Game update · Starts with Week 4

Pick five. Follow the show.

October 15, 2026 · Commissioner Keck

You should be able to enjoy Fantasy SNL because you enjoy watching Saturday Night Live. Knowing the cast helps. Paying attention helps. Having a mental index of every recurring character since 2007 should be optional.

Starting with Week 4, we’re changing the weekly card. Pick five cast members, feature two of them, and make five quick predictions about the episode. Then watch your cast work.

Your cast is the center of the game

Choose five different current cast members. Three fill your Repertory slots and earn 2 points per qualifying appearance. Two fill your Featured slots and earn 4. These are fantasy positions, independent of SNL’s billing: you can feature a veteran or give a newer performer a Repertory slot. Different players can choose the same cast members; there is no exclusive draft.

Your weekly lineup
Fantasy position	Cast picks	Points per appearance
Repertory	3	2
Featured	2	4

An identifiable small part earns the same appearance credit as a lead. Cast performances in sketches and the monologue count, including identifiable voice roles. Weekend Update anchoring counts once for the block; each separately introduced guest feature counts separately. Opening credits, music-only appearances, introductions, bumpers, archival footage, stills and goodnights do not count.

Five quick calls about the night

What format will the monologue take?
How many separately introduced guest pieces will Weekend Update have: 0, 1, 2, or 3+?
How many comedy pretapes will air?
Will there be a celebrity cameo?
Will the musical guest take an identifiable comic role?

Each correct answer earns 3 points, for 15 possible bonus points. You can leave a bonus unanswered for zero. A jointly introduced Update pair counts as one guest piece. The cameo question excludes the current cast, host and billed musical guest. You no longer have to predict where a cameo or the musical guest’s comedy appearance will land.

Keep a lineup. Make changes when you want.

Your saved five-person lineup carries forward automatically, even if you don’t visit the site that week. Keep a cast you like, swap a performer, or change which two you feature before the posted cutoff. The five bonus answers belong to that episode and start blank next time.

That gives the game more of the rhythm of fantasy sports: a team to follow, lineup decisions to make, and a reason to care when someone you picked walks into a sketch. Watching from week to week can help you notice who is getting opportunities, who works well with a particular host, and when a quieter week might be followed by a larger one. None of that guarantees the next show. That’s the game.

Less homework, plenty to watch

The weekly card is retiring the recurring-character and impression calls, the news-topic menu, the repeated sketch-position and lead-performer predictions, the first-to-break question, host-workload prediction and song selections. The single Wildcard pick becomes your five-person cast. The new challenge is choosing a lineup and following what actually airs.

Longtime SNL fans still have their knowledge of the cast and the show to draw on. A newer viewer can choose performers they enjoy and learn the rest by watching. Both have a way into the same game.

When this starts

We published the proposal and the Season 51 appearance study on October 12. As of this change, no player comments had been posted on that proposal, and the open Week 4 card had no submissions. We’ve replaced that unsubmitted card with the new format now, ahead of the October 31 episode. Its cutoff remains Saturday, October 31, at 11 PM Eastern.

Existing preseason predictions and Episodes 1–3 keep their original rules and scores. We’re not rescoring earlier weeks. The new appearance points and bonus questions begin with Week 4. Full definitions and the ordinary score-review process are in Standards & Practices.

Try the card and tell us where it feels clear, where it feels cumbersome, and whether it gives you a cast worth rooting for. This is a small game, and we can pay attention to what playing it is actually like.