1. Sponsor
The FCS Playoff Exchange (the "Contest") is run by Compughter Technologies, LLC, 1550 Wilson Blvd, Ste 700 PMB250, Arlington, VA 22209 (the "Sponsor"), which operates Versus Sports Simulator.
2. No purchase necessary
The Contest is free to enter and free to play. A Versus Sports Simulator subscription, a purchase of any kind, or anything else of value is not required and does not improve a player's position or chance of winning. Paid members play under exactly the same rules as everyone else.
3. Who can enter
The Contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 or older (or the age of majority where they live, if higher) when they enter. Employees of the Sponsor and members of their immediate households are not eligible. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.
4. Contest period
The Contest begins when entry opens and ends when the 2026 FCS Playoffs national championship game has been played and settled, scheduled for the week of January 11, 2027. All times are Eastern.
5. How to enter
Create a free Versus Sports Simulator account (or sign in to an existing one), choose a display name, and accept these rules. One entry per person. A person who plays through more than one account, or whose entries are coordinated with another player's, will be disqualified along with every account involved.
Your display name appears on the public leaderboard, and anyone can see your teams as they stood when trading last closed. It must not contain an email address, a link, or anything offensive or misleading, and the Sponsor may change or remove a display name that breaks this rule.
6. How the game works
Game money. Each entry starts with $10,000 in game money. Game money has no cash value and cannot be bought, sold, transferred or cashed out.
Prices. Every team has a price, set by the Sponsor from the Versus Sports Simulator ratings. A price is the amount the Sponsor's model expects one share of that team to pay at the end of the Contest: for every stage the team could reach, its chance of reaching that stage times the payout for it, added together. No price is lower than $1.00. Prices are published once per trading window and do not change during a window.
Trading windows. Players can buy and sell only while a trading window is open. Each window opens on the day listed below and closes before the first game of that week is played. Every trade fills at the price published for that window. Before the first window opens, prices are shown for information only and no trades can be made.
- Week of Nov 9: opens Monday, November 9 at 9:00 AM, closes Friday, November 13 at 12:00 PM
- Week of Nov 16: opens Monday, November 16 at 9:00 AM, closes Thursday, November 19 at 12:00 PM
- First Round: opens Monday, November 23 at 9:00 AM, closes Friday, November 27 at 12:00 PM
- Second Round: opens Monday, November 30 at 9:00 AM, closes Friday, December 4 at 12:00 PM
- Quarterfinals: opens Monday, December 7 at 9:00 AM, closes Friday, December 11 at 12:00 PM
- Semifinals: opens Monday, December 14 at 9:00 AM, closes Friday, December 18 at 12:00 PM
- National Championship: opens Monday, December 21 at 9:00 AM, closes Monday, January 11 at 12:00 PM
Limits. Each entry may make up to 4 trades per window; buying or selling one team counts as one trade. A purchase may not bring one team above 30% of the entry's total portfolio value, measured at that window's prices. The smallest trade is $100, except that a player may always spend all remaining cash or sell all of a holding. Short selling and borrowing are not allowed.
Payouts. When a team's season is decided, every share of it is cashed out automatically at the payout for the furthest stage it reached, and the money is added to each holder's cash:
- Misses the playoffs: $0 a share
- Makes the 24-team field: $10 a share
- Reaches the second round: $20 a share
- Reaches the quarterfinals: $35 a share
- Reaches the semifinals: $55 a share
- Reaches the title game: $75 a share
- Wins the national title: $100 a share
A team the selection committee leaves out of the field is settled at $0 once the field is announced.
7. How the winner is decided
The winner is the eligible entry with the highest portfolio value after the national championship game has been settled, when every share has been paid out and each portfolio is entirely cash. If entries are tied, the tie goes to the entry with the higher portfolio value at the previous trading window's prices, and then to the entry created first. The other placed prizes go to the eligible entries with the next-highest portfolio values, in order, under the same tie rules.
Where a weekly prize is offered, it goes to the eligible entry whose portfolio value rose the most from one window's prices to the next, using the same tie rules. The first week counted runs from the Week of Nov 9 prices to the Week of Nov 16 prices.
The result depends on players' decisions and on the results of real games. The Sponsor does not select winners at random.
8. Prizes
- 1st place: $500 cash, a year of Versus Premium and a Versus T-shirt
- 2nd place: $100 cash, six months of Versus Premium and a Versus T-shirt
- 3rd place: Three months of Versus Premium and a Versus T-shirt
- Best week: A month of Versus Premium
Winners choose when a Premium membership prize starts, within 12 months of winning. A winner who already has a Premium membership has the prize time added to it.
Prizes are not transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash, except that the Sponsor may substitute a prize of equal or greater value. Any taxes are the winner's responsibility. Winners are notified by email at the address on their Versus account and must respond within 7 days, confirming their eligibility, or an alternate winner may be chosen under the same rules.
9. Fair play and corrections
The Sponsor may disqualify any entry it reasonably believes has broken these rules, used automated tools, exploited a technical error, or tampered with the Contest. If a price, trade, payout or standing is wrong because of a technical or data error, the Sponsor may correct it. If the Contest cannot run as planned because of a technical failure, a change to the real season's schedule or format, or anything else outside the Sponsor's control, the Sponsor may adjust the windows, settle teams as the real results require, or end the Contest and award prizes based on standings at that point. If fewer than 50 players have entered when sign-ups close, the Sponsor may cancel the Contest, or run it with the Versus Premium prizes only and no cash prizes.
10. Privacy and email
Information collected for the Contest is handled under the Versus Sports Simulator Privacy Policy. Entering requires agreeing to receive email from Versus Sports Simulator, including Contest updates, standings and news and offers about Versus. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing does not affect an entry. Display names, portfolio values and each player's teams, as they stood when trading last closed, appear publicly.
11. Not affiliated
The Contest is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, the NCAA, any conference, any school or any team. Team names and logos identify the teams whose real results decide payouts.
12. Limitation of liability
By entering, players release the Sponsor from claims arising from the Contest or any prize, to the extent the law allows. The Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late or incomplete trades, or for any technical problem that prevents a trade or an entry. These rules are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
13. Winner list
For the name of the winner, write to the Sponsor at the address above within 60 days after the Contest ends.