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Fun ways to determine draft order, live draft (1 Viewer)

Terpman22

Footballguy
I think I can speak for a lot of folks where ya know, just running a randomizer is just old and tired. I am hosting our local draft this year and in the past have used a sort of dice game to up the ante vs basic chance.

I have heard some creative ideas over the years, just curious if anyone has anything fun they could think of that really worked in the past.

I have come up with a sort of dice game where people get 3 dice, you roll up to 3 times. First 2 rolls you get the higher #, you can risk it with a 3rd roll, but whatever your number is on the 3rd roll, locks you in.

High score gets highest pick, lowest score gets lowest pick etc.

A wild card if you roll "Triple Eyes" you automatically get the option to have the 1st pick, but you don't have to "take" the first pick.

Any ties go to a single dice roll off, so if there are 2/3/4 people with the number "17" and that slots picks, say 5/6/7, the highest roll of those 3 people get 5, next 6, low 7.

It was a hit years ago, I'm sure it'll be fine again this time.

Lets hear it!
 
I always prefer the "order" equating to the order you get to choose your draft slot. You can do your dice game to define the order you select your draft slot but you are not locked in to the number you get. Meaning if you get the 1st pick you can choose any draft slot you want. #2 goes next and so on.

I hate drafting in the middle so I will always prefer and end and I am sure there are people that hate the ends and prefer the middle. Why limit the opportunity to move it around?
 
I always prefer the "order" equating to the order you get to choose your draft slot. You can do your dice game to define the order you select your draft slot but you are not locked in to the number you get. Meaning if you get the 1st pick you can choose any draft slot you want. #2 goes next and so on.

I hate drafting in the middle so I will always prefer and end and I am sure there are people that hate the ends and prefer the middle. Why limit the opportunity to move it around?
That is a nice spin, I actually like that!
 
Hot dog eating contest.
Yeah lol. Its a BBQ/Fantasy Football draft and I don't want A. A bunch of sick people at my house that will probably be drinking copious amounts of alcohol to begin with and B. I don't want it to rely on skill per se with anything (think Cornhole, shooting a basketball, etc). I like the idea of "controlled chance" where you have SOME choice, but its still random overall
 
Hot dog eating contest.
Yeah lol. Its a BBQ/Fantasy Football draft and I don't want A. A bunch of sick people at my house that will probably be drinking copious amounts of alcohol to begin with and B. I don't want it to rely on skill per se with anything (think Cornhole, shooting a basketball, etc). I like the idea of "controlled chance" where you have SOME choice, but its still random overall

But you can strategize around this. Just lose the hot dog contest on purpose and accept the last draft position, and dominate while everyone is totally wrecked from liquor and hot dogs and cant focus on the draft!

Shark move!
 
Hot dog eating contest.
Yeah lol. Its a BBQ/Fantasy Football draft and I don't want A. A bunch of sick people at my house that will probably be drinking copious amounts of alcohol to begin with and B. I don't want it to rely on skill per se with anything (think Cornhole, shooting a basketball, etc). I like the idea of "controlled chance" where you have SOME choice, but its still random overall
Blackjack. Your score determines when you pick your draft slot. Go over 21? You’re put in the losers bracket who pick after anyone who didn’t bust. Everyone who busted has to do it again, but just with the other busts.
 
In my long standing home league we have the following tradition:

12 poker chips in a bag, each with a team name.

Winner of prior year draws the 1st chip.

That team picks their draft position 1-12, and pulls a folded slip of paper with a 1, 2, or 3 on it. That determines their division.

They pull the next chip. That team selects whatever is left of the 11 slots, and so on and so forth.

It’s simple, it’s clean, it works, and everyone likes it.
 
Hot dog eating contest.
Yeah lol. Its a BBQ/Fantasy Football draft and I don't want A. A bunch of sick people at my house that will probably be drinking copious amounts of alcohol to begin with and B. I don't want it to rely on skill per se with anything (think Cornhole, shooting a basketball, etc). I like the idea of "controlled chance" where you have SOME choice, but its still random overall
Blackjack. Your score determines when you pick your draft slot. Go over 21? You’re put in the losers bracket who pick after anyone who didn’t bust. Everyone who busted has to do it again, but just with the other busts.
How do you decide the order on who decide on hits or not? Being last has a huge advantage.
 
Hot dog eating contest.
Yeah lol. Its a BBQ/Fantasy Football draft and I don't want A. A bunch of sick people at my house that will probably be drinking copious amounts of alcohol to begin with and B. I don't want it to rely on skill per se with anything (think Cornhole, shooting a basketball, etc). I like the idea of "controlled chance" where you have SOME choice, but its still random overall
Blackjack. Your score determines when you pick your draft slot. Go over 21? You’re put in the losers bracket who pick after anyone who didn’t bust. Everyone who busted has to do it again, but just with the other busts.
How do you decide the order on who decide on hits or not? Being last has a huge advantage.
Tie breaker next round.
Hypothetically, for a 12 team league, you can do this all at once (use two decks). I guess being last in line matters but not a huge deal imo.
3 players hit 21
2 get 20
1 gets 19
2 get 18
4 owners bust

The three who hit 21 select 1-3 after a tie breaker round.
Same with the 20s, pick 4,5
19 picks 6th
18 do a tie breaker
All the busts do a tie breaker and pick 9-12.

Whether the pick is to select your slot or the actual slot is up to the host. If the actual slot, some might bust intentionally just to pick late first.
 
Hot dog eating contest.
Yeah lol. Its a BBQ/Fantasy Football draft and I don't want A. A bunch of sick people at my house that will probably be drinking copious amounts of alcohol to begin with and B. I don't want it to rely on skill per se with anything (think Cornhole, shooting a basketball, etc). I like the idea of "controlled chance" where you have SOME choice, but its still random overall
Blackjack. Your score determines when you pick your draft slot. Go over 21? You’re put in the losers bracket who pick after anyone who didn’t bust. Everyone who busted has to do it again, but just with the other busts.
How do you decide the order on who decide on hits or not? Being last has a huge advantage.
Tie breaker next round.
Hypothetically, for a 12 team league, you can do this all at once (use two decks). I guess being last in line matters but not a huge deal imo.
3 players hit 21
2 get 20
1 gets 19
2 get 18
4 owners bust

The three who hit 21 select 1-3 after a tie breaker round.
Same with the 20s, pick 4,5
19 picks 6th
18 do a tie breaker
All the busts do a tie breaker and pick 9-12.

Whether the pick is to select your slot or the actual slot is up to the host. If the actual slot, some might bust intentionally just to pick late first.
I like this, but at the same time I could see some guys being reall buttheads about it as well

WE NEED 6 decks!

WE need multiple shuffles!!

Dice it is for me, its the same thing for each person, there isn't any extra odds calculations needed like there potentially could be with Blackjack.

For us, we WILL randomize, names out of a hat of who rolls 1st -12th, bc there IS a little strategy in rolling last and knowing what score you have to beat, etc.
 
I guess being last in line matters but not a huge deal imo.
Its kind of is a big deal because you know what you need to do to get the slot you want. It's a big part of the reason why casinos always win.

If I am first to act and have a 16 I have no idea what to do. If I am 7th to act and 5 people have already busted and there is a 21 and a 17 for the other two I probably just hold tight. The order of play has significant advantages and disadvantages.
 
In my long standing home league we have the following tradition:

12 poker chips in a bag, each with a team name.

Winner of prior year draws the 1st chip.

That team picks their draft position 1-12, and pulls a folded slip of paper with a 1, 2, or 3 on it. That determines their division.

They pull the next chip. That team selects whatever is left of the 11 slots, and so on and so forth.

It’s simple, it’s clean, it works, and everyone likes it.
Missed the 'FUN' in the title, huh
 
In my long standing home league we have the following tradition:

12 poker chips in a bag, each with a team name.

Winner of prior year draws the 1st chip.

That team picks their draft position 1-12, and pulls a folded slip of paper with a 1, 2, or 3 on it. That determines their division.

They pull the next chip. That team selects whatever is left of the 11 slots, and so on and so forth.

It’s simple, it’s clean, it works, and everyone likes it.
Missed the 'FUN' in the title, huh
Get off of my lawn! And turn down that rap and roll! :rant:

As commish, this is seamless, and gets us right to drafting. AKA, “fun”. So there.
 
When I ran my friends/family league a while ago we did this:

However many people are in the league, get that amount of shot glasses (i.e. 12 shot glasses for 12 managers, 10 for 10, etc).

Buy a really, really, I mean really ****ty bottle of vodka (i.e. the absolute cheapest plastic bottle you can find at the store with a label that looks like it was printed and glued on ****ty).

Have a neutral person not playing in the league fill each shot glass with water except for 1 glass each round. That 1 glass gets the ****ty vodka. Do this in another room and bring them all out on a tray.

Everyone grabs a shot glass and goes for it. You'll know who got the shot via facial expression and body language alone each round. First round of shots the guy who gets the vodka is 1st overall. 2nd round of playing gets the 2nd pick and so on.

This continues with one less shot glass each round until draft order is set.

Its funny to see guys faces, simultanous joy and horror, when they get a good pick but have to slam some nasty stuff.
 
they all sound fun to me.

We have a 14 team that is scattered across the country, so draft order is determined a week in advance. Commish films his kid picking names from a hat then sends that out to everyone. Its only the 1st year of a 3 year keeper cycle, but that could mean 3 great years or 3 bad ones. Guy took Larry Johnson at 1.01 over LT, and was miserable for 3 years. LOL!

Anyone have any better ideas?
 
This year we did a Kentucky Derby Party. Teams got to choose their horse in order of worst to first finish last year. Then the order they came in became the draft order.
I was thinking about something like this too. It would have to be a race and not something someone can find odds on also. My buddy said back in the day in college they knew a place that had a "Field Day" For kids in his hometown every summer, so they would determine the draft order on the potato sack race event. I don't think they even do "Field Day" anymore for kids, do they?
 
I hate doing the draft order right before the draft, and have been fighting with my league to move up the draft order announcement date for years. For some reason, they all think a few days is fine, but I want to know ASAP. Why wait? I think it's because many owners just really don't even start their research until a few days before the draft, and they don't want the diehards to gain an advantage.

Also, whatever way you determine draft order, I prefer owners get to pick their draft spots, based on whatever game you play. If 2 people want the 11th spot, it shouldn't be the person who came in 11th in whatever contest you have.
 
I hate doing the draft order right before the draft, and have been fighting with my league to move up the draft order announcement date for years. For some reason, they all think a few days is fine, but I want to know ASAP. Why wait? I think it's because many owners just really don't even start their research until a few days before the draft, and they don't want the diehards to gain an advantage.

Also, whatever way you determine draft order, I prefer owners get to pick their draft spots, based on whatever game you play. If 2 people want the 11th spot, it shouldn't be the person who came in 11th in whatever contest you have.
In general theory I am with ya 100%. Unfortunately, I am one of 2 real die hards when it comes to FF for this draft I'm hosting, its more of a party/get together/Summer BBQ + Fun kinda thing. $35 buy in - you get entertainment on it all the way until December... and was able to garner a ton of interest by making it low buy, free BBQ that I'll be smoking a 10lb pork butt, bring some beer, lets have some fun. Got a few first timers, girls and guys alike, so for *this* particular draft, getting the draft order right before the draft and doing this sort of thing is fun. Reminder its live/in person so yeah if it was online or whatever I'd definitely want to know more in advance. But that's why I'm making the draft order a game in and of itself b/c I'm a fun guy. Right?
 
I hate doing the draft order right before the draft, and have been fighting with my league to move up the draft order announcement date for years. For some reason, they all think a few days is fine, but I want to know ASAP. Why wait? I think it's because many owners just really don't even start their research until a few days before the draft, and they don't want the diehards to gain an advantage.

Also, whatever way you determine draft order, I prefer owners get to pick their draft spots, based on whatever game you play. If 2 people want the 11th spot, it shouldn't be the person who came in 11th in whatever contest you have.
In general theory I am with ya 100%. Unfortunately, I am one of 2 real die hards when it comes to FF for this draft I'm hosting, its more of a party/get together/Summer BBQ + Fun kinda thing. $35 buy in - you get entertainment on it all the way until December... and was able to garner a ton of interest by making it low buy, free BBQ that I'll be smoking a 10lb pork butt, bring some beer, lets have some fun. Got a few first timers, girls and guys alike, so for *this* particular draft, getting the draft order right before the draft and doing this sort of thing is fun. Reminder its live/in person so yeah if it was online or whatever I'd definitely want to know more in advance. But that's why I'm making the draft order a game in and of itself b/c I'm a fun guy. Right?
Ah, if it's a day where you do a live draft while partying, I have the best idea - lots of beer, a bunch of tricycles, and a racetrack
 
This year we did a Kentucky Derby Party. Teams got to choose their horse in order of worst to first finish last year. Then the order they came in became the draft order.
I was thinking about something like this too. It would have to be a race and not something someone can find odds on also. My buddy said back in the day in college they knew a place that had a "Field Day" For kids in his hometown every summer, so they would determine the draft order on the potato sack race event. I don't think they even do "Field Day" anymore for kids, do they?
Not sure but if they do they probably don’t want 12 strange grown men showing up to it lol.
 
Also, whatever way you determine draft order, I prefer owners get to pick their draft spots, based on whatever game you play. If 2 people want the 11th spot, it shouldn't be the person who came in 11th in whatever contest you have.
I have thought about doing a blind bid process for draft slot. Here's how it would work:
  • Each owner writes down their preferred draft slot along with their team name.
  • If you are the only team that wants that spot.....it's yours
  • All the slots that had exactly multiple bids on them get to rock/paper/scissors for the slot. If it's two it's head to head. If it's three it's odd man wins. If it's paired up and you have to win and then beat the other winner to get the spot. So on an so forth. Really any way can be used to win the slot.
  • Once all slots chosen have been decided the losers start over for the remaining slots until all slots are filled.
 
Way back before we went to auction we drew cards, and then the guy with the #1 got to pick his spot, then #2 picked his, etc.
 
My league drafts using 3rd Round Reversal. First, we use the FantasyNerds Random Draft Tool to determine the order of your draft choice. If you get the #5 spot, you have the #5 choice of what draft spot you want. For instance, I actually got the #2 choice in 2022 but chose the #5 spot because I was confident Justin Jefferson would still be available at #5 (he was). It's actually pretty fun and definitely has led to some interesting decisions/draft day trades.
 
Back in the day when we could all get into the same rule we did spin the bottle. First person it lands on gets last choice. Next person 2nd to last choice, etc. HOWEVER

Each owner could buy a mulligan spin by taking a shot - of habanero water. We started out with booze but one guy threw a fit one year we wouldn't let him drive home and his wife went apeshit about the whole thing. Turns out the habanero was way more fun. We started with taking bites of fresh peppers but some guys had more tolerance and didn't care so ground pepper was the great equalizer, we just went really hard on them and easier on the guys less tolerant. We did it long enough we knew how to be somewhat fair about distributing up the agony.

We had no limit on how many mulligans one can take, but any time there's a mulligan we do make sure we wait about 10 minutes until the next spin so the guy just has to sit there and burn and the more mulligans anyone took the more aggressive we got on subsequent ones.
 
Auction off the draft slots for real money and add that into the pot.
I proposed this one year. Shot down in flames.
I have thought about having an auction draft but using real dollars (with a cap of twice the normal franchise fee). Never proposed it though.
I also proposed every team has a real $ budget of $200 for free agent blond bid waiver claims. $ goes into the kitty.

No takers there, either. :kicksrock:
 
We always do a guys trip to Del Mar in early August. 3 days of debauchery betting the races, drinking, great dinners. One night we’ll put numbers and team names in 2 different hats. Then pick a hot server or bartender to pull slots. We’ll video it and send so anyone not there knows it was on the up and up. We used to have ping pong balls until one year I mistakenly had 13 balls in the bag. Oops
 
I always prefer the "order" equating to the order you get to choose your draft slot. You can do your dice game to define the order you select your draft slot but you are not locked in to the number you get. Meaning if you get the 1st pick you can choose any draft slot you want. #2 goes next and so on.

I hate drafting in the middle so I will always prefer and end and I am sure there are people that hate the ends and prefer the middle. Why limit the opportunity to move it around?
This is what we did in our straight redrafts
 

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