Last Man Standing is a simple football game: pick one team a week to win, never the same team twice, and the last one still in wins. The simple version leaves a handful of questions every group ends up arguing about, usually on a Saturday evening. This page sets out the standard rules, the usual variations, and how to decide between them before the first round, not after.
Running a game? Terrace Tally lets you set every rule below, and applies them for you each week. How Terrace Tally runs Last Man Standing
The standard rules
- Everyone enters before round one.
- Each round, usually a weekend’s fixtures, you pick one team to win.
- If your team wins, you are through to the next round. A draw or a defeat, and you are out.
- You cannot pick a team you have already used.
- Picks close at a set time before the round, and nobody sees anyone else’s pick until then.
- The last one standing wins.
The choices to make before you start
Which leagues?
The Premier League alone gives 20 teams, so a long game runs out of good picks quickly. Adding the Championship, League One or League Two gives more teams to choose from (up to 92 across the four), more upsets and a longer game. Terrace Tally offers any combination of the four, with more leagues on the way.
What is a round?
Most groups use a weekend, Friday to Sunday. Some include midweek matches, making each round a whole week. Weekends are simpler to follow; whole weeks give more fixtures to choose from.
When do picks close?
Either a fixed time, such as 19:00 on the Thursday before the round, or a set number of hours before the round’s first kick-off. A fixed time is easy to remember; hours before kick-off gives people longer when the first match is on a Saturday.
Does a draw survive?
In the standard game a draw puts you out: your team has to win. Letting a draw survive makes the game longer and a little kinder.
Lives
Some groups give everyone a life or two, so a first defeat does not put you out. It keeps more people interested for longer, especially in a big group.
What if someone forgets to pick?
Two common answers: they are out, or they are given a team. The kinder version gives them the bottom team of the lowest league in play, which usually ends the same way but gives them a chance.
What if a match is postponed?
A pick on a postponed or abandoned match cannot win or lose. The usual answers are that you survive the round, that you survive but need two picks next round (both must win), or that you are out. Two picks next round is the fairest: it stops a postponement being a free pass.
What if everyone goes out in the same round?
It happens more often than you would think. The choices are to put everyone back in and play on, to share the win between them, or to draw a winner at random.
What if the fixtures run out?
If more than one is still standing at the end of the season, they can share the win, or play sudden-death rounds.
Coming back in
Some games let people who go out in round one buy back in; a few allow it at any round. Teams already used stay used.
More than one entry
Some groups allow two or more entries each, each picking separately. It suits bigger groups and people who like a second chance.
Money
Many games have an entry fee and a prize. Terrace Tally never handles money: if your game has an entry fee, it is paid to the person running it, and the app only records who has paid.
How Terrace Tally applies the rules
- Every rule above is a setting, chosen when the game is created and shown to everyone in the app.
- Results come from our football data feed, so wins, draws, defeats and postponements are applied automatically.
- Used teams are tracked, and a used team cannot be picked.
- A changed rule applies from the next round, except the deadline, which also moves the round that is open if its picks have not closed.
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