🏀Onchain Madness

Onchain Madness is Perfect Pool's onchain version of the famous March Madness bracket-style game.

Onchain Madness FAQs

How do I Play Onchain Madness?

The Protocol allows anyone to create a pool. An Onchain Madness pool is a smart contract on the Base blockchain.

Private, Public and Official Pools

Pools can be marked “Private,” in which case they will not appear in the Perfect Pool website search box. (Pool creators may want to mark their pool as Private, for example, if they only wish to play with work colleagues or friends they invite to play.) All pools not marked private will be public, which means anyone can enter. There will also be an official Onchain Madness pool that anyone can enter.

Filling out a Bracket

Individuals enter a pool by filling out a bracket. This means they predict which team will win each of the 63 games in the NCAA basketball tournament. After a prediction has been made for each contest, the entry can be submitted to a pool with an entry fee of 20 USDC. The entrant receives back a dynamic NFT that memorializes each prediction.

Scoring and Winning

Once the tournament starts, no further predictions can be submitted. 1 point is awarded for each correct prediction on each NFT. At the conclusion of the tournament, the owner of the NFT with the highest score in the pool wins the jackpot: 90% of total USDC in that pool. If there are ties, this 90% is split ratably among all winners. Jackpots must be claimed by the end of the calendar year, or they are forfeited.

The Perfect Pool

10% of the USDC in all pools is transferred to the Perfect Pool. If any NFT predicted all 63 contests correctly, the owner of this NFT can claim all funds in the Perfect Pool. If no perfect prediction is made, the USDC in the Perfect Pool can be claimed by Onchain Madness token ($OCM) holders. USDC in the Perfect Pool that is not redeemed will roll forward and be awarded to anyone who submits a perfect prediction NFT in future years.

What are Dynamic NFT Predictions?

When you play Onchain Madness, you must predict the result of each of the 63 games in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Dynamic NFT predictions are a visual representation of each entrant’s prediction of the winner of each contests:

[Display image of sample NFT with some dynamic results]

As the tournament progresses and games conclude, each NFT will dynamically update to show whether or not your prediction was correct. If the prediction is correct, its corresponding entry on the Dynamic NFT will turn green. If not, it will turn red on the Dynamic NFT.

Can I Sell my Prediction NFT Before the Tournament Concludes?

Yes. If someone wishes to buy your NFT, you can sell/transfer it to them. Alternatively, you should be able to list your NFT for sale on a platform such as Rarible.com

After I Enter, How Will I Know How I am Doing?

Your dynamic NFT wil show how many predictions you get correct. But, if you want to see how you are doing against others in your pool, come back to the site. Each pool will have a dedicated webpage that shows the score and ranking of everyone in the pool.

Is There a Limit to the Number of Entries in Each Pool?

There is no limit. If a pool creator wishes to confine entries to a group of friends or colleagues, we suggest you mark your pool as “Private,” and circulate invites only to your intended audience. There is no way to prevent others from finding your pool smart contract, but this risk should be minimal if your friends or colleagues do not recirculate the invite among others.

What are the Advantages of Onchain Madness Over Traditional NCAA Tournament Pools?

• Entries cannot be submitted unless they are accompanied by 20 USDC. No more chasing after people to collect their entry fee, or keeping track of who paid and who didn’t.

• Entries cannot be submitted after tournament start, and the timing of all entries can be audited on the Base blockchain.

• Results for each entry are visible on dynamic NFTs, which can be sold or transferred.

• Winning entries are determined via our oracle and smart contracts, and results are auditable via public blockchain.

• You can simultaneously play against the friends/colleagues in your pool, and against the world for the Perfect Pool.

• Entry fees stay on the Base blockchain until the pool winner(s) collect. You don’t need to depend on the pool organizer if you win.

• Pool creators and entrants to the official Onchain Madness pool may benefit if the Protocol is successful. See “Tokenomics,” immediately below.

What are the Onchain Madness Tokenomics?

The Protocol will issue one class of ERC-20 token, OCM. OCM will be issued to three classes of participants: (1) to pool creators; (2) to entrants in the official Onchain Madness pool; and (3) to the Protocol’s creators. There is no pre-mine, and there are no VCs.

Token Valuation

There will always be, at most, 20 OCM tokens for each 1 USDC in the Perfect Pool contract (a 20:1 ratio), unless and until a perfect prediction is submitted and the grand prize is claimed. Until a perfect prediction is submitted, this 20:1 ratio should always decrease, as explained further below.

Token Issuance

Tokens will be issued in the following ratios:

• Pool creators can claim 10 OCM tokens for each prediction entry submitted to their pool.

• Entrants in the official Onchain Madness pool can claim 10 OCM tokens for each entry they submit.

• Protocol creators can claim 1 OCM token for each token allocated to a pool creator and 1 OCM token for each token allocated to an Onchain Madness pool entrant.

Factors That Affect Your Ratable Share

If no entrant achieves a perfect score, then each OCM token should be worth at least 0.05 USDC (~$0.05) and can be redeemed for USDC when the Perfect Pool is not gated. OCM tokens should be redeemable for more than 0.05 USDC as time goes on, for the following reasons:

• OCM tokens that are not claimed within 30 days after tournament end will be burned, thereby increasing the ratable share of USDC that can be redeemed by those who have claimed.

• Each pool will have a jackpot. Before the end of the year, this jackpot must be claimed by the highest scoring entrant(s) in that pool. Jackpots that go unclaimed by year’s end will be swept into the Perfect Pool.

• When no tournament is underway, Protocol creators have the discretion to invest the USDC that resides in the Perfect Pool contract in a safe and liquid, USDC-based, interest bearing instrument(s). Redemptions will still be allowed while the pool is not gated, but USDC that is not redeemed will earn some rate of interest, 100% of which will be allocated back to the pool.

• If the Protocol is successful for a number of years and no perfect entry is submitted, then USDC in the Perfect Pool contract should grow similar to the way a lottery grows when no winning lottery ticket is purchased. At some as-yet undetermined time in the future, Protocol creators will cease issuing any additional OCM tokens. It is believed that individuals will continue submitting prediction entries and forming pools because there is the prospect of winning all the USDC in the Perfect Pool by achieving a perfect prediction. This means that the ratable share of USDC that each OCM token holder may claim will grow each year, without a corresponding increase in OCM tokens – so long as no perfect prediction is submitted.

• If the Protocol is successful, it is our belief that secondary markets for OCM tokens will develop. In these markets, the OCM token should be worth more than what could be obtained through redemption for USDC from the Perfect Pool. This is because the ratable share of USDC to which each OCM token is entitled should always go up – until a perfect prediction is submitted. Thus, it is our belief that token holders will be unlikely to redeem from the Perfect Pool if they can receive a better price for their tokens on a secondary market.

• Finally, in the history of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, no one has ever submitted a perfect set of predictions for all games. Yet, given enough time and enough entries, someone will submit a perfect prediction for some future tournament. If/when that happens in Onchain Madness, the OCM token will be worth 0, and the process would reset.

When are Redemptions from the Perfect Pool Gated? Why are Redemptions Gated?

Following the conclusion of the initial Onchain Madness tournament, redemptions will be permitted until teams are selected for the following year’s tournament. Redemptions are then gated so that those who submit Onchain Madness predictions for that year will know the minimum amount of USDC they would win if they submit a perfect prediction.

Starting a new Tournament

Redemptions are gated while the tournament is underway so that, if there is a perfect prediction, funds in the Perfect Pool will be available to the owner of the winning entry.

If there is no perfect prediction in a given year, the redemption gate will be lifted approximately 24 hours after the conclusion of that year’s tournament.

If a perfect prediction is made, the redemption gate will not be lifted until the end of the calendar year. This is to allow the owner of the perfect prediction NFT to claim the Perfect Pool jackpot, undiminished by redemptions.

What do I Receive if I Redeem my OCM Tokens?

You receive your ratable share of USDC in the Perfect Pool. An example may illustrate this:

• Assume there are 500 entries submitted to individual pools (public and private), as well as to the official Onchain Madness pool. Each entry costs 20 USDC, so there would be 10,000 USDC in all pools.

• At tournament conclusion, 90% (9,000 USDC) would be claimable by the highest scoring prediction NFTs in each pool.

• 10% (1,000 USDC) would be transferred to the Perfect Pool. As a result, 20,000 OCM tokens would be claimable by pool creators, Onchain Madness entrants, and Protocol creators.

If there is no perfect prediction NFT, then 20,000 OCM can be claimed and redeemed, ratably, for the 1,000 USDC in the pool after the tournament concludes (0.05 USDC:1 OCM, or a 20:1 ratio of OCM to USDC).

But, if the Protocol is successful, then OCM token holders may wish to wait until the following calendar year to redeem their OCM. This is so because:

• Any OCM tokens that are not claimed within 30 days after tournament end will be burned, thus increasing the ratable share of USDC for those who do claim, and

• By the end of each calendar year, all pool jackpots must be claimed by the owner(s) of the prediction NFT with the highest score in each pool. Unclaimed jackpots are forfeited and swept into the Perfect Pool, thus increasing the ratable share of USDC available to OCM token holders.

All redeemed OCM tokens are burned.

Finally, as mentioned in the Tokenomics section, if the Protocol is successful then secondary markets may develop in which OCM tokens are worth more than would be received through redemption.

What if I Want to Share Some OCM Tokens With the People who Entered my Pool?

Pool creators can distribute the OCM tokens they receive in any manner they like. In addition, anyone in a pool can also submit predictions to the official Onchain Madness pool, where OCM tokens are issued for each entry.