Points, ranks, badges, entries. Four things, one currency, and one number — eight — that explains most of how the economy works once you see it.
Points are earned, never bought
This is the load-bearing rule and everything else follows from it. You cannot purchase points, top up points, or convert money into points at any exchange rate. The only way a point exists in your balance is that you made a call and the play went your way.
That constraint is what makes a leaderboard worth looking at. If points were purchasable, the top of the board would measure spending. Because they are not, it measures attention.
Eight in a row, and why not ten
A full streak is eight consecutive correct calls without a miss. Eight is small enough to be reachable in a single game — a normal baseball night has room for forty or more prompts — and large enough that you cannot stumble into it. Ten pushed completion rates low enough that people stopped protecting the streak, which is the behaviour the mechanic exists to create.
The interesting effect is on how you play near the end. At five or six, people start skipping prompts they are not sure about. That is not the game going quiet; that is the game working.
Where a streak actually breaks
Almost never on the hard prompts. It breaks on the easy-looking one you answered on autopilot in the fourth inning while getting up for a drink. The second most common place is immediately after a pitching change, when the read you built over five innings stops being valid and most people do not reset fast enough.
From streak to entry
Filling the eight-pip track banks an entry into the next periodic prize drawing. Points can also be redeemed directly — gift cards, gear, sponsor rewards — which is the other, more immediate way they turn into something real.
And separately from either: a free daily entry is always available in the Rewards tab, requiring no play and no points. That is deliberate, and it is what makes this a sweepstakes rather than something else.
Prizes are awarded through points redemptions and periodic sweepstakes drawings. No purchase necessary, and a free alternate method of entry is always available. Odds of winning a drawing depend on the number of eligible entries.
The ladder
Season level is a separate track from your points balance, and it moves in one direction. The rungs:
- Rookie — where everyone starts.
- Starter — 5,000 points. Reachable in a week of casual play.
- All-Star — 15,000 points. Now you are watching games you would have skipped.
- MVP — 30,000 points.
- Legend — 60,000 points. Top of the ladder.
Levels do not expire mid-season, and Lightning is by far the fastest way up because it generates the most calls per hour of television.
So what should you do with points?
If you want something specific and soon, redeem. The board shows a points price and you are trading a known amount for a known thing.
If you want the truck, bank entries and be patient — and claim the free daily entry either way, because it costs you nothing and it is there.
*Prizes awarded through points redemptions and periodic sweepstakes drawings. No purchase necessary. Odds of winning a drawing depend on the number of eligible entries. See Official Rules.