Rules
Your house rules
have a home.
Your scoring, your tiebreakers, the traditions your group has built. You decide how the pool runs. We help you make it work.
College Football Squares Pools
Your college game day, with a square for everyone.
Run a squares board for a rivalry game, a Saturday lineup, or your team’s season. Members claim squares, and the last digit of each team’s score decides the winners. Keep everyone’s spots and draw fresh numbers between games.
For one game, a Saturday lineup, or your team’s season.
Choose your games
One game, a Saturday lineup, or your team’s season.
Start with the usual 10-by-10 board. If the team across the top has 24 points and the team down the side has 17, column 4 and row 7 identify the winning square. Use the cumulative scoreboard at each scoring checkpoint.
A board for one matchup.
Choose the game your group is watching. Keep one set of numbers throughout or draw a separate set for each quarter. Pay out at the end of every quarter, at halftime and the final only, or on the final score alone.
Several games on your schedule.
Pick a Saturday’s games or selected matchups across several weeks. Members can keep their squares while each game gets fresh numbers. Label both teams and share the correct number assignment for each matchup.
Follow your team all season.
Claim squares once and reuse the board for your team’s remaining games. Keep your team on one axis and its opponent on the other, even when home and away change. Draw new numbers for each game and keep earlier results.
Your pool’s rules
Keep your group’s squares rules.
Choose the games, square limits, and number schedule. The familiar football squares options apply, including overtime, repeat winners, and unclaimed prizes.
The board
- Axis labels
- Use team names for a single game. For changing matchups, use home and away, or your team and its opponent. 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 the games in your pool: one matchup, selected games across the season, or every game on the schedule.
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 games or reopen the squares. For a series, draw new numbers for each game or use one assignment for all games in a week.
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 game, or the final week. Choose which prizes carry separately and which combine.
- Ending a series
- Assign remaining empty squares to members for the last game or final week so every score has an owner. Set how any accumulated rollovers are distributed.
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
People
Your pool.
Your people.
Your members won’t be added to a marketing list or shown sportsbook promotions. You decide who joins.
Support
Get help from
a real person.
A setup question, a scoring issue, a house rule you want to try: you’ll hear from the people building Picksheet.
Before your first kickoff.
A few details for one game or a recurring college board.
Can we keep the same squares all season?
Yes. Keep each member in the same positions and draw fresh numbers for each game, or use one set of numbers for several games. Changing the numbers does not change who owns the squares. Save each game’s board and results.
Does the pool have to follow one team?
No. Choose one team’s schedule or a mix of games your group wants to follow. For changing matchups, identify the top and side teams on each board before play. At a neutral site, those labels still determine which score goes on which axis.
Do we use the quarter’s points or the total score?
Use the cumulative scoreboard for the usual quarter-end setup. A team with 24 points at halftime supplies the digit 4, regardless of how many points it scored in the second quarter.
What happens if a college game goes to overtime?
State whether the last award uses the end of regulation or the final score including overtime. If you count both, make them separate awards. When numbers change by quarter, say which set applies to the final result.
Do we need 100 people?
No. Members can own several squares. You can also use a compact 25- or 50-square board that gives each position multiple digit combinations, so every possible score still maps to a square.
Can we run squares for bowls and playoff games?
Yes. Choose a single postseason game or a series of bowls and CFP matchups. Decide whether members keep their existing squares or start a fresh board for the postseason. Plan your bowl squares pool.
For your group
Let’s get your college squares board ready.
Tell us which team or games your group follows and how you run your board. Bring your existing squares sheet or rules, or start with a simple setup.