18 Office Pool Ideas (March Madness, Super Bowl & Beyond)

A good office pool is the easiest way to get a quiet team talking. The trick is picking one that doesn't need a sports nerd to enjoy. Here are 18 office pool ideas that work — from the classics to a few you probably haven't tried.

Sports classics

1. March Madness bracket. The undisputed king. Everyone fills in a 64-team bracket; highest score wins. Even people who've never watched college basketball play, and they often win.
2. Super Bowl squares. A 10×10 grid, two team-score digits, one name per square. Pure luck, perfect for non-fans, no skill barrier.
3. Super Bowl prop sheet. 20 props — coin toss, first scorer, length of national anthem, Gatorade colour. Most correct wins.
4. NFL pick'em. Weekly: pick the winner of every game. Season leaderboard.
5. NFL survivor pool. Pick one team to win each week. Can't reuse a team. Last one standing wins.
6. World Cup / Euros sticker book. Everyone picks the winner, top scorer, dark horse, and biggest flop.
7. F1 driver draft. Everyone picks 3 drivers; points carry across the season.
8. Masters / Open Championship pool. Pick five golfers; lowest combined score wins.

Non-sports pools (the real winners)

9. Oscars ballot. Pick a winner in every category. Most correct wins. Works even for people who haven't seen the films.
10. Eurovision sweepstake. Draw a country each. Highest finisher wins. Brutal but fun.
11. Election night pool. Predict seat counts, results in key constituencies, who concedes first.
12. Royal baby / royal wedding pool. Name, date, weight, hat colour. Yes, really.
13. Strictly / Dancing With the Stars pool. Pick the winner in week one and stick with them.
14. Bake Off pool. Same idea — pick your baker on episode one, ride it out.
15. New starter pool. Guess how long until the new hire's first holiday request. (Keep it kind.)

Office-only pools

16. End-of-quarter number. Closest to actual revenue / sign-ups / whatever metric you publish. Great for sales teams.
17. "When will the printer break next" pool. Closest date wins.
18. Christmas-party-leaving-time pool. Closest to the actual time the last person leaves wins the pot.

How to run an office pool without losing your job

• Check your company policy. Some workplaces explicitly ban gambling pools — even £2 ones. A "for bragging rights only" pool with no money is always safe.
• Keep stakes low. £2–£5 entry is enough. The point is participation, not profit.
• One organiser. One person collects, one person pays out. Pick someone reliable; not the person who's always "getting it tomorrow".
• Write the rules in advance. Tiebreakers especially — without them, March Madness ends in a fistfight.
• Settle the same week the pool ends. Sitting cash is the fastest way to end a pool tradition.

BENDS is built for exactly this. Set up a pool, invite everyone, log entries, declare a winner, and the running tally is there in writing. We don't hold the money — the organiser collects and pays out the way they always have. We just keep the record clean.