Super Bowl squares, rules, results

One of the most popular and most basic forms of gambling is to participate in a Super Bowl Squares contest. You don’t have to know anything about the game, the teams, the players, the NFL odds, or even be a big football fan in order to play. You just have to know how to write your name and be able to take the entry fee out of your pocket.

Super Bowl Squares are really popular at Super Bowl parties or in the workplace. Knowing the Super Bowl Squares rules in order to set up the right contest for your group is more than half the battle and that’s what we will explain here.

 

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Super Bowl Squares Explained and Rules

Super Bowl Squares are done with a 10×10 grid for a total of 100 squares. Each team is represented by a set of either rows or columns. For the sake of this example, let’s say that NFC Team is represented by the rows and the AFC Team is represented by the columns.

You would write NFC in the white space on the left side of the grid and AFC in the white space on top of the grid.

Numbers 0 through 9 are randomly chosen to represent each row and column after all squares on the grid are filled in with the names of the participants.

Your finished grid should look something like this (using initials for size purposes):

AFC TEAM

NFC
TEAM		9863210475
3ABZCJVDTMYZCWRSMJVJA
1ZCSMWRABJAMYABMSDTWR
2JVDTMSJVZCSMMSJAZCMY
5SMWRMYABMSMSDTMYMSJV
7DTDTJAMSZCSMWRABDTMS
8JAMYSMTSJVTSZCTSSMTS
0MYZCTSJAABTSMYJVABJA
9WRMYJAWRDTTSSMWRTSTS
4MSJVZCTSWRMSJAABDTJV
6TSSMABDTJVSMWRJAZCMY

The way to read this chart is that you take the LAST NUMBER of the NFC Team’s score and the LAST NUMBER of the AFC Team’s score and match them up.

So, for example, if the score at the end of the first quarter is 3-3, the winner would be DT, which stands for VSiN author Dave Tuley. If the score at the end of the first quarter is 13-13, he also wins, because the numbers across the rows and columns correspond with the last number of the team’s score.

If the score is 10-7 and the AFC team has the lead after the first quarter, the AFC number is 0 and the NFC number is 7, so the winner there would be WR, or Wes Reynolds, another one of our VSiN authors.

With this example, those are your numbers for the score of each quarter and the final score of the game. Some people may choose to change the numbers for each quarter or redraw numbers between quarters.

Super Bowl Squares Payouts

The payout can be set up any way you want it to be. If a square costs $5 each, there are 100 squares at $5 each, so the total in the prize pool is $500. You could do $125 per quarter (125 x 4 = 500). You could do $100 for the first three quarters and $200 for the final score. It is completely up to you.

Not to get too difficult, but some Super Bowl Squares contests will do something like paying the person with the reverse score or paying out something to the squares that touch the winning square in order to get more people involved.

Some Super Bowl Squares contests will have different numbers by quarter so that those stuck with “bad” numbers won’t have to have them all game. It all depends on how you want to set up your squares pool or how somebody else has decided to do it if you enter theirs.

Super Bowl Squares Score Results

While all numbers are possible in one way or another, there are some numbers that hit more often than others. Remember, you should NOT draw numbers until all of the squares are completely full, otherwise it creates an unfair advantage to those who sign up first and you are also unlikely to get all of the squares filled.

Which Super Bowl square numbers come in most often? We’re glad you asked.

Here are the results from the past 57 Super Bowls:

(we have separated into two charts to make it easier to view; total is the same in both tables to represent the overall counts)

TotalFirst QuarterSecond Quarter
#%NFCAFCNFL%NFCAFCNFL%
1306.60000.03365.3
2122.60000.02354.4
37416.215112622.81292118.4
44810.54376.1671311.4
5112.40000.01010.9
6367.91121.856119.6
78518.611132421.16121815.8
8173.71010.93032.6
9224.82021.83032.6
012126.523295245.616173328.9
Total45657571145757114
TotalThird QuarterFinal Score
#%NFCAFCNFL%NFCAFCNFL%
1306.65387.0881614.0
2122.61232.62243.5
37416.2771412.3761311.4
44810.5491311.44111513.2
5112.43143.54265.3
6367.9851311.437108.8
78518.611132421.11361916.7
8173.73365.33476.1
9224.83587.06397.9
012126.51292118.4781513.2
Total45657571145757114

As you can see, 0s and 7s are the best numbers to wind up with in Super Bowl Square contests. Any number is indeed possible, some are likelier than others, especially with the nature of scoring in the NFL typically by 7s and 3s.

DK Squares Super Bowl Squares

DraftKings Sportsbook has bettable options for those looking to play squares, without going through the process of doing it the traditional way. These are called DK Squares. For example, for Super Bowl LVIII, you can get +280 on Chiefs 0 and 49ers 0 for all four quarters, so scores like 0-0, 10-10, 20-20, etc. would win, regardless of quarter. And, of course, you could win up to four times with your numbers.

DK Squares also has a Final Result betting option that would only count for the final score of the game, beginning with Chiefs 7, 49ers 0 at +2000.

These are just treated as straight bet wagers as opposed to the way that traditional squares are handled.

Circa Sports Super Bowl Squares

Out here in Las Vegas, we broadcast from our studio at the Circa Resort & Casino and their sportsbook offers bettors the opportunity to wager on exact square numbers.

For example, if you wanted to bet on NFC 7 and AFC 0 for the first quarter (which would win if the NFC is up 7-0 or if the AFC is up 10-7), you can do that.

The odds for the squares and answers to any frequently asked questions can be found here.

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