MACTION THE GATHERING (TM)
How to Play
THE BASICS
- The season is 11 weeks of MACtion, 52 games total — every MAC-vs-MAC matchup. Week 1 has a single game; the rest have 2 to 6.
- You make a pick on every game. For each game you choose ONE side of ONE market: the spread (home or away) or the total (over or under).
- A win is +1, a loss is −1, a push is 0. Then the cards get involved.
- The 22 true weekday games (Tue–Fri kickoffs — real MACtion) are worth more: every pick on those games is scored at 1.25× before any card effects, win or lose. Saturday games score at the normal 1×. Look for the MACTION 1.25× badge on a game to spot the premium.
THE WEEK LOCK
- Everything for the week, all picks and all card plays, is due at kickoff of the week’s first game. There are no per-game deadlines: a Friday game locks Tuesday night with everything else.
- Until the lock you can add, change, and take back picks and cards freely, in any order.
- At the lock, everyone’s picks and cards flip face-up at once on the reveal page. That moment is the whole show.
- Before the lock you can see how many cards have landed on each game and whose they are (face-down backs, labeled by player), but not what they are. Sweat accordingly.
- Picks and cards save as you go, but you’re not in until you hit Submit picks & cards on your week page. The “Who’s in” list shows the whole league who has submitted. Change anything after submitting and you’ll need to submit again before the lock.
YOUR DECK
- Everyone starts the season with the same 52 cards.
- Each week you must play exactly as many cards as there are games that week: a 1-game week means exactly 1 card, a 6-game week exactly 6. Over the season, every card gets played. Strategy is when, where, and at whom.
- At most one copy of a given card on a given game (playing two Insurance on one pick is legal, but why would you).
- You can put a card on a game you haven’t picked yet. You’ll have to pick it eventually anyway.
FORCE MULTIPLIER: 18 COPIES
Applies a 1.1× multiplier to every player’s pick on this game, wins and losses alike. Multiple Force Multipliers on the same game compound (two = 1.21×, three = 1.331×).
PERSONAL BOOST: 7 COPIES
Applies a 1.5× multiplier to your pick on this game, but only if you win. No effect on a loss or push. Stacks with Force Multipliers.
FAVORITE TEAM: 3 COPIES
Declare a team when you play this card. From this week onward, every winning pick you make on a game involving that team earns +1 after multipliers. Pick direction doesn’t matter. If both of your declared favorites play each other, a win earns +2.
INSURANCE: 5 COPIES
If your final result on this pick is negative after all multipliers and effects, it is capped at −0.5. Applied last. Playing more than one on the same pick is allowed but wasteful.
SABOTAGE: 5 COPIES
Target one opponent on one game. If they win their pick on that game, their points are halved after their multipliers. No effect if they lose or push. Multiple Sabotages on the same player on the same game do not stack.
DOUBLE DOWN: 4 COPIES
Applies a 2× multiplier to your pick on this game, both ways. Stacks with Force Multipliers and Personal Boost. The haymaker.
NEGATION: 3 COPIES
Cancels one Force Multiplier on the targeted game. You don’t choose which one. If no Force Multipliers land on that game, the card is wasted. That’s the gamble.
ALL OR NOTHING: 3 COPIES
Your pick on this game scores a flat +2 on a win or −2 on a loss, replacing the base result and ignoring all multipliers (yours and the game’s). Pushes stay 0. Anchor and Insurance still apply after.
TRIPLE THREAT: 2 COPIES
On this game you pick both the spread and the over/under. Each pick is scored independently with full multipliers. Other self-cards you play on this game must be attached to one pick or the other.
ANCHOR: 2 COPIES
Halves your final result on this pick, win or lose, after multipliers. The defensive play for a game you don’t trust but must pick.
HOW SCORING WORKS
Each pick is scored in this exact order:
- Base result: +1 win, −1 loss, 0 push.
- Force Multipliers on the game: ×1.1 each (from every player, compounding), minus any Negations.
- Your Personal Boost (×1.5, wins only) and Double Down (×2).
- All or Nothing replaces all of the above with a flat +2 / −2 (push stays 0).
- Anchor halves your result, win or lose.
- Sabotage: if someone targeted you on this game and you won, your points are halved. Multiple sabotages don’t stack.
- Favorite Team: +1 for each of your declared favorites playing in the game, if you won the pick.
- Insurance: a loss is floored at −0.5, applied last.
Worked example: you take Toledo −7 with a Personal Boost and a Double Down, and three Force Multipliers land on the game. Toledo covers: 1 × 1.331 × 1.5 × 2 = +3.99. Toledo doesn’t: −1 × 1.331 × 2 = −2.66 (the Boost only works on wins). That’s the ceiling and the floor of a single pick, unless Insurance caught you at −0.5.
Pushes stay 0 through everything. Cards on pushed picks are wasted. No refunds.
After scoring, every pick shows its full math on the results page: every card that touched it, in order, with the exact numbers.
READING THE TABLE
A face-down back on a game is an opponent’s card. You can count them; you can’t see under them until the reveal.
The hand drawer shows your remaining cards and everyone’s remaining card counts. The progress chips up top go green when your picks and card quota for the week are complete.