Tips & Strategies

📊 Understanding the Number Odds

One of the most common questions people ask about football squares is which numbers are the best to have. Since you do not get to choose your numbers (they are randomly assigned), it does not change anything strategically. But it is still fun to know the odds, and it makes watching the game more interesting when you understand why certain scores matter.

The reason some numbers come up more often than others has to do with how scoring works in football. Touchdowns with an extra point are worth 7. Field goals are worth 3. Those two plays make up the vast majority of scoring in the NFL, which is why certain last digits appear over and over again.

Keep in mind that these odds apply to NFL football specifically. Other sports have different scoring patterns. In basketball, for example, scores change by 1, 2, or 3 points at a time, so the digit distribution is much more even. In hockey, scores go up by 1, which means every digit has a roughly equal chance of appearing.

And regardless of the odds, the whole point of football squares is that it is random. "Bad" numbers win all the time. That is what makes the game exciting.

⏰ Timing Your Game Right

One of the biggest factors in running a successful squares game is giving your group enough time. If you share the link 30 minutes before kickoff, you are going to have a half-empty board. Here is a general timeline that works well for most groups.

The key is to give people enough time to see the message and claim their squares without dragging it out so long that people forget about it. For most groups, 2-3 days is the sweet spot for regular games, and a week or more for big events.

👥 Tips for Large Groups

Running a squares game for a small group of friends is easy. Running one for 50 or 100 people takes a little more planning. Here are some things that help when you are managing a larger group.

• Set a clear deadline. With more people involved, you need a firm cutoff time. Put it in the custom message so it is visible right on the game page.
• Limit squares per person. If you have more people than squares, consider asking everyone to take just 1 or 2 squares so more people get to play. Mention this in the custom message.
• Use a player password. For large office games or community events, setting a player password keeps the game limited to your intended group and prevents random people from claiming squares.
• Share the game code, not just the link. In large group chats, long URLs can get lost. The short game code is easier to communicate. People can enter it on the homepage to find the game.
• Assign someone to help. If you are running the game for a big event, it helps to have a second person who knows the admin password in case you are not available.

🏆 Ways to Recognize Winners

Football squares is all about bragging rights. How you celebrate the winners can make the game a lot more fun. Here are some ideas that groups use to recognize their winners.

Tip: Use the Custom Message field to explain to your group how winners will be recognized. That way everyone knows the setup before the game starts.

📱 Game Day Tips

Game day is when everything comes together. Here are some tips to make sure the experience is great for everyone.

• Cast the grid to a TV. If you are watching the game together, pull up the squares game on a big screen. It is way more fun when the whole room can see the grid update together after a big score. You can mirror your phone, tablet, or laptop to most modern TVs.
• Let auto-scores do the work. If you picked a game from our schedule, the scores update automatically. You do not need to watch the clock or enter anything. Just sit back and enjoy the game.
• Know how to enter scores manually. Even with auto-scores, it is good to know how to use the manual score entry in case there is ever a delay. Open the admin panel, click "Scores," and type in the score. It takes about 10 seconds.
• Announce the winners. When a quarter ends and the grid highlights the winner, make it a moment. Call out the winner's name, let people celebrate. That energy is what makes squares fun.
• Take a screenshot of the final grid. Once the game is over, grab a screenshot. It is a nice keepsake and useful if anyone has questions later about who won what.

📋 Filling Your Board

The hardest part of running a squares game is usually getting all 100 squares filled. Here are some strategies that work.

• Let people claim multiple squares. If you have fewer than 100 people, encourage each person to take 2, 3, or even 5 squares. This is the most common way to fill a board.
• Share the link in multiple channels. Do not just send it in one group chat. Post it in your team Slack, send it via email, and mention it in person. Some people miss messages, so hitting multiple channels helps.
• Send reminders. People are busy. A friendly reminder a day or two before your deadline can fill the last 20-30 squares quickly.
• Fill the remaining squares yourself. If you are close to full but not quite there, the admin can manually assign the last few squares. Some admins fill empty squares with their own name or split them among the group.
• It is OK if the board is not completely full. The game works fine with empty squares. If a winning combination lands on an empty square, there is simply no winner for that quarter. Some groups actually like this because it adds another layer of suspense.

🎯 Running Multiple Games

There is no limit to how many games you can create, and some groups get creative with how they use them. Here are a few ideas.

• One game per matchup. Create a separate game for each game you want to track. This is the simplest approach and works great for playoff weekends when you want to run squares for multiple games.
• Different groups, different games. If you are part of multiple friend groups or departments at work, create a separate game for each one. Everyone gets their own board and their own experience.
• Season-long competition. Use the same grid format across multiple weeks and keep a running tally of who wins the most quarters over the course of the season. Crown an overall champion at the end.
• A casual game alongside a main game. Some groups run two games for the same matchup: one for the core group and one that is open to a wider audience. It is a nice way to include more people without making the main game too crowded.

🔐 Security Best Practices

A few simple precautions will save you from headaches down the road.

• Save your admin password. This is the most important tip on this page. We cannot recover admin passwords because they are securely hashed. If you lose it, you will need to create a new game. Write it down, save it in your phone, or store it in a password manager.
• Use player passwords for private games. If your game is for a specific group and you do not want outsiders joining, set a player password when you create the game. Share the password with your group along with the game link.
• Lock the grid before the game starts. This prevents any changes once the game is underway. It is your best protection against last-minute edits or accidental modifications.
• Check the Change Log if something looks off. Every modification to the board is logged with a timestamp. If someone claims a square was changed or taken, you can check the log and see exactly what happened.
• Take a screenshot of the final board. This gives you a permanent record that does not depend on the game being available on our servers. It is also useful for settling any disputes about who had which square.