How do Super Bowl squares work?

The short version

1. Draw a 10 by 10 grid. That’s 100 squares.
2. Put one team across the top and the other down the side.
3. People claim squares by writing their name in them, usually for a set price each.
4. Once every square is taken, randomly assign the digits 0–9 across the top and 0–9 down the side.
5. At the end of each quarter, take the last digit of each team’s score. The square where those two digits meet wins.

Step 1: Set up the grid

The grid has 10 columns and 10 rows. Label the top with one team and the left side with the other. It doesn’t matter which team goes where, as long as everyone knows before the numbers are drawn.

Step 2: Sell or hand out the squares

Each person writes their name in one or more empty squares. At this point the squares have no numbers, so every square has the same value. Pools usually charge a set price per square, and the pot is the price times the number of squares sold.

Step 3: Draw the numbers

After the board is full, draw the digits 0 through 9 at random for the top row, then again for the side column. People often pull slips from a hat. Drawing last is what keeps the game fair, because some digits come up far more often than others. In NFL final scores, 0 and 7 are the most common last digits and 2 and 5 are the rarest. See the full numbers on the squares odds page.

Step 4: Read the score after each quarter

Only the last digit of each score matters. If the score at halftime is 17–14, find 7 on the top team’s row and 4 on the side team’s column. The square where they meet wins halftime.

A score of 24–10 pays the 4 and 0 square. A 3–0 first quarter pays the 3 and 0 square. Scores are cumulative, so each quarter uses the total score at that point, not the points scored in that quarter.

Step 5: Pay the winners

Most pools pay four times. A common split for a $1,000 pot:

Popular variations

• New numbers each quarter: redraw the digits after every quarter so nobody is stuck with bad numbers all game.
• Reverse winners: pay a smaller amount to the square with the digits flipped.
• Rollover: if a winning square was never sold, its money moves to the next quarter.
• Fundraiser pools: keep a share of the pot for a school or charity. See the squares fundraiser guide.

Write your choices down before kickoff. The Super Bowl squares rules page has a set you can copy, and the printable template works if you want a paper grid.