25 August 2026 · 5 min read
How to run your first office last-player-standing game
A practical setup for a first game: who to invite, how the service fee works, and how to keep the group in the habit of picking.
Start smaller than you think
Twelve people who will actually pick beats forty who will ghost after week two. Invite the group that already argues about football. Add a couple of wildcards if you want chaos.
You can always run a second game later. A dead first game is harder to recover.
Set the game so people can join
Create the game, choose the competition, and decide whether joins need your approval. If this is an office game, approval is useful: you keep random links from filling the roster with people you did not mean to invite.
Share the link in the group chat. If you collected emails, send those invites from the game as well.
The fee is for the service, not a pot
Signing up is free. If the game charges to join, that is a one-off platform service fee collected at checkout. It is not a stake, and it is not a prize pot the host sets.
If you would rather keep the table unpaid, the format still works. The tension is the pick.
Make picking a habit
The games that last are the ones where people know when they have to pick. Put the round deadline in the same chat you used to invite them. The product will also nudge players as the window closes.
One miss is enough. Remind them of that once, then let the standings do the reminding.