Are you hosting a Super Bowl party? Or going to one and looking for a fun way to watch and play along? The Super Bowl squares pool is one of the most popular games to play and we have you covered for Super Bowl LVIII between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs.
How do Super Bowl squares work?
All you have to do is print out this PDF and have everyone at your party pick one or more squares. At this point, it is completely random so anyone can play, whether they are an avid fan or this is their first football game of the year; the first square picked is as likely to win as the final one. Once the grid is full, randomize the numbers 0-9 on the top and 0-9 on the left side. Each square will now have a corresponding row and column number.
When each quarter of the Super Bowl ends, see if those two numbers match the end digits of each team's point total. An example: after the first quarter, if it is Chiefs 7, 49ers 3, then the player with the square that corresponds with 7 for the Chiefs and 3 for the 49ers is the winner. It would also be the same square if the score is instead 49ers 13, Chiefs 7: Only the last digit matters.
The prizes come at the end of each quarter, and for the final score. You don't have to be a fan of either team or even a football fan to play along. Pick the right square and match the end of quarter numbers and you win. Enjoy the Super Bowl!
Printable PDF for Super Bowl squares
What are the best numbers to have?
We looked at all regular season and playoff games over the last 3 seasons -- a sample of over 850 games -- and broke down the scores per team by quarter. Overall, as you might have already guessed, 0 and 7 are the best numbers, followed by 3, then 4 and 6. Any combination of those five numbers is a good result to have.
The number 1 gets better as the game goes on, while 2, 8, 9 and 5 are generally difficult to make work.
There was only one combination that did not show up a single time across all quarters. If you draw the dreaded 2-2 square, you will have to root for something that we haven't seen in over 3,400 quarters.
Tips to randomize your Super Bowl squares
Once you've filled out your grid with everyone's squares, you'll need to randomly fill out the top row and left column with 10 digits, 0-9. The draw can be part of the fun, as everyone finds out which squares are assigned to them, so feel free to make a show of it. There's no wrong way to do it, as long as it's random, so here are just a few suggestions:
Use a shuffled deck of playing cards. Determine which team is red and which is black, then deal the cards one at a time, face up, filling out the spaces as each one shows up. You can use the full deck and ignore the face cards or prepare it so that only the 20 cards you want to use are included. Use the 10 or one of the face cards for the number 0.
Use a 10-sided die. This is probably the simplest way to do it, but it likely requires acquiring one for this purpose. They can be found online and at most tabletop gaming stores.
The phone number game. Randomly select individuals and have them add up the last four digits of their phone number. Use the last digit of the sum to fill out the top row, then repeat the process for the column using the first three digits of the phone numbers instead.
Use your local lottery numbers. This works well if your squares pool is filled out well ahead of time. Pick a couple of local lotteries ahead of time and everyone can find out at the results at the same time even if they're not together. You could use California lotto results to determine the 49ers and Missouri lotto results for the Chiefs, for example.