How to Play Super Bowl Squares

Super Bowl squares are one of the oldest ways to have fun during the big game. You can create your own grid, or download our free printable super bowl squares grid here. Save yourself the time of creating a grid and having to find a ruler – just print our grid!

The grey boxes represent the possible score combinations of the game, with the left grey boxes representing the NFC team champion (Carolina Panthers), and the top grey boxes representing the AFC team champion (Denver Broncos).

Rules of the Game

There are 100 squares of play (the white boxes). The grey boxes running along the left and top of the game are to randomly assign numbers 0 – 9 AFTER all white squares have been filled in.

To fill in the grid of white boxes, participants write their names on which squares they want. It is up to the ‘commissioner’ of the game (YOU!) to determine the price per square. $1, $2, $5 or $10 – whatever you feel will work for your group of friends and family or coworkers. Collect money as people fill in their squares – so you can keep track and not chase down players for money.

Be prepared to fill in the grey squares to the left and above the white boxes. Write the numbers 0 through 9 on individual pieces of paper, fold them up and put them in a bowl or a hat. You will randomly draw numbers to fill in the left and top grey boxes to keep the squares game fair and not give the advantage to anyone, including yourself. Once you draw all the numbers and fill up the left grey boxes (work your way from top to bottom), fold the numbers back up, put them back in the hat and then repeat the process for the top grey boxes, working your way from left to right.

Make sure you have your Super Bowl Squares grid filled out before the big game starts! Have all the money collected, and determine how you want to award the winner(s). Typically, at the end of each quarter there is one winner. The winner is based off of what the current score of the game is. For example: if the score at the end of the game is Denver 10, Carolina 21, you would find the number 0 in the top row, and the number 1 in the left row, and find the white box where those two numbers intersect. The person with their name in the box in the winner for that quarter.

It is up to the ‘commissioner’ of the squares game to decide whether the 4th quarter winner is determined by the 4th quarter score, or the overall score of the game in the event of overtime. Most of the time, the final score of the game determines the 4th quarter winner.

Example of a Super Bowl Squares payout structure

The most common way to structure the payout is one winner for each quarter (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and then a 4th winner for the final square. The payouts can either be equal, or increase in amount for each quarter, with the final score of the game winning the most.

Let’s say you collect $10 off per square. That gives you a $1,000 pot to split up among the 4 quarters of play. You can split it equally, with $250 to each winner at the end of every quarter, or you can stagger the winnings to increase with each quarter. An example would look like this: 1st Quarter: $150 – 2nd Quarter: $200 – 3rd Quarter: $300 – 4th Quarter: $350. You can split up the winnings however you would like, but just make sure you have it clearly outlined for every player before you sell squares.

Keep in mind – one person can win more than once… it just all depends on where their squares are, as players can purchase as many squares as they would like. If you have a large party or office, you may have to initially put a cap on the number of squares for each player to give everyone the opportunity to play.

Let the fun begin!