The short version
A football squares pool is a 10×10 grid with 100 squares. Players claim squares before kickoff. After the board is full, the numbers 0 through 9 are drawn for the columns and again for the rows. At the end of each quarter, you take the last digit of each team's score, find that column and row, and the square where they meet wins the prize for that period. The final score decides the biggest prize. That is the entire mechanic; everything else is bookkeeping.
The board: 100 squares, two teams
The standard board is 10 columns and 10 rows. One team is assigned to the columns across the top, the other to the rows down the side. Every square is identified by a row and a column, but before the draw the axes are blank. Players are buying a position on the grid, not a pair of digits. That distinction is what makes the pool fair: the digits do not exist until every square has an owner.
Super Bowl squares, explained
Super Bowl squares is the same game with a bigger audience. The board is still 10×10, the digits are still drawn after every square is claimed, and the last digit of each team's score still decides the winner at the end of each quarter. What changes is the room: a Super Bowl party often has guests who have never played, so the explanation has to be shorter. Say three things: claim a square, wait for the numbers, and check the last digit at the end of each quarter. The host should also announce whether the final prize includes overtime and where the payout amounts are printed. A 25-square board is a good fit for a smaller party, and the Super Bowl squares page has a board preset for the big game.
Step 1: fill the squares
Print the board or open the online pool, then sell squares. A player writes their initials in an empty square, or claims it with a tap and types a name. Most pools sell all 100; smaller groups use the 25-square version. Keep a list of who paid if money is involved. When the last square is taken, stop selling. If the board is not full at kickoff, decide in advance whether unsold squares stay dead or the prizes shrink to match the sold total. A square with no name at kickoff is usually treated as dead, so make the rule explicit.
Step 2: draw the numbers
Draw 0–9 for the column axis, then 0–9 for the row axis. Use a hat, a deck of cards or the randomizer on this site. Each digit is used once per axis, so each axis is a complete 0–9 order. Write the column digits across the top and the row digits down the side. From that moment the board is fixed. Take a photo of it before kickoff; it settles most arguments later.
Step 3: read the score at the end of a quarter
At the end of Q1, halftime, Q3 and the final, write down both scores. Take the last digit of the column team's score and find that column. Take the last digit of the row team's score and find that row. The square at the intersection is the winner for that period. You ignore the tens and hundreds entirely: 17 points and 7 points both end in 7. That is why a team can move from 7 to 17 and keep the same winning digit.
A worked example
Team A is on the columns, Team B is on the rows. The game goes like this:
| Period | Team A | Team B | Column digit | Row digit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| End of Q1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Halftime | 10 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| End of Q3 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Final | 24 | 20 | 4 | 0 |
At halftime, Team A's 10 puts the winning column at 0 and Team B's 7 puts the row at 7. The square in column 0, row 7 wins the halftime prize. In the third quarter, Team A's 17 keeps the column at 7 and Team B stays on 7, so the square at row 7, column 7 wins. The final score moves the winner to row 0, column 4. Four periods, four chances, and no square is guaranteed to repeat.
Why only the last digit matters
Scores move in familiar increments: 7 for a touchdown and extra point, 3 for a field goal, 2 for a safety, and 6 for a touchdown without the extra point. Those increments create the digit patterns that make some squares more common than others. You do not need to memorize the math during the game. Just read the final digit and trust the grid.
Halftime, the final and overtime
Most pools pay four times: after Q1, at halftime, after Q3 and at the end of the game. The final prize normally includes overtime. If a game goes to overtime, use the score after the winning play, not the end-of-regulation score. Some groups also pay a small prize for the reverse of the final digits, or for every score change during the game. Those variants are optional add-ons; the base game stays the same.
Variants worth knowing
The 25-square board uses a 5×5 grid and assigns two digits to each row and column, so every square covers four digit combinations. It fills faster and pays fewer prizes. A reverse-winner pool pays the square with the row and column digits swapped instead of the square where they meet; it is usually a side prize, not a replacement for the main board. An every-score-change pool pays whenever the current score maps to a new square, which can mean dozens of small payouts. Pick one variant, write it down, and do not mix rules mid-game.
What if a team has not scored?
A score of 0 ends in 0, so the row or column labeled 0 is still live. That is why first-quarter pools often land on a zero square: one team may not have scored yet, while the other has 3 or 7. Do not treat a blank score as a missing value. Write 0 and read the 0 line like any other digit.
How to play football squares without mistakes
Write the buy-in and the payout split on the board before you sell a square. Draw numbers only after the board fills. Announce the overtime rule and the final-score rule out loud. Keep the board visible during the game and record each quarter's score as it ends. If you use the online pool, lock the board, let the server draw the numbers and enter the scores as the game goes. The tool handles the lookup; your job is to make the rules clear before anyone buys in. Keep the rules short enough to read in under a minute.