Every fan in Maine thinks they know. The dad in the bleachers at Edward Little who calls every coverage. The mom who's run the Bonny Eagle softball boosters since 2014. The neighbor who hasn't missed an Erskine game since George W. The grandparent who insists Class C basketball was tougher in 1986.
Everyone's got a take. Everyone's the smartest fan in the section.
Up here we'll argue about playoff seeds at Hannaford, second-guess the lineup card at the gas station, and rebuild the bracket on a paper plate at a barbeque. It's a Maine thing. Talking sports is the sport.
So here's the obvious question: who's actually right?
Hot Five Settles It
Hot Five is Analytics207's new free fan game. Simple loop, real stakes (bragging stakes — keep reading), built so the loudest takes in Maine finally get scored.
Here's the whole thing in twenty seconds:
Pick 5 games every night from any Maine HS team sport in season. Load all 5 on baseball if that's where you live. Spread them across baseball, softball, and lacrosse if you read the whole slate.
One night a week, mark one pick as your Lock. Worth +3 if you nailed it, -1 if you whiffed.
Want extra credit? Pick a team GameIQ thinks has under 40% to win. If they win, +2 bonus.
Go 5-for-5 on a night? +1 sweep bonus.
Show up every night, climb the leaderboard, earn badges, build a streak.
That's it. The fun IS the prize.
Four Kinds of Players, All of Them in Maine
The Sweep Hunter
Only takes the night when GameIQ shows 4 or 5 lopsided games. Picks the favorites, locks the chalkiest one, and lives for that pure 5-for-5 fire emoji on the morning recap. Plays it safe, builds points slow, but when a sweep night comes through, the leaderboard moves.
The Contrarian
Sees a 72% favorite on the slate and sees a target on its back. Pulls down a Westbrook upset over Brunswick because they trust their gut. Most nights they get torched. Once or twice a week they're the only one in Maine who saw it coming, and that's worth a +2 they post to a group chat for the rest of the season.
The Lock Lord
Picks 5 favorites every night, plays clean. Saves the Lock for Saturday morning when their kid's school is hosting and the local conditions tell them more than the math. Hits 4 out of 5 locks a season and laughs all the way to the badge wall.
The Stop-By
Comes home from a Wednesday game, has a drink with dinner, opens Hot Five at 8 PM, sees five games already settled, and quietly thinks I would've called all five right. Comes back the next day and plays. Never wins. Loves it anyway.
You're one of these. You know which one.
The Rules, In Plain English
What you pick: Exactly five games per night. Any team sport in season. Mix them or load one sport.
When picks lock: Monday through Friday picks lock at 3:00 PM ET. Saturday and Sunday picks lock at 12:00 PM ET. We pick those cutoffs because they sit safely before any HS game could tip off. No watching the first inning and updating your pick. Once it's locked, it's locked.
The Lock: One per ISO week (Monday through Sunday). Worth +3 if right, -1 if wrong. Mark the game you trust most. You don't have to use it. If you forget, you simply earn no Lock bonus that week.
The Contrarian bonus: Pick a team GameIQ favors under 40% to win. If they win: +2 bonus on top of the +1 correct pick.
The Sweep: Hit all 5 on a night and earn +1 bonus on top of your 5 correct picks. Some users will go their whole season without one. Some will get two a month.
Cancellations and ties: A rained-out game voids your pick on it. Voided picks don't count for or against your accuracy and don't break a Sweep. Ties (rare in HS sports) work the same way.
Leaderboard tiebreakers: Points first. Then accuracy. Then Locks hit. Then contrarian wins. Five ways to climb means more than one path to the top of the board.
Badges
Five categories. Three tiers each. Bronze, Silver, Gold.
🎯 Sweeper — for hitting 5-for-5 nights.
⚡ Lock Hunter — for nailing your Lock of the Week.
🐉 GameIQ Slayer — for taking the dog and winning.
🔥 Regular — for showing up nights in a row.
🎖️ Marksman — for raw pick accuracy over 50, 60, or 70 percent.
The badge wall lives on your profile and your leaderboard row. Gold-tier badges glow. You can tell the sharpshooters from the casuals at a glance.
When Does It Open
Hot Five officially opens Friday, August 28, 2026. That's football kickoff weekend. Every team sport in season after that feeds the slate: football, soccer, field hockey, volleyball through the fall, then basketball, hockey, and the rest as their seasons start. Spring sports pile on top in March.
Right now the page is live with sample data so we can shake out bugs and make sure the picker, the lock, the grader, and the leaderboard all behave. Picks you make in test phase do not carry to the real leaderboard.
What you can do today:
Create a free Analytics207 account if you don't have one. Free always. No card needed.
Visit Hot Five. Read the rules. Play around with the picker. Watch how the slate, the Lock, the Sweep bonus, and the leaderboard all fit together.
Set your display name. That's what shows on the leaderboard. Use whatever Maine handle you wear at the gas station .. LobstahPicks, MoosejawJim, CoachCrabtree .. the leaderboard works better with character.
Be ready August 28. The slate goes hot on opening night.
Why We Built This
We rank teams. We project brackets. We grade ourselves in Report Card. We point at the Big Board and tell you who's a fraud. That's our job and we like it.
But sports were never just numbers. They're the family group chat after a 1-0 OT loss. They're the coffee shop on Friday morning. They're the assistant principal calling the kid out by name in the announcements. The math is one half of the story.
Hot Five is the other half. The bragging half. We score everyone, including ourselves, GameIQ is a player on the leaderboard. Beat the math and we'll tip our cap.
No prizes. No catch. Just five picks a night, a leaderboard, and a chance to prove you actually know Maine HS sports.
Friday night, August 28th. The slate goes hot.
See you on the leaderboard.