Super Bowl squares rules

Rules you can copy

Super Bowl Squares: Pool Rules

1. Squares are $10 each. Buy as many as you like until all 100 are taken.
2. Pay the organizer before kickoff. Unpaid squares can be given to someone else.
3. Numbers 0–9 are drawn at random for each team after all squares are taken. Squares can't be traded after the draw.
4. Winners are based on the last digit of each team's total score at the end of each quarter.
5. Payouts: 1st quarter 20%, halftime 20%, 3rd quarter 20%, final score 40%.
6. The final score includes overtime.
7. If a winning square wasn't sold, that payout rolls to the next quarter. An unsold final square goes to the square with the reverse digits.
8. Winners are paid within 24 hours of the game ending.

Running the pool online? Paste these into the rules box when you create a free online pool and they show at the top of the board.

The rules that cause the most arguments

When numbers are drawn

Draw only after every square is taken. If people can see the numbers first, everyone fights over squares with 0, 7, 3, or 4, which come up far more often than 2 or 5. The squares odds page has the real figures.

Overtime

Say whether the final payout uses the score after regulation or after overtime. Most pools use the final score, overtime included.

Unsold squares

If the board doesn’t fill, decide what happens when an empty square wins: roll the money to the next quarter, give it to the reverse square, or split it among the other winners. The simplest fix is not drawing numbers until all 100 squares are sold.

Paying for squares

Set a deadline, usually kickoff, and say what happens to unpaid squares. An online pool can mark each square paid and add Venmo, Cash App, or PayPal buttons so people pay the organizer directly.

Common house variations

• New numbers each quarter keep every square alive all game.
• Reverse payouts give a smaller prize to the flipped digits.
• Final-only pools pay one winner, which makes for a bigger prize.
• Fundraiser pools keep part of the pot for a cause. See the fundraiser guide.

New to the game? Start with how Super Bowl squares work.