SHARES borrows its vocabulary from a sportsbook, since its pick types are modeled on one. None of these terms involve real money — they're just the names for different kinds of picks and how they're scored.
Units
The pretend currency everyone plays with. You spend units to make a pick and win units when it hits. Displayed as a plain number (e.g., "1,000 units").
Bank
A member's current pile of units — their running score. It goes up when picks win and down when they lose. The entrant with the biggest bank at the end wins the contest.
Starting bank
The amount of units everyone begins with. The commissioner sets it when the contest is created, and it's the same for every entrant.
Market
A type of pick available on a game — for example, "who wins" or "total points." Each game offers several markets (the specific pick types SHARES supports are covered in a separate article).
Odds
How much a pick pays if it wins, relative to what you put in. Longer odds (a bigger underdog) pay more; shorter odds (a heavy favorite) pay less. In SHARES, odds lock in the moment you make the pick — later changes don't affect a pick you've already made.
💡 Reading American odds: SHARES shows odds as a number with a + or −. A minus number (e.g., −110) is a favorite — it's how many units you'd risk to win 100. A plus number (e.g., +150) is an underdog — it's how many units you'd win on a 100-unit pick. A bigger plus number means a bigger underdog and a bigger payout.
Vig (also "juice")
A small built-in cut taken out of winning picks — the same way a sportsbook keeps the odds in balance. It's a percentage the commissioner can set. It only ever affects winnings, and only for picks made after a change — it never touches picks already settled.
Lock
The moment a game closes for picking — no picks can be made or changed on it once it locks. Football games lock at kickoff; baseball games lock at first pitch.