Rules
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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.
Football Squares Pool Hosting
Football squares for your game day crowd.
Run a board for the Super Bowl, a Sunday matchup, or a season of games. Members claim squares, and the last digit of each team’s score decides the winners. For a weekly series, keep everyone’s squares and draw fresh numbers for each game.
For one game or a full season.
Common football squares setups
Choose your scoring setup.
Start with a 10-by-10 board and randomly assign the digits after members claim their squares. If the top team has 24 points and the side team has 13, find the column labeled 4 and the row labeled 3. The square where they meet wins.
Classic quarter scoring.
Keep the same numbers for the whole game. Name a winner after the first quarter, at halftime, after the third quarter, and at the end. Decide whether that last result includes overtime.
New numbers each quarter.
Members keep their squares, but each quarter gets a new random set of row and column digits. Use that quarter’s numbers with the cumulative score at its end. Specify which set applies if the game goes to overtime.
Halftime and final only.
Count two results instead of four, with one number assignment throughout. Split the prizes evenly or give the final result more weight. For an even simpler board, use the final score alone.
Your pool’s rules
Set up your group’s squares board.
Keep a classic board or bring your group’s variations. Choose the square limits and number schedule, then settle how overtime and unclaimed squares work.
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
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Get help from
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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 the numbers are drawn.
A few details worth making clear to your group.
Do we use the whole score or just that quarter’s points?
The usual quarter-end setup uses the cumulative scoreboard. If a team has 17 points at halftime, use 7, even if it scored only 3 points in the second quarter. Using only the points scored within a quarter is a different house rule.
Can we keep the same squares all season?
Yes. Members can claim squares before your first game and keep the same spots throughout the series, with fresh numbers per game or week. Use home/away labels for changing matchups, or your team/opponent if you follow one team’s schedule.
Do we need 100 people?
No. A 100-square board has 100 spots, and members can own more than one. Smaller 25- or 50-square boards give each spot multiple digit combinations so every possible score still maps to a square.
Why assign numbers after people choose squares?
Some score digits occur more often than others. Drawing the digits after claims close keeps members from choosing squares based on a known number pair.
What happens if nobody owns the winning square?
Your rules can carry that prize to the next scoring period or a later game. Make the destination clear, along with what happens if the last result of the game or series also lands on an empty square.
Are Super Bowl squares any different?
The basic game is the same. If you open claims before the matchup is set, label the axes AFC and NFC. Decide whether the last prize uses the score after four quarters or the final score including overtime. Plan your Super Bowl squares pool.
For your group
Let’s get your squares board ready.
Tell us which game or series you’re planning for and how your group plays. If you already have a board or rules sheet, send it over and we’ll help with the setup.