Rules of the game
Clear rules make better rivalries.
This player-friendly guide covers the standard DödPool game. Your Commissioner manages the details for your private pool.
Joining a Pool
Pools are private and invitation-only. Register through your invitation, verify the invited email, meet the age and Terms requirements, submit a celebrity to the pool when required, and complete any pool membership obligation. Each submitted celebrity is added to shared inventory after approval; it is not automatically assigned to the Player who submitted it. At game start, eligible Players receive random assignments. A Player joining during an active game waits for the next new game.
Celebrity Eligibility
A celebrity must be an identifiable individual with a Wikipedia page, may not be a sitting or former world leader, and may not duplicate someone already in that pool under another name or identity. Personal relationships and access: Do not submit a person you personally know, have a close personal or professional relationship with, have direct or privileged access to, or could reasonably influence or harm. A Commissioner must approve the submission.
Starting a Game
Games are scheduled for noon on the first day of a month in the pool’s timezone. Eligibility is checked at that exact moment. If there are not enough eligible celebrities for all eligible Players, the game does not partially start; Commissioners must resolve the shortage first.
Random Assignment
Each eligible Player receives exactly one celebrity, and no celebrity goes to two Players in the same game. The system randomizes assignments after honoring confirmed keepers. A celebrity you submit joins the shared inventory and is not automatically assigned to you.
Winning
The first qualifying death among celebrities actively assigned to eligible Players determines the winner, after verification and final review. A death outside an active eligible assignment does not produce a winner. Each game has one final winner.
Death Verification
Commissioners review credible evidence and the actual chronology—not merely when an article was published. A result remains provisional while competing reports or timing questions are considered. Ambiguous cases can be disputed, and no result is final until the review is complete.
Monthly Continuation
If no qualifying death occurs before the next monthly boundary, the existing game continues. Surviving assignments are not redrawn. Remaining eligible Players continue under the monthly allocation from their membership terms.
Membership Eligibility
A Player must be eligible when a new game starts. If a Pool Membership expires during an active game, that Player and assignment leave the game immediately; prior contributions remain, and a later renewal applies only to a future newly starting game.
Dead Period
After a winner is declared, the pool enters the Dead Period—the normal time between games when replacement and keeper requirements are completed. The Dead Period ends when the next game actually starts.
Winner Replacement
During the Dead Period, the winner must introduce an eligible replacement for the deceased celebrity by the earlier of 48 hours after winner declaration or 11:59 p.m. on the last day of that month. If the deadline is missed, a Commissioner selects one. The replacement joins shared inventory; it is not reserved for the winner.
Keepers
During the Dead Period, an eligible losing Player may choose to keep their living assigned celebrity for the next new game. The applicable keeper fee is handled externally and must be confirmed by a Commissioner before the deadline. A confirmed keeper guarantees that assignment next game if the Player and celebrity remain eligible.
Commissioner Administration
Commissioners manage only their own pools. They handle invitations, celebrity decisions, payment confirmations, eligibility, death review, disputes, and results. Conflicted decisions should go to another active Commissioner when one is available. Material decisions are recorded.
Private Pools
Pool membership, Players, assignments, and administration are not publicly listed. Access comes through an invitation and authenticated membership. DödPool tracks evidence of externally handled pool payments; it does not collect pool money.