Last Man
Standing for pubs

It gives them a reason to come back

A quiz night fills the room once. A Last Man Standing competition keeps going for as long as people keep surviving - every weekend there is a result, somebody goes out, and the people still in have something to talk about at the bar.

Players pick one team to win each round. A draw or a defeat and they are out. They cannot pick the same team twice until they have used them all, so by round five the easy choices are gone and it stops being about who knows football.

• ✓Runs for weeks off one setup
• ✓A result to talk about every weekend
• ✓Nobody needs to know much about football
• ✓Works alongside whatever else you run

The money is yours

You decide whether there is an entry fee at all, what it is, and what the prize is. We take no cut of it - what your players pay you never passes through us. Plenty of pubs run it for nothing more than a free round for the winner.

If you do take entry money, it is worth understanding where that sits before you start rather than afterwards. We have written a plain-English guide to the landscape, with the official pages to check: is it gambling? We are not lawyers, and that page does not pretend to be a ruling on your pub.

Your regulars without a smartphone

This is usually the thing that kills a pub competition. Someone who has been drinking in your pub for thirty years is not going to download an app to pick Arsenal, and if the competition cannot include them it is the wrong competition.

So you can enter a pick on somebody else's behalf. They tell you their team across the bar, you put it in, and they appear in the standings like everyone else. For the players who do want it on their phone, there is a free app and a browser version, and neither is required.

Questions

How many people do I need?

It works from about a dozen and it works with a hundred. Fewer players means it finishes sooner, which is not a problem - plenty of pubs run one competition after another through the season rather than one long one.

What if a regular has not got a smartphone?

You can enter their pick for them. They tell you their team at the bar, you put it in, and they show up in the standings like anybody else. Nobody is shut out of the competition for not owning the right phone.

Do I have to charge an entry fee?

No, and many pubs do not. A competition with no entry fee is not gambling however large the prize is, which is the version with nothing to think about. If you do want to charge, read our guide to where that sits under UK gambling law before you start.

What does it cost me?

The first twenty player places are free with no card needed. Beyond that, packs start at £10 for twenty more places. There is no subscription and we take nothing from your entry fees.