules before receiving a prize.
Yes, eligible students may win prizes, but winners under 18 must have parent or legal guardian verification and consent before any prize is awarded. A parent or legal guardian may accept, decline, defer, or redirect a prize on the minor winner's behalf. Current high school student-athlete winners are eligible only for non-cash prizes unless accepting a prize would violate school, athletic, amateur-status, or family rules.
Users under 13 may participate only with parent or legal guardian approval and using a parent or guardian email address. Users under 13 are not eligible to win prizes.
No. Each participant may submit one bracket entry per tournament. All of your picks for that tournament count toward a single entry on the leaderboard.
When you enter a tournament, you can name your bracket. This is the name that will appear on the leaderboard. You can change your bracket name at any time before the lock deadline by editing the "Name your bracket" field on the tournament detail page.
If you notice a scoring error or an incorrect game result, contact us at support@rivalstc.com. We will review the issue and correct it if necessary. Once a correction is made, affected leaderboard scores will be automatically recalculated.
The leaderboard is updated as game results are finalized. Once the official final score is available for a game, all entries that picked correctly for that game will have their scores updated. Check back frequently to see how you're ranked as more games go final.
Tournament brackets are sometimes modified if teams withdraw or other unforeseen circumstances occur. If this happens, affected picks may be adjusted or voided. We will notify participants of any significant changes that impact scoring.
Yes. If you would like to delete your account and all associated data, contact us at support@rivalstc.com and we will process your request.