The PunDraft Rulebook

You draft up to 18 players under a 11,000 spending cap. Each player's Power Level is the same across every league entrant; it's derived nightly from their Sleeper ranking and adjusted for publicly listed injury / suspension status. Power Level is not capped; it's just the sum of what you drafted. The 11,000 is your draft budget; the Team Carry +5% weekly score bonus is the identity reward; cap math is unaffected.

• Minimum position counts: 1 QB, 3 RB, 4 WR, 1 TE
• Starters mirror minimums exactly: 9 strict-position slots, no FLEX
• No kickers or defenses
• Edit freely until kickoff; saves are auto-persisted on every change

The Captain is purely visual: the highest-Power-Level player on your roster gets aC badge on the grid. Auto-derived, no points value.

If the Captain is also the Team Carry, the Carry crown wins the slot; only the most-interesting badge per cell.

Players released through Powerup / Phoenix Down accumulate an Honorable Discharge badge that travels with them. Higher release counts = higher rarity flair on their player card across the league:

• 1+ release · elite flair
• 3+ releases · legendary flair
• 5+ releases · mythic flair (the league's favorite disappointment)

The badge is purely cosmetic but tells you something: “these managers gave up on him for a reason.”

Every newly generated name is held for its generator for 24 hours before anyone else can claim it. During that window the generator gets one free 3-character edit: close-but-not-quite puns can be polished without committing to a claim.

The polish edit is separate from the post-claim rename budget. Use it now or lose it when the hold expires; if you later claim the name, your full Pun Level rename budget is still intact.

Once you own a name, your rename budget is 1 + ⌊Pun Level / 5⌋. Each edit is capped at 3 character changes; rearranging existing letters is always free.

• Pun Level 5 → 2 renames, Level 10 → 3, Level 25 → 6
• Renames update the leaderboard, OG previews, and the team permalink everywhere
• Previous names are kept in the edit log so the history is auditable

Each week your best 1 QB / 3 RB / 4 WR / 1 TE from your pool auto-score; you do not set lineups. Bench depth covers byes and injuries.

• 0.5 points per reception · 1 point per 10 rush/rec yards · 1 point per 25 pass yards
• Touchdowns: 6 (rush/rec), 4 (pass)
• Half-PPR: same scoring formula and Power Level table apply to every team
• Stats pulled from Sleeper; scoring runs after MNF each week

Full formula: lib/scoring.ts in the public repo.

Players on a tear escalate visually across the site, a DBZ-inspired power-up ladder that lights up the grid when your stars actually deliver:

• Powering Up → Heating Up → SUPER-CHARGED → OVERCHARGED → UNSTOPPABLE
• Hot Streak: sustained week-over-week scoring above their Power Level
• Breakthrough: first time clearing a major percentile threshold this season
• Top Heavy: debuff on rosters that spend 4+ picks above 1,600 Power Level

These are cosmetic only; they affect how the card looks, not the points.

Every engagement earns XP toward your Pun Level: voting on names, generating, claiming, gifting, inviting friends, climbing achievement tiers. XP unlocks:

• +1 claim slot per 3 Pun Levels (room to collect more team names)
• Bigger post-claim rename budget (see §08)
• Achievement flairs that decorate your username + cards
• A shot at the Pun Level Champion title at season end

Full ladder at /achievements.

• Ultimate Champion. Win the week-17 Battle Royale final for the flagship Ultimate Champion trophy and flair.
• Universe Winner. Top your 10-team Universe across weeks 1-14 → cosmetic name trophy, +75 Pun XP, and qualification for the Battle Royale.
• Battle Royale Survivor / Finalist. Survive the week-15 cut for a Survivor flair (+25 XP); survive week 16 to become a Finalist (+50 XP + Finalist flair). Cosmetic only.
• Pun Level Champion. Highest Pun Level / XP at the end of NFL Week 18 takes the Pun Level Champion title.