How to run an office March Madness pool

Selection Sunday is when the field of 68 is announced. In 2027 that is Sunday, March 14. The first full round tips off the Thursday after, March 18, and that first tip is the deadline that matters: every bracket has to be in before it.

That gives you four days between the field being announced and the first game. Four days is enough to collect brackets. It is not enough to decide rules, chase people for their entries, and explain scoring for the first time. Settle the rules the week before.

How points work. Most office pools score each round higher than the last, so a correct champion pick is worth far more than a correct first-round pick. The common scale is 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 points for rounds one through six. Some pools add an upset bonus; most do not. The bracket pool rules guide walks through the options and what each one rewards.

The tie-break. Two brackets end level more often than you would think. The usual tie-break is a guess at the total points scored in the championship game, closest wins. Ask for it on the entry form, not after.

One bracket per person, or several. One is simpler and fairer. Multiple entries favour whoever has the most time and make the standings longer than the roster.

The First Four. Four play-in games happen on the Tuesday and Wednesday before the first round. Almost every pool ignores them: brackets start at the round of 64, and the play-in winners simply fill their slots. Say so, so nobody asks.

One message, once, with three things in it: where to enter, the deadline in plain words, and the scoring in one line. Anything longer does not get read. If your pool plays for something, that is between the players; say what it is and how it is settled in the same message and leave it there.

Send it Monday morning after Selection Sunday. People fill in brackets on their phones in the evenings, and a Monday message gets three evenings before the Thursday deadline.

The first weekend is 48 games in four days. Nobody wants a spreadsheet updated by hand after each one, and nobody wants to be the person updating it. Whatever you use, the test is simple: can a player open it on a phone on Saturday afternoon and see where they stand without asking you.

Lock the brackets at the first tip and never reopen them, for anyone, for any reason. The one time you make an exception is the one time someone notices.

Write down what happens when a player misses the deadline (they are out), when a game is cancelled or forfeited (the pool counts the official result), and who settles a dispute (you, and your call is final). Three sentences, sent once, and the three most common arguments never start.