For the first time, the LPL website ships a full fan-points engine alongside the matches. We spoke to Romesh Wickramatunge, the LPL's head of digital product, about how it works and why.
The headline is: lock in earlier, earn more. Why that model?
Because conviction is what we want to reward. Predicting Match Winner at the toss — before you've seen who's batting first, before the powerplay, before anything — that's a conviction call. Predicting it after the powerplay when one team's already at 70 for 1 is reading a result, not picking one. The points reflect that.
Walk us through a single market.
Take Match Winner. Four windows. Window 1 opens when the fixture is published, closes at toss — that's worth 50 points max. The catch is that even inside that window, your potential payout decays linearly to a floor of 20 points. So locking right at publication is 50, locking 5 minutes before toss is closer to 20.
And then Window 2 opens at toss?
Right. Window 2 is worth 38 max, decays to 15. Window 3 is 25 max, decays to 10. Window 4 is 12 max, decays to 5. By the time you're at the back end of the chase, the smart-money window is gone.
So the optimal strategy is to lock everything at Window 1?
Only if you have conviction. The trade-off is that early lock-ins are with less information. We've designed the windows so a well-calibrated fan who waits one window for new information — a coin-toss result, say — earns roughly the same expected points as the over-confident fan who locks at publication.
What about season picks?
Same model. 14 markets, four to five windows each, biggest payouts open two weeks before the opener. The Champion pick at Window 1 is worth up to 200 points. We expect people who lock that in early to feel very smug or very stupid by August.
Cricler and PoM voting are different?
Yes. Cricler is daily — 5 questions, 5 points each, plus streak bonuses. PoM voting is dual-pool — 30 points if your pick matches the official PoM, 10 points if it matches the fan-favourite vote, otherwise 0. Both have flat scoring within their windows; no decay.
Where can fans see all this?
The full guide is at /play/how-it-works — that's the canonical explanation. The prize ladder is at /play/prizes. And the leaderboard is at /play/leaderboard.
Final question — what's the V2 wishlist?
A change mechanic on season picks. Right now, if you pick Champion at Window 1 and your team falls apart, you're stuck. We want to allow one mid-tournament change with a documented points adjustment. That ships post-tournament.
