Super Bowl Squares, Explained

Here’s how to setup the popular Super Bowl game.

With the widespread legalization of sports gambling across the United States, there’s no shortage of ways to bet on Super Bowl LVI between the Rams and the Bengals. However, sometimes the old ways are still the best. 

Among those tried and true options are Super Bowl squares.

Before Super Bowl LVI kicks off at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, here’s an explanation of how the popular game works. 

Format:

Setting up a Super Bowl squares pool couldn’t be easier. Grab a sheet of poster board (or paper) and draw a grid that consists of 10 vertical columns and 10 horizontal rows, leaving extra room on the outside of the grid for drawing numbers later on. One Super Bowl team—in this year’s case either the Rams or the Bengals—gets the columns, while the other gets the rows. 

If the board is made correctly, there should be a total of 100 squares inside the grid. These squares are then purchased individually with each square priced equally. 

In most pools, the participants of your respective Super Bowl party can buy as many squares as they'd like. When a square is purchased, the player should write their initials in the middle. The more squares that are bought, the greater the payout for the winner.

Once every box of the pool has been sold, randomly assign numbers zero to nine to each row and column.

After you’ve done that, all that’s left is to sit, wait and enjoy the game.

How to win:

Winning a Super Bowl squares pool is fairly simple and in most variations there’s multiple opportunities to win throughout the game. At the end of every quarter, the person whose square corresponds with the intersection of the second digit of each team’s score wins a prize. For example, if the Rams lead the Bengals by a score of 14–7 at the end of the first quarter, a certain portion of the entry money is paid out to the player who owns the square with a “4” for the Rams and “7” for the Bengals.

Typically, the payout is smaller for the first three quarters. The final score usually pays out the highest sum.

And that’s about it. You’re ready to play Super Bowl squares. Best of luck.

Kickoff for Super Bowl LVI between the Rams and the Bengals is set for 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday.

More NFL Coverage

• Super Bowl LVI Predictions: Picking the Winner, Score and MVP
• Sean McVay’s Patience, Joe Burrow’s Magic, and How Super Bowl LVI Will Be Won
• The Deep End of the Pool
• SoFi Stadium Went Up—and Then Everything Changed