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Everything about how Vektor works: making picks, how dimes are won and lost, settling up, and getting the app on your phone.

Getting started

Join with your invite link. The link in your invite email signs you up without an invite code. Use the email address the invite was sent to.
Put the app on your phone. It takes about 20 seconds and makes everything faster. Here's how.
Turn on notifications. That's how you'll hear about pick deadlines, final scores and when it's time to settle up.
Claim your history. Played in past seasons? Tap your old name on Claim your history and your seasons, career dimes and trophies come with you.
Finish your profile. Add a photo, and add how you get paid (Venmo, Cash App, PayPal or a QR code) so Blackjack can pay you when you win.
Enter a contest. Open contests show up on the home page and the Contest page. Tap Enter and make your picks.

Making picks

A contest is a slate of games. On your card you pick the winner of every game and give each pick a confidence point.

Every number once

With 12 games, you use the points 1 through 12, each exactly once. Put your biggest numbers on the games you're surest about.

Tap, then assign

Tap the team you think wins, then tap a number in the tray at the bottom. Numbers you've used drop out of the tray. Tap a game's number to change it.

Locks at first kickoff

The whole card locks when the contest's first game kicks off, not game by game. Until then you can change anything.

More than one card

Tap Play another card to enter again. Each card is its own entry and is scored on its own. Give it a label so you can tell them apart.

All or nothing. A card has to be 100% filled in when picks lock: every game picked, every point used. Any card that isn't finished at lock is thrown out of the contest. Done only works once everything's filled in; Save for later keeps your progress if you need to come back. You'll get a reminder 24 hours and again 2 hours before lock if a card isn't finished.

Nobody can see your picks until the contest locks. After that, everyone's picks are visible.

Stuck on a game? Tap Intel on it for the betting line and ESPN's win probability.

How scoring works

Points are called dimes. Here's the one rule everything comes from:

On every game, each card that picked wrong pays its confidence point to every other card in the contest.

Pick right: you collect the points of every card that missed.
Pick wrong: you pay your point to every other card, but you still collect from the other cards that missed.
Tie game: nobody gains or loses anything.
It's zero-sum: every dime somebody wins, somebody else lost. Add up every card and you get exactly zero.

An example

Four cards in the contest. The Bills beat the Dolphins.

Card	Picked	Point	Dimes
Ace	Bills ✓	10	+9
Bo	Bills ✓	3	+9
Cole	Dolphins ✗	7	−19
Dee	Dolphins ✗	2	+1
Total			0

Cole missed at 7, so he pays 7 to each of the other three cards (−21). Dee also missed, so Cole collects her 2. Net −19.
Dee missed at 2, so she pays 2 to each of the other three (−6), and collects Cole's 7. Net +1.
Ace and Bo were right, so each collects Cole's 7 and Dee's 2. Net +9 each.

What that means for your picks

Your point is what you're risking

Every right pick on a game collects the same amount, whatever number you put on it. Ace (10) and Bo (3) both won 9. Your point only matters when you're wrong, so a big number means "I'm willing to lose a lot on this one."

Misses cost more in a big field

You pay your point to every other card. Miss at 10 in a 30-card contest and that's 290 dimes out before you collect anything back.

Going against the crowd pays

When most of the field misses an upset, the few cards that called it collect from all of them. That's where big days come from.

A small miss can still win

Dee was wrong and still came out +1, because a bigger miss paid her more than she lost. Low points on coin flips limit the damage.

Standings

The leaderboard ranks every card by total dimes. Cards with the same total share a rank. Correct is how many games that card picked right. For season placings (Champion, Runner-up and so on), each person's best card is what counts.

Following a contest

Open any contest to find these tabs:

Contest Results: Game by game: live scores, how the pool split on each game, and every card's pick once the contest locks. The small green and red numbers show what each card would win or lose depending on who wins.
Leaderboard: The standings. The first time you open it after the standings change, it replays the climbs and drops since you last looked. It plays once per change.
Your Contest: Your cards. Edit picks or add another card before lock.
Stats: For every card: points risked and still in play, best and worst remaining outcomes, biggest potential swing, and best and worst possible finish.
Race: A chart of every card's total after each game, plus Path to #1: each card's title odds from 2,000 simulated finishes, and the results it needs most.
H2H: Put any two cards side by side, game by game.
Chat: The group chat. Vektor posts every final there, plus a morning recap after each game day.

On game days the contest page shows live scores and "if it ended now" standings, updated every minute.

The contests

Bowl season

The main event, every bowl game, running since 2016-17. It crowns a Champion, Runner-up and Third place, plus the Toilet Bowl for last place (when there are four or more players). Results go into the Hall of Champions and the All-time page.

Weekly contests

NFL: every Sunday game. College Top 25: every Saturday game with a ranked team. Each locks at its own first kickoff and settles up that week. Weeklies don't award trophies or count toward all-time history.

When a new contest opens, a New contest available banner shows up on the home page.

The All-time page has the career race chart, the all-time dimes list, the record book and every past season. Champions has every season's podium.

Settling up

One dime = 10¢. Blackjack is the bank. Finish a contest at −250 dimes and you send $25.00; finish at +250 and Blackjack sends you $25.00.

When the last game of a contest goes final, the site adds up each person's cards into one line. If you're below zero you pay Blackjack; if you're above zero, Blackjack pays you. Everyone gets a notification with their amount.

Open Settle Up. It appears in the menu whenever you have something to settle.
Pay Blackjack. Tap Pay to open Venmo, Cash App or PayPal with the amount filled in, or scan Blackjack's QR code. It's also on your Profile under Need to pay? Send it here.
Tap "I've paid". Blackjack gets a notification to check.
Blackjack taps "Got it" when the money arrives, and you get a confirmation. You're square.

Getting paid: add your Venmo, Cash App or PayPal handle (or a QR code) on your Profile. Only you, Blackjack and the admins can see it.

If a payment is still open after 2 days you'll get a reminder, then one every 3 days, up to 3 reminders.

Notifications

Notifications come to your phone once the app is installed and you've allowed them. You can turn each kind on or off on your Profile.

Pick reminders: 24 hours and 2 hours before a contest locks, if you haven't entered or a card isn't finished.
Final scores: when a game ends, what it did to your dimes and where you stand.
Big moves: when you take 1st, lose it, climb into the top 3 or drop to last.
Big games: a heads-up before the games where you have the most riding.
Chat: new messages in the group chat, rolled into one notification at most every few minutes (and not while you're already in the chat). Vektor's game finals and recaps count too; you can switch those off separately.
Settle up: what you owe or are owed when a contest ends, and when a payment is confirmed.

Quiet hours: no routine notifications between 11 PM and 7 AM Pacific.

Install the app

Vektor installs straight from the website. No app store needed. You get a home-screen icon, a full-screen app, and notifications. On iPhone, notifications only work in the installed app, so this step matters.

iPhone (Safari)

Open this site in Safari (not Chrome).
Tap the Share button at the bottom of Safari (the square with an arrow pointing up).
Scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen.
Tap Add.
Open Vektor from your home screen and log in once more (the app keeps its own login).
Tap Turn on notifications and allow them.

Needs iOS 16.4 or newer.

Android (Chrome)

Open this site in Chrome.
Tap the ⋮ menu at the top right.
Tap Install app (or Add to Home screen).
Tap Install.
Open Vektor from your home screen and tap Turn on notifications.

Icon looks old or the app seems out of date? Close it fully and reopen. If the icon still looks wrong, delete it from your home screen and add it again.

FAQ

Do I have to pick every game?

Yes. Every game needs a winner and a confidence point. A card that isn't 100% filled in when picks lock is thrown out of the contest.

When can I change my picks?

Any time until the contest's first game kicks off. After that every card is locked.

I was right on two games with different points, but won the same on both. Why?

Because a right pick collects from the cards that missed, not from your own number. Your point is what you risk when you're wrong. See How scoring works.

Why did I lose so much on a game I only put a small number on?

A miss pays your point to every other card in the contest. Even a small number adds up in a big field.

Can I play more than one card?

Yes. Each card is its own entry on the leaderboard. When it's time to settle up, all your cards are added together into one amount.

What happens if a game ends in a tie?

Nobody gains or loses anything on that game.

When can I see everyone else's picks?

Once the contest locks at the first kickoff. Before that, only you can see your card.

How do I pay, and how do I get paid?

Everything runs through Blackjack. See Settling up for the steps. To get paid, add your Venmo, Cash App or PayPal handle or QR code on your Profile.

Who can see my payment info?

Only you, Blackjack and the admins. Other players can't.

What's the Toilet Bowl?

Last place in bowl season, when there are four or more players. It goes on the Hall of Champions forever.

I played in past seasons under a different name.

Go to Claim your history (after you sign in) and tap your old name. Played under more than one? Claim them all.

I'm not getting notifications.

On iPhone, install the app from Safari first (see Install the app), open it from your home screen, and allow notifications. Then check the switches on your Profile. On Android, make sure notifications for the app are allowed in your phone's settings.

I forgot my password.

Tap Forgot password? on the login screen and we'll email you a reset link.

Something looks wrong. Who do I ask?

Post in Chat. The admins read it.