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.

LeagueSide 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.