LDDT 2026
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Rules

The 2026 rules as the scoring engine holds them. Floors change between seasons, so trust this page over any printout.

How a week works

  1. Start 14 of your 20. Any positions you like. Fourteen linebackers is legal.
  2. Your starters' stats add up in 8 categories. Offense and defense both count.
  3. Win a category, score 1 point. A tied category scores nothing.
  4. Double your opponent and pass the floor, score 2. You need at least double their total and at least the category's floor.
  5. Turnovers is backwards. Fewest interceptions thrown plus fumbles lost wins it.
  6. Most points wins the game. A tie goes to this week's tiebreak category, Rec.
  7. Lineups lock at the Sunday noon kickoff. A player whose game was earlier (Thursday, say) can still go in afterwards, stats known, if he was on your roster before his kickoff.
First kickoff Thu 7:15 PM in 1d 11h Lineups lock Sun 12:00 PM in 4d 3h

The 8 categories

Floor for the double

Team totals are the sum of all 14 starters. A quarterback's interception thrown and a safety's interception caught land in different categories, and both count.

The full rules

Winning a game Rule 2.04
  • Win a category: 1 point.
  • Tie a category: 0 points for both teams.
  • Most points wins the game. There is no score other than these 8 categories.
The doubling bonus Rule 2.04

Score at least double your opponent's total in a category and reach that category's floor, and it pays 2 points instead of 1. Both have to be true: beating a zero is not enough on its own. Exactly double counts.

  • Passing yards · floor 500
  • Rushing yards · floor 200
  • Receiving yards · floor 250
  • Points scored · floor 38
  • Tackles + 0.5 x assists · floor 36.5
  • TFL + passes defensed + sacks · floor 11.5
  • INTs thrown + fumbles lost · no bonus available
  • INTs + 0.5 x forced fumbles + 0.5 x fumble recoveries · no bonus available
The inverse category Rule 2.04

Category 5, INTs thrown + fumbles lost, is inverse: the fewest wins it. Zero is the best possible total, which is also why it pays no doubling bonus.

So a starter who throws two interceptions can lose you a category by himself, and turnover-cheap starters are worth real roster spots.

Tied game: the rotating tiebreak Rule 2.05

If both teams finish on the same number of points, the game goes to whoever won the week's first tiebreak category, then the next one, wrapping around.

Week 3 starts at category 3, Receiving yards. The full order this week:

3 Rec 4 Pts 5 Turnovers 6 Tackles 7 Disruption 8 Takeaways 1 Pass 2 Rush

Week 14 and the bracket games do not use this. There the better seed wins a level game, recorded as an extra half point.

Rosters and lineups Rules 2.02, 3.02
  • 20 players on a roster, 14 start each week. No positional requirements at all.
  • Injured reserve does not count against the 20, and players on it cannot start.
  • If you do not submit, your last lineup carries over, so forgetting is not a forfeit.
Deadlines Rules 2.02, 2.03, 3.07, 3.11
  • Lineups: kickoff of the Sunday noon games, Central time. This week: Sun Sep 27, 12:00 PM CT.
  • Early games: in weeks with Thursday, Friday, Saturday or London games, a player you have already started in one of those games is locked in at his kickoff, and the week's first transaction window closes then. This week: Thu Sep 24, 7:15 PM CT.
  • Starting a player after his game: you may start a man whose game has already finished, knowing exactly what he did, as long as he was on your roster before that kickoff. Pick him up on Sunday and his Thursday game is not yours.
  • Saturday weeks: when most of a week's games are on Saturday, every deadline moves a day earlier and the Sunday games become the late window.
Adds, trades and the waiver order Rules 3.01 to 3.05
  • Three non-injury adds for the whole season. The budget does not reset.
  • A trade costs each side one of its three. Trades are players only, need the Despot's approval, and run from the Tuesday after week 1 to the week 5 deadline.
  • IR moves are unlimited and free.
  • A week has two windows for claims: one that closes at the week's first kickoff and one on Sunday morning. Nothing can be picked up in between.
  • Waiver order starts as the draft order, and any add drops that team to last for the rest of the season, postseason included.
Injured reserve Rule 3.02
  • Doubtful or worse on the official list can go to IR. The official list is whatever the site shows on the day transactions are due.
  • Out but healthy is not IR-eligible: a coach's decision or a third quarterback stays on your active roster.
  • A player comes off IR only at questionable or better.
  • Once an IR player appears in an NFL game, you must activate or release him the following week.
The season and the postseason Rules 2.06 to 2.15
  • Weeks 1 to 13: a single round robin built from the draft order. You play every other team once.
  • Week 14, Power Protect: the league reseeds on the week-13 standings and plays 1 v 14, 2 v 13, down to 7 v 8. It still counts as a regular-season game.
  • Playoffs: the two division winners take seeds 1 and 2 and sit out week 15; seeds 3 to 6 play in.
  • Bitch Bowl: seeds 7 to 14, seeded upside down so last place is its top seed, and the loser advances. Win a Bitch Bowl game and you leave for the King Shit of Fuck Mountain bracket, a normal win-to-advance bracket.
  • The Bitch: whoever loses the Bitch Bowl final. Renamed after the champion for a year, drafts last, and buys the Kickoff Luncheon.
  • Standings ties: head-to-head, then total point differential, then a coin flip the Despot makes. In a tie of three or more, the winner takes the seed and the rest start over from head-to-head.