The complete guide to setting up and running a football squares game
Football Squares (also called Super Bowl Squares or The Grid) is one of the most popular game day traditions in America. It is a simple, luck-based game that makes watching football more exciting for everyone, even people who do not follow sports at all. That is part of what makes it so great for parties, office events, and family gatherings.
Here is the basic idea: you start with a 10x10 grid, which gives you 100 squares total. Each person in your group claims one or more squares by putting their name on them. Once the grid is full, the rows and columns each get assigned a random digit from 0 to 9. Those numbers represent the last digit of each team's score. At the end of each quarter, you look at the score, find the matching square on the grid, and that person wins.
Because the numbers are assigned randomly after people claim their squares, the game is completely based on luck. No sports knowledge needed. No strategy involved. Everyone has an equal chance, which is exactly why the game has been a staple at Super Bowl parties for decades.
Setting up a game on Online Football Squares takes less than a minute. Here is the full process from start to finish.
Click "Create Game" and choose how you want to set up your game. You have two options:
Either way, you will set an admin password during creation. This password is what you use to manage the game, so save it somewhere safe.
Once your game is created, you will get a unique link. Send that link to your group through text, email, Slack, or whatever you use to communicate. You can also share just the game code (the letters and numbers at the end of the URL) and have people enter it on our homepage. No one needs to create an account or download anything. They just open the link and start claiming squares.
Players claim squares by clicking on any open square and typing their name. Each person can claim as many squares as you allow. As the admin, you also have a few extra options:
Most admins aim to fill all 100 squares before the game starts, but the game works fine even if some squares are left empty. Empty squares just will not have a winner if their number combination comes up.
This is the important part. Once the grid is full (or whenever you are ready), click "Assign Numbers" in the admin panel. This randomly assigns digits 0 through 9 to each row and each column. It is important to do this after people have claimed their squares, not before. That way, nobody knows which number combination they are getting when they pick their square. This keeps the game fair for everyone.
Before the game kicks off, lock the grid to prevent any further changes. Once locked, players cannot claim, edit, or remove squares. This protects the integrity of the game once it is underway. Admins can still make changes if needed (for example, fixing a typo in someone's name), but regular players will not be able to modify anything. We recommend locking the grid at least 30 minutes before the game starts.
Once the real game kicks off, your squares game comes to life. How the scoring works depends on which type of game you created:
Either way, pulling the game up on a TV or big screen during the party is a great way to keep everyone engaged.
Winning is based entirely on the score at the end of each quarter. You take the last digit of each team's score, find where those two numbers intersect on the grid, and that square wins. Here are a few examples to make it clear.
Example 1: Chiefs 24 - 49ers 17
Last digits are 4 and 7. Find the square where row 4 meets column 7. That person wins.
Example 2: Packers 0 - Bears 0
At the start of the game the score is 0-0, so the square at row 0, column 0 wins Q1 if no one scores in the first quarter.
Example 3: Bills 30 - Dolphins 20
Both last digits are 0. The square at row 0, column 0 wins again. Yes, the same square can win multiple quarters.
In a standard game, there are 4 winners: one at the end of Q1, one at halftime (end of Q2), one at the end of Q3, and one at the final score. That means four different people get to celebrate, which keeps the energy going all game long.
When you create a game, you can choose between two scoring modes. The right choice depends on how you want to handle overtime.
This is the default and the most common choice. There are 4 winning quarters: Q1, Q2, Q3, and Final. If the game goes to overtime, the final score (including any overtime points) is used for the Final winner. This means there are always exactly 4 winners, no matter what happens.
If you want overtime to count as its own separate winning period, choose this option. In this mode, the end-of-regulation score is used for Q4, and if the game goes to overtime, the final score after OT determines a 5th winner. If the game does not go to overtime, Q4 and Final are the same score and the same winner. This mode adds a little extra excitement because there is a chance for a bonus winner.
If you picked a game from our schedule when creating your squares game, the live scoring experience is fully automatic. Here is what to expect once the real game kicks off.
The score displayed on your grid updates every few minutes throughout the game. You do not need to refresh the page or enter anything manually. As the score changes, you can watch the grid and see which squares are in the running.
When a quarter ends, the winning square is automatically highlighted on the grid. The winner's name is displayed so everyone can see who won that quarter. This continues through each quarter of the game until all winners have been determined.
If you are watching the game with your group in person, we recommend pulling up the squares game on a TV or large screen. That way everyone can follow along without having to check their phones. It adds a lot to the experience when the whole room can see the grid update together after a big score.
If you are running a squares game for the first time, here are a few things to watch out for.
Not all numbers are created equal in football squares. Because of how football scoring works (touchdowns are worth 6 plus an extra point for 7, field goals are worth 3), some last digits show up much more often than others. Here is what historical NFL data tells us.
0, 7, 3, 4
Show up most often in NFL scores
2, 5, 8, 9
Rarely show up in NFL scores
The number 0 is the most common last digit because so many NFL scores are multiples of 7 (7, 14, 21, 28) or multiples of 3 and 10 (10, 20, 30). The number 7 is next for the same reason. On the other end, 2 is one of the rarest because the only common way to score 2 points is a safety, which is uncommon.
That said, the numbers are assigned randomly, so there is nothing you can do about which ones you get. That is part of what makes football squares fun. The person with the "worst" numbers on the board can still win, and it happens more often than you might think.
Even though football squares is the most popular version of this game, the same concept works for other sports too. On our platform, you can create squares games for NFL, college football, NBA, college basketball, and NHL games. The rules work the same way regardless of the sport. The only difference is how the quarters or periods are structured.
For basketball, the game is divided into four quarters (or two halves in college), so the scoring checkpoints work just like football. For hockey, the game has three periods instead of four quarters, so the winning checkpoints are adjusted accordingly. Our platform handles all of this automatically based on the sport you choose when creating the game.
You can also create a fully custom game with any team names you want. This lets you use the squares grid for any event or matchup, even outside of sports.