Nearly all contingencies have been accounted for within these rules, but for new issues that may arise, a group discussion is encouraged and then the wizened commissioner (Keith) makes the final decision. Everything is defined in the beginning of the season, and then the website runs the show.

During the season, all team owners are ultimately responsible for ensuring that their starters are declared and accurately scored.

Every team has 100 Copper Pieces at the start of the Auction. The auction order is based on the previous season's final standings, and then each team gets to put a player on the auction block when it is their turn. All teams get an opportunity to sign that player by placing the highest bid.

The minimum signing contract is for 1 CP, and so a team has to allocate at least 1 CP per roster slot.

Each team is composed of 20 total players, and the roster parameters are set ahead of time (see below). At the end of the auction, each team's rosters must conform to the guidelines set forth. After the auction is completed, each owner may change the composition of their team as they see fit (dropping a QB, adding a WR, etc.), as long as they don't have more than 20 active players at any one time.

This means that positional ratios are only required for the Auction. After the Auction and throughout the entire season, owners can have 15 QB's and 4 TE's if they want to! Of course, they still can only start 1 QB, 2 RB's, 3 WR's, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DF/ST, and 1 Coach...

The auction will take place online, in the new Super Mega Pro Auction Room 3000 v2.0, probably in the third week of August.

Teams can either participate in real time or they can create an auction worksheet that picks their team for them. The auction worksheet actually does a great job of getting the players you want, with the economic strategy you outline, but of course nothing compares to participating in the live auction. You can find a link to your auction worksheet on your team's homepage. Even if you plan on participating in realtime, the auction worksheet is integrated into the auction room, and so it can be a handy reference during the auction. And then if you have to step away from it for any reason, you have the option of turning it On and letting it autobid for your selected players.

The auction is a typical format, with a nomination of a player and an opening bid, then free-for-all bidding, with "Going Once...", "Going Twice...," "Going Three Times...", "SOLD" as the moderating method.

During the auction, everyone has equal opportunity to get any player they wish, if they are smart enough and/or bold enough with their money. It's actually the fairest way to build a team roster and it's a ton of fun.

100 Copper Pieces are deposited after the auction and before the season begins. In addition, any funds leftover from the auction are deposited in each team's bank account, and all of these funds are for use with Free Agency.

During the season, each loss suffered by a team results in 10 Copper Pieces being deposited to their account.

Each week, your team faces one other team (determined by the season schedule posted before the season starts), and every owner submits their starting rosters prior to kickoff in that week's first game (usually Sundays, but sometimes Thursdays or Saturdays). If there is an early game in the week, Sunday's starters can still be edited up until 1 pm EST on Sunday.

The 10 starters each week are always in the same positional ratio: 1 QB, 2 RB's, 1 TE, 3 WR's, 1 K, 1 DF/ST, and 1 Coach.

These players earn points for their fantasy team through actual real-life scoring and yardage bonuses. The total points earned by those players is that fantasy team's final score, and the winning team is determined by highest score between the two teams which faced each other.

For tiebreakers, the first and only level of tiebreaker is Head Coach. After that, a tie is a tie.

Teams accrue win-loss records through the first 13 weeks of the regular season, and the top 6 teams face each other in the playoffs, which take place in weeks 14-16 of the NFL regular season.

Seeding is based on overall record. The four divisional winners get the top four seeds, and there are two wildcard teams as well.

During the regular season (covering the first 13 weeks of the NFL's 17 weeks), each team faces each divisional opponent twice, and every other team in the league once.

Each week, each team faces off against one team in a W-L format. In addition to this standard structure, all teams also play against everyone else in the league, in a "league game" or "meta game." The top 50% scorers will get an addition Win in their column. This means that each week there will be six teams that gain an additional Win. This is a reflection of a team's overall power and helps to mitigate the luck factor when it comes to a season's schedule of head-to-head matchups.

Homefield advantages are in place for the playoffs. The home team gets 2 bonus points to start the game with, reflecting their home-field advantage. There is no homefield advantage in the Championship game.

Once kickoff of Week 12 begins, all prior regular season games are considered final. All statistical adjustments/corrections must be made prior to the playoffs. The rule is: Stats are Stats are Stats, and the Stats rule.

After kickoff of Week 12, everyone will know exactly where they stand in the playoff hunt as they go into the final regular season game. Teams have until Wednesday night of the final regular season game to audit and correct their results.

The winners of each division, determined by the overall records within the division (and not merely the division record), get the first 4 seeds in the Midgard playoffs, which take place in weeks 14-16 of the NFL's regular season. This means that Team A with a 3-1 divisional record, 7-6 overall, would not beat Team B that had a 10-3 record but who's divisional record was 2-2. Team B would be the divisional champion because they have a better overall record.

Of the 8 teams remaining, the two teams with the best overall records make the playoffs. The worst 6 teams in the league do not play in the official playoffs (though see the next paragraph). In case of a tie in determining what teams will make the playoffs, the total points scored throughout the season will be used as a tiebreaker (starters' points for each week, totaled). The second tie-breaker for this situation will be divisional record. The third tie-breaker will be the teams' head-to-head record. The fourth tie-breaker will be a vicious game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, 3 out of 5.

As in the NFL, every team enters the playoffs with a clean slate. Just like the regular season, the Head Coach is the first tiebreaker. In the playoffs, bench points are the second level tiebreaker in "overtime." Third level tiebreaker in the playoffs: starting ST/DF. Fourth level: the higher seeded team.

The six teams that missed the playoffs will face each other in the Loser Playoffs.

Homefield advantage is used in the playoffs until the Championship game, which is on a neutral field.

Midgard allows for each team to designate one starting Running Back on their roster as their Mixed-Yardage Specialist).

A Mixed Yardage specialist totals their rushing and receiving yardage, and compares it to the Mixed Yardage Chart. This chart is balanced and weighted so as to penalize owners from just designating any running back as the Specialist. For example, if Marshall Faulk is declared as a Specialist, he would not earn as many points as if he was just a basic Running Back. In other words, it shouldn't be just a second-hand thought and an extra ability for some player to have. It is only be practical to designate a player who really does rely on a mix of running and receiving. There are a number of running backs in the league who have good receiving abilities which are utilized by their teams, and this would be one way to recognize those players.

Since Midgard does not keep any players from season to season, there is no Injured Reserve slot that is available. Rosters are limited to 20 players, period.

There is a free agent list posted every week and all owners can look it over and bid on any players on the list, keeping in mind that their roster size is limited to 20 players with no IR slots.

All free agent bids have to be submitted by 8 pm on Wednesday, via a link found on your team homepage. Bids are simultaneously resolved at 8pm each Wednesday.

Starting in 2008, there is also a second Free Agency on Sunday mornings at 10am (eastern). Obviously, most of the free agent pool will be picked clean in the first session on Wednesday, and therefore this second session serves to allow teams to respond to weekday injuries, last minute trades, etc.

At the beginning of the season, all funds left over from the auction will be deposited in each team's bank account.

When an owner sees a free agent which they wish to acquire, they will submit a secret bid for that player, complete with how many Copper Pieces they are willing to spend in order to get that player. The highest bidder gets the player; in case of a tie, the team with the worse record gains the player. If there is still a tie, then both teams can submit another round of secret and simultaneous bidding. If a tie is still the result, then the tie-breakers go as follows: worst total points by starting lineups thus far, worst divisional record, and finally a brutal game of rock-paper-scissors.

Copper Pieces can be traded amongst teams.

Owners can bid on as many players as they would like, but keep in mind the following important considerations:

The total number of Copper Pieces that are bid cannot exceed the total amount of money held. One cannot bid "20 Copper Pieces on Doug Chapman, only if my 40 on Jamal Lewis is unsuccessful."

For every player that is bid upon, an existing player on the roster has to be designated as being the one that would be cut. This is a mere 1 to 1 correspondence for the number of players that would be cut, but this information can be presented in list form; the players to be cut don't have to be linked to specific acquisitions, though that is an acceptable form, as well. (Details can be found in the free agent form.)

All trades are pretty much legal but are subject to a league vote if one is called for. If four owners vote against a trade, it is reversed. If it is reversed after kickoff and it affected that week's starting lineups, then the sanctioned teams are treated as if they started too many players at the affected positions; the lowest scoring player is considered "started".

Keep in mind that anyone who is involved in a bad-faith trade will in all likelihood not be invited back in the following season. This has never been needed in the past.

Trades can involve asymmetrical numbers of players (3 for 2, 2 for 1, etc.), and teams used to have until kickoff of the week's first game in order to waive player(s) to reach the roster limit. With the addition of a second Free Agency session on Sunday mornings, teams now have to adhere to a strict roster limit at all times.

Teams are not allowed to "loan" or "trade for a day" players to other teams.

Teams can include Copper Pieces as part of a trade.

The Trade Deadline is before kickoff of Week 11.

Dues are $25 for the prize fund. This results in $300 in the prize pool. The deadline for dues is July 1st of each year and can be mailed or paypal'd. If paypal'd, the paypal fee is added and the total becomes $27.

$130: 1st Place
$75: 2nd Place
$50: 3rd Place
$25: 4th Place
$20: Top YTD scoring team (regular season)