There may be no better way to keep the interest higher in the final NFL game of the season than Super Bowl squares. No matter what is happening in the game itself, Super Bowl squares can keep everyone invested in the final. Ahead of the big game itself, let’s have a quick refresher on how they work and any strategy points you may want to consider.
Super Bowl Squares Template for Super Bowl 58
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How Do Super Bowl Squares Work?
Super Bowl squares are played on a 10 by 10 grid that has a similar look to it as a bingo card. Each team is assigned to an axis, and each column and row is assigned a number from 0 to 9. Participating in the game itself is as simple as selecting one of those 100 squares.
There are a number of ways to run a Super Bowl squares pool.
You could have people “blindly” pick squares and then reveal which rows and columns are assigned each numberjust before kickoff. However, the more traditional method is for people to select based on their belief as to what the score will be at a specific time or at multiple times of the game.
If you are setting just one time point, that’s typically the end of the game. Multiple time points could be at the end of each half or the end of each quarter. Yet, the fun of Super Bowl squares is that each game can be played in a completely different way to suit the needs of each host or party.
When it comes to winning, you take the score at each designated time point and whoever has the corresponding square is the winner for that point in time. For example, at the end of the first quarter, if the score is 10-7 to the Chiefs, the person with the square that dissects the Chiefs “0” row and the 49ers “7” row would be the winner.
If there is no claim on a square, then the prize can either be rolled to the next time point or to the end of the game. Typically, the end-of-the-game score carries the biggest prize, but as with the time points, how each game structures its payouts is up to the person organizing the game.
Super Bowl Squares Strategy and Tips
On the surface, Super Bowl squares may seem random and tough to get an edge over your fellow competitors.
If you’re picking “blind,” then that is certainly the case because you have no control over which squares you’re getting. In that scenario, everyone theoretically has the same odds of getting any of the 100 combinations.
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However, if you play in a pool where you can select your number combinations, then there is certainly some strategy you can take for your Super Bowl squares game. There are a number of ways to do this through researching either common Super Bowl numbers or common numbers for the two teams this season.
In terms of common numbers of the past 26 Super Bowls, here are the eight most common combinations (AFC square listed first):
- 0-0: 10.4% win rate
- 7-3: 7.3%
- 0-3: 6.3%
- 4-4: 4.2% – including last year
- 7-7: 4.2% – including last year
- 4-7: 4.2%
- 3-7: 4.2%
- 4-0: 4.2%
In terms of individual numbers, the most commonly hit over the past 26 years are:
- AFC Square #0: 27 winning quarters
- NFC Square #0: 20 winning quarters
- NFC Square #3: 20 winning quarters
- AFC Square #4: 17 winning quarters