Predictions

Updated by Darryl Waterhouse on 3 November 2026 6 min read

Run a predictions league on your website. You add the fixtures (or questions such as "Who wins the final?"), people join with a name and predict before each kick-off, and the league table updates as you enter the results. Predictions is a Pro Tool, and can be gifted to a site.

What it does

Leagues that run for weeks. A league is a set of rounds (Week 1, Week 2...). Each round holds fixtures (Home v Away, with a kick-off time) and questions (with 2 to 8 answers to choose from).
Players are members. They join once with a name (and, if they like, an email address). Names are checked for rude words and must be unique in the league. Their phone or computer remembers them.
A sign-in code. When someone joins they are shown a short code (like M8MG-BGWJ), and it is emailed to them if they gave an email and your site can send mail. With their name and the code they can sign in on another phone or computer.
Predictions lock at kick-off. The server keeps the time. After kick-off (or the round's deadline, if that is sooner) nobody can change a prediction for that fixture.
Nobody sees anyone else's predictions before kick-off. Afterwards, if you allow it, players see how everyone went: "12 predictions: 7 home win, 3 draw, 2 away win. Most picked 2-1."
Points worked out for you. Enter a result and the points and the table update straight away. Change a result and everything is worked out again.
The table overall and for each round, with arrows showing who went up or down since the last round.
Jokers (optional): each player can double their points for a round of their choice.
Approval (optional): new members wait until you approve them.
Built for phones: big score buttons, answer buttons, countdowns to each lock.

Getting started

Switch Predictions on in Tools.
Open Tools > Games > Predictions and choose New league.
Give it a title. Rename Round 1 (for example to "Week 1").
Add fixtures: Paste fixtures… takes a whole week at once, one a line:

Arsenal v Spurs, 2026-11-01 15:00
Leeds vs Hull, 01/11/2026 17:30

Any line that cannot be read is listed with the reason, and the rest are added. + Fixture and + Question add one at a time. 5. Press Test to try it yourself (see below). 6. Set the status to Open, Save, and put the league on a page:

[predictions league="office-league" /]

Times are always your site's time, whatever the time zone of the person reading.

Rounds, fixtures and questions

Round name and an optional deadline. With a deadline, every prediction in the round locks then, even for later kick-offs (handy for "all predictions in by Friday noon"). Without one, each item locks at its own kick-off.
Fixture: home team, away team, kick-off. Players predict the score.
Question: the question, 2 to 8 answers, and when it closes. It can be worth its own points (0 uses the league's amount). Players pick one answer.
Click an item to change it; right-click it (or its ⋮) to move it up or down, duplicate it or delete it. Right-click a round to move or delete it.
Up to 100 rounds, and 50 items a round.
Deleting an item also deletes the predictions made for it once you save.

Scoring and rules (each league)

Setting	What it does
Exact score	Points for the exact score (3 to start with).
Right result	Points for the right home win, draw or away win, when the score is not exact (1 to start with).
Goal difference bonus	Added to the right result when the goal difference is right too: 2-1 for a 3-2, or any draw for another draw. 0 leaves it off.
Right answer (questions)	Points for the right answer to a question, unless the question gives its own.
Jokers each	0 to 5. A joker doubles a player's points for one round. They play it before the round's first kick-off, and can move it until then.
Table size	How many places the public table shows.
Members need approval	New members wait in Members until you approve them. They can look at the fixtures but not predict.
Show how everyone predicted	After kick-off only, how many went for each result or answer. Never before.
Animations	Rows and saves pop gently. Visitors who asked for less motion never see them.

Status: Draft (not shown anywhere; Test still works), Open (people join and predict), Finished (the table and results stay up, but nobody can join or predict).

Ties on the table are split by exact scores, then by right predictions. Still level, players share the place ("1st, 1st, 3rd").

Entering results

Open Results (on each league in the list, from the banner, or from the sidebar badge).

Pick the round. Items that have kicked off and have no result are marked waiting.
Type the score (or choose the right answer) and press Save results (or Ctrl+S).
A result can only go in once the item has kicked off or closed.
Got one wrong? Change it and save: every point and the table are worked out again.
Void calls an item off (a postponed match): nobody scores from it. Untick it to bring it back.

The sidebar badge counts results waiting to be entered. A result counts as waiting a while after kick-off (two hours to start with, so a football match can finish) - change that in the settings cog.

Members

Members lists everyone in the league, waiting members first. Right-click a member (or its ⋮) to:

Approve a waiting member (or Hold back one again).
Rename them (the name must still be unique in the league).
Give a new code if they lost theirs. The old code stops working. Pass the new one on; it is emailed to them too if they gave an email.
Copy the email address, if they gave one.
Remove them. Their predictions go too.

Five wrong codes in a row stop sign-in for that name for 15 minutes.

The table

Table shows the table overall and for each round with results, with points, exact scores and right predictions. Players see the same on the page.

Testing a league

Test opens the league right there in the admin, exactly as your players see it. You play as a test member (your name with "(test)"):

It works whatever the status, so you can try a draft.
Kick-off locks still apply.
A test member is never on the table or in Members, and each new test clears the last one away.

Settings (the cog)

The cog in the banner opens the Tool's settings: the scoring, jokers and approval every new league starts with, and how long after kick-off a result counts as waiting. Changing them does not change leagues already made.

Shortcodes

[predictions league="office-league" /]

The league: joining, signing in, predicting, past rounds with your predictions and the results, and the table. Add board="hide" to leave the table below it out, or board="only" for the table alone.

[predictions-table league="office-league" /]
[predictions-table league="office-league" round="Week 1" limit="10" title="Week 1 top ten" /]

A table on its own. round shows one round (by its name); limit caps the places shown; title changes the heading.

Moving leagues between sites

Export a league from its menu in the list, or from the download button at the top of its editor. Export with results includes the results so far. Export all puts every league in one file. A file never holds members or anyone's predictions.

Import… adds the leagues in such a file as drafts. A league whose short name is taken gets one of its own (office-league-2). Up to 20 leagues at a time.

Notifications

Predictions results to enter (on to start with): a fixture has kicked off and its result is not in yet. One notice a league; it goes away once the results are in.
Predictions members to approve: someone joined a league that needs approval.

Choose who gets them in Notifications > Settings.

Gifting

Predictions is a Pro Tool. It can also be gifted to a site, for good or for a number of days.