Rules & How to Play

Gather up to 6 commissioners. The season runs from January 1st through the closing credits of the Academy Awards ceremony the following year. Your league assembles rosters of unreleased films and scores points from reviews, box office, and award shows.

You can start a league whenever you like, but the earlier you do it the larger the pool of unreleased movies.

The draft uses a snake order. Players draft 6 films each at the top of the season to fill their starting roster. The remaining 9 roster spots open through in-season auctions.

• Each film can be drafted only once.
• You cannot draft a film that has already been released (both audience and critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes).
• Once a film is drafted, the pick is final.
• Decide draft order randomly, by agreement, or by last season's standings.

After the snake rounds, each player makes 2 counterpicks across the season. A counterpick is a film already on another player's roster that you bet will flop or fail to release.

• You can only counterpick another player's film.
• Each film can be counter-picked only once.
• A counter-picked film cannot be dropped by its owner.
• Counterpick scoring inverts the owner's review points (max ±30 weighted across Letterboxd + Rotten Tomatoes).
• Failing to fill a counterpick slot scores the maximum negative (-30 weighted) in that slot.

Each player gets a $150 budget in monopoly money to bid on films during the season. Auction slots unlock on a schedule:

• 3 slots available immediately after the draft.
• +2 slots unlock on March 1.
• +2 slots unlock on June 1.
• +2 slots unlock on September 1.

Starting an auction: Bid $1 on any unreleased, unowned film. That bid opens a 24-hour auction.

Bidding: Bids are in $1 increments and must beat the current high by at least $1. If you're outbid, your money and slot are restored.

Soft close: A bid placed in the final 30 minutes resets the timer to 30 minutes. The auction ends when the clock runs out with no further bids — or when every other player passes.

Each player may drop up to 2 films per season. Dropping frees the slot for another auction.

• You can only drop a film you own.
• You cannot drop a film that has been counter-picked.
• Cutoff is midnight Eastern Time on the film's release date (theatrical wide release or streaming).
• Dropped films can be bid on by other players — except the player who dropped them.

Three categories. Each is weighted and summed for a film's total points.

Reviews · ×0.5

• Letterboxd line: capped at −30 to +50 around a 3.0 baseline (formula: (avg − 3.0) × 25, capped).
• Rotten Tomatoes line: capped at −30 to +50 around a 70% baseline (avg of critic + audience, minus 70, capped).
• Rotten Tomatoes points only count once both critic and audience scores are published.
• Review points only apply after a film has had a domestic wide release or is on a streaming platform (tracked via IMDb).

Box Office · ×0.2

• Raw range: 0 to 100 (commissioner-graded based on box-office performance).
• Weighted contribution: up to 20 points per film.

Awards & Festivals · ×0.3

• Any nomination: 1 point.
• Oscar win: 50 points (highest).
• Other major-show win (Golden Globes, BAFTA, SAG, Critics' Choice): 15 points.
• Festival award won: 5 points each.
• Ceiling is unlimited — the more hardware a film collects, the more it scores.

The season ends with the Academy Awards. The player with the most total points wins. Tiebreakers, in order:

• Best Picture: the tied player who owns the Academy Award Best Picture winner takes it.
• Highest-scoring movie: compare each tied player's top-scoring film (sum of review, box-office, and awards points).
• Next highest-scoring movies: walk down each player's roster until a winner emerges.

• No league actions after December 31, 11:59 PM Eastern.
• All drop / pickup / counterpick actions lock at midnight Eastern on a film's release date.
• Two group chats recommended: one for movie talk, one for league actions.