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Your scoring, your tiebreakers, the traditions your group has built. You decide how the pool runs. We help you make it work.
College Bowl Squares Pools
Keep your squares through bowl season.
Run squares for one bowl or a series of postseason games, including CFP matchups if your group wants them. Members keep their spots while you draw fresh numbers for each game. The last digit of each team’s score decides the winners.
One bowl or the postseason games your group follows.
Plan your bowl board
Pick the games. Keep the board familiar.
Use the same football squares rules your group already knows. Choose the games and number schedule, then pay out at the end of every quarter, at halftime and the final only, or on the final score alone.
Your team’s bowl game.
Run one board for the matchup your group cares about. Members claim squares before kickoff, then you draw the numbers and share the board. Set the scoring periods and whether the final award includes overtime.
One board across selected bowls.
Keep the same square owners for a holiday lineup or a longer bowl schedule. Give each game a fresh set of numbers and label its two teams. Publish the included games so everyone knows when their squares are in play.
Include the playoff games you want.
Add CFP games to your bowl schedule or focus on the playoff alone. Count each matchup once, including bowls that host playoff rounds. Name the included rounds and last game even if later opponents are not known yet.
Your pool’s rules
Your usual squares rules, across your bowl schedule.
Set the board and number draws as you would for any football pool. For several games, publish the game list, where results will be posted, and how final rollovers will be handled before the first kickoff.
The board
- Axis labels
- Label each game’s two teams before its numbers are drawn. For a series, you can use each bowl’s designated home and away teams. Winner and loser are another option for final-score boards.
- Board size
- Use the familiar 100-square board, or a 25- or 50-square version that gives each square more than one score-digit combination.
- Empty squares
- Keep a 100-square board with some positions deliberately empty. With 50 claimed and 50 empty, some scores have no owner, so their prizes can roll forward. A compact 50-square board covers every score combination.
- Squares per member
- Set a limit so more people can take part, or allow members to claim as many available squares as they like.
- Square assignment
- Let members choose open squares, assign them yourself, or copy owners from an existing board.
- More than one game
- Choose selected bowls, playoff games only, or a combined bowl-and-CFP schedule. Count a bowl that is also a playoff game once, and name the last included game.
Numbers and deadlines
- Claim deadline
- Close square selection before kickoff, or set an earlier deadline so you have time to finish the board.
- Number assignment
- Randomly assign 0 through 9 to each axis after claims close. If your group draws numbers elsewhere, enter that assignment instead.
- Fixed or changing numbers
- Keep one set for the whole game, or use a separate random assignment for each quarter.
- Reusing a board
- Keep the same owners across the selected games or reopen squares for each matchup. Draw fresh numbers per game, or announce a shared assignment for a group of games. Keep every game’s numbers and results available.
Scoring and winners
- Scoring times
- Use quarter ends, halftime and final only, or the final score alone. The standard setup uses the cumulative score on the scoreboard.
- Overtime
- Specify whether the last result is the score after four quarters or the final score including overtime. You can also count both as separate results.
- Prizes
- Give each scoring period equal weight, or make halftime or the final result worth more. Publish the split with the rules.
- Repeat winners
- In the usual setup, every square stays eligible all game. The same square can win more than once, including after a scoreless quarter.
- Rollover rules
- Carry an unclaimed prize to the next scoring period, the same quarter in the next included game, or your final game. State which prizes carry separately and which combine.
- Ending a series
- Decide how to distribute any accumulated rollovers at your last included game. You can assign remaining empty squares before that game so every score has an owner.
Extra prizes
- Adjacent squares
- Give extra prizes to squares next to the winner. Specify whether diagonals count, whether the board’s edges wrap, and how overlapping prizes are handled.
- Reverse-score prizes
- Add a prize for the square found by swapping the teams’ score digits. Decide whether matching digits, such as 7 and 7, earn both the regular and reverse prizes.
- Score offsets (+2/+2)
- Add a prize based on adjusted scores. A +2/+2 rule adds two points to both final scores: 17 to 14 becomes 19 to 16, so the 9/6 square gets the extra prize. Set its rollover rule separately.
- More scoring moments
- Use score changes or set points on the game clock for extra results. For score-change rules, specify whether touchdowns and the following extra point or two-point attempt count separately.
Commissioner controls
- Board management
- Add members, assign or correct square ownership, and keep track of each member’s squares.
- Sharing boards
- Share every game’s board and numbers in advance, or share each one as its game approaches. Keep prior boards available alongside the results.
- Results
- Record the score at the end of each scoring period and identify the winning square using that period’s number assignment.
- Rules text
- Keep the game, number schedule, scoring times, and house rules together where members can read them.
Don’t see your house rule? Tell us what it is.
Your house rules
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A setup question, a scoring issue, a house rule you want to try: you’ll hear from the people building Picksheet.
Before bowl season starts.
Set the schedule and keep the rest familiar.
Do members choose new squares for every bowl?
They do not have to. Keep the same owners and draw fresh numbers for each game. You can also reopen squares or use separate boards when different groups are watching different games.
Do we have to include every bowl and CFP game?
No. Choose the games your group wants, from one bowl to a combined postseason schedule. List the included games or rounds and count each matchup once. The national championship only counts if you include it.
Which teams go across the top and down the side?
Identify both teams on each game’s board, including neutral-site bowls, and keep those labels fixed for that game. If you prefer winner/loser axes for a final-score board, state that convention before play.
Are bowl squares scored differently from regular football squares?
The basic rule is the same: use the last digit of each team’s cumulative score at your chosen checkpoints. A 31–24 final maps to digits 1 and 4 on the respective team axes. Decide whether final-score awards include overtime, and use the same rule across your selected games.
What if a game is postponed or canceled?
Say whether a postponed game stays in the pool on its new date. If a game is canceled, decide whether its awards are removed or carried to another included game, and tell members how the schedule changes.
What happens to an unclaimed prize at the end?
Set a final outcome for any rollovers or empty winning squares. Your series ends at the last game you selected, which may be a bowl or playoff round before the national championship.
Can we use this setup during the regular season?
Yes. The same reusable board works for one school’s schedule or selected college matchups, with new numbers for each game. Explore College Football Squares.
For your group
Let’s get your bowl squares board ready.
Tell us which bowls or playoff games you want to include and how your group runs its squares. An existing board or a short rules sheet is a good place to start.