A side pot, also called a side game or mini-game, is a secondary competition run alongside the main fantasy league so that members stay engaged even after their team falls out of playoff contention. Common formats include a weekly highest-score prize, “skins” that roll over until someone wins them, a survivor pool, and a pick’em pool.

The purpose is to spread the season’s stakes out. In a standard league, half the managers are effectively eliminated by November and stop setting lineups; side pots create fresh things to win every single week, which keeps the whole league active and the group chat alive.

Armchair Commish runs the side games, Survivor and Pick’em over your own league, as structured competitions layered on your Sleeper league. It does not handle dues or payouts: the money side of any pot stays between managers and their commissioner. The value is in running and scoring the games automatically, not in moving anyone’s cash.