📜 Rules

🚫 No cash prizes — ever

PatchNotes Pick'em never pays out money. There is no entry fee, no buy-in, no pot, and no cash reward of any kind. Prizes, when offered, are non-cash only: sponsor placement slots and free Indie Marketing Arsenal products. No cryptocurrency, no gift cards, no store credit that can be converted to cash. If you ever see anyone claiming to sell Pick'em "prize winnings" or charging entry fees, that is a scam — report it to indiemarketingarsenal@proton.me.

How to play

Pick the winner of any listed upcoming match. No account required — just a nickname (2–24 characters).
You can change your pick any time until the match's published start time. After that, picks lock.
1 point per correct pick. 0 points for a wrong pick. The leaderboard counts only completed (resolved) matches.

Matches & results

Only real matches with published schedules are listed. We never invent matches, dates, or results.
Season 1 covers VALORANT Champions Shanghai 2026 (Sep 24 – Oct 18, 2026), sourced from the official VALORANT Esports schedule.
Results are entered by staff within 24 hours of each match finishing, from official tournament results. Ties/disqualifications that the tournament itself does not resolve as a win are scored 0 for everyone.

Prizes

Season prizes are sponsor slots (a featured placement on the site) and free Indie Marketing Arsenal products — non-cash only, as stated above.
Sponsors pay a flat $49/week sponsor fee (see Sponsor). Sponsor money never funds prizes paid to players; it covers operating costs only.
Winners are contacted via the email they provide (optional field may be added in future seasons) and announced on the leaderboard page.

Fair play

One nickname per person, please. Impersonating another player is grounds for removal.
Picks are capped at 10,000 total league-wide per season (fail-closed: new picks are refused at the cap with a clear message).
We may remove picks or players for abuse, spam, or attempts to tamper with the league.

Last updated: September 2026. Rules may be updated between seasons; changes are announced on the site.