Updated for the 2025-2026 season
If you have ever stared at a football squares grid and wondered whether some numbers are better than others, you are not alone. The short answer is yes. Because of how football scoring works, certain last digits come up far more often than others. That said, numbers are assigned randomly for a reason, so nobody gets to pick the good ones. If you are new to the game, our How to Play guide explains the basics.
Still, knowing the odds makes watching the game a lot more fun. Here is what decades of Super Bowl data tell us about which numbers show up most.
The digit 0 is the most valuable number on a football squares grid. It shows up in roughly 20% of all NFL final scores. That makes sense when you think about how football scoring works. Touchdowns with extra points are worth 7 and field goals are worth 3. Both of those naturally cycle scores through digits that end in 0 (10, 20, 30, and so on).
After 0, the next most common digits are 7, 3, and 4. The 0-7 combination is the single most common final score pairing in Super Bowl history. If you land that square, you are in a strong position heading into the fourth quarter.
The digit 4 is more common than people expect because a touchdown plus extra point (7) combined with a field goal (3) gives 10, and 10 plus 14 is 24, plus another field goal is 27, and so on. The cycling of 7s and 3s naturally produces 4s as a trailing digit.
The digits 2, 5, and 9 are the hardest to land on. They require unusual scoring combinations. A score ending in 2 typically means a safety was involved, which only happens a handful of times per season across the entire league. A score ending in 5 usually requires a two-point conversion or a safety combined with other scoring, which is rare.
Some digit combinations like 2-5 have never appeared as a Super Bowl final score at all. That does not mean they never will, but the odds are significantly lower than landing on 0-7 or 3-0.
Here is the thing: it matters for entertainment, but it should not matter for strategy. The entire point of football squares is that numbers are assigned randomly after people claim their squares. You do not get to pick your numbers. That is what makes the game fair and fun for everyone, whether you follow football closely or have never watched a game in your life.
Knowing the odds just adds another layer of excitement. When the numbers are revealed and you see that you landed 0 and 7, you can feel a little extra optimism. When you get 2 and 5, you get to be the underdog, and underdogs win sometimes. That is what makes it exciting.
The best numbers shift depending on which quarter you are looking at. Early in the game, when scores are low, the digit 0 dominates. A 7-3 first quarter score is extremely common, so having the 7-3 or 3-7 square is a great position for the first quarter.
By the fourth quarter and final score, the digits spread out more. Higher scores mean more variety in last digits. But 0 and 7 remain strong throughout. If you want to dive deeper into how different periods affect your odds across various sports, check out our Tips & Strategies page.
The number distribution changes significantly for other sports. In NBA games, scoring is much higher and more evenly distributed across all digits, so there is less of a gap between "good" and "bad" numbers. In NHL games, low scores mean 0, 1, 2, and 3 dominate. College basketball falls somewhere in between.
The beauty of the squares format is that it works across all of these sports, and the randomness keeps it fair regardless of how scoring patterns differ. For March Madness, check out our complete basketball squares guide. You can also use squares for non-sports events like baby showers and award shows. If you are setting up a game for your office, our office game day guide walks through the whole process. And for a look at the game's origins, visit our History page.
Create a free football squares game and see which numbers you get.
Create Your Game →