Percentage Sports features a unique contest format where you don't simply try to guess the
winners in games. Instead for each game you estimate the probability
that each team will win based on how strong you believe each team to
be. Another way to look at it is that you make a pick based on how
confident you are that your favored team will win. For example, say
that the NY Giants are playing at the Pittsburgh Steelers this week. If you feel that Pittsburgh
has a 60% chance of winning the game, you would pick Pittsburgh 60%, NY Giants 40%. This means you feel that Pittsburgh will win, but you're only 60% sure.
If a friend of yours, Susan, feels more confident about Pittsburgh (perhaps
she knows of a key Giants injury), she might pick Pittsburgh 70%, NY Giants
30%. Perhaps another friend, Dave, feels that the Giants should be
slightly favored and picks NY Giants 55%, Pittsburgh 45%.
If Pittsburgh wins the game, both you and Susan gain points, and Dave loses
points. However, if the Giants win, Dave gains points, while both you and
Susan lose points. In each case, Susan gains or loses more points than
you because her pick was more bold than yours. The unique scoring
ensures that the players most accurately estimating the probabilities for each game will score the most points on
average.
