How do Super Bowl squares work? Here are rules, best numbers & tips to win your 2024 grid

Super Bowl 58 will feature Patrick Mahomes II – a two-time Super Bowl winner – and Brock Purdy – the ultimate Mr. Irrelevant story. Taylor Swift – a 12-time Grammy Award winner – could make an appearance.

The entertainment value is high with the matchup between the 49ers and Chiefs, and there is a chance to cash in and get rich. It’s time to play Super Bowl squares.

“How do I play Super Bowl squares?”

That is always the first question for first-time players of the office pool and party game. The good news?

This game is easy to play. This game of chance gives each player two “numbers” to follow. It can make the Super Bowl experience more exciting for both the die-hard and casual fan.

Sporting News has a guide for all those questions, including rules, tips and a printable squares grid.

MORE: Download printable Super Bowl 58 squares here

How to play Super Bowl squares

The Super Bowl squares game is easy to play. Here is the six-step process to get your party game started. The key terms are “squares,” “numbers” and “board.”

Print a 10×10 grid with 100 “squares” on it or set one up virtually using one of the many free sites out there.
Include an extra blank row (horizontal) and column (vertical) for drawing numbers. This is how you match the “numbers” to the corresponding “squares.”
Get your party guests, co-workers and any other players to select squares by signing their initials within the grid. Each square is worth one entry.
The “board.” is set when all 100 squares are filled. It is required to fill out the entire board before “numbers” are drawn.
Draw “numbers” from 0-9 at random for both teams and fill the extra row with the horizontal row and vertical column. A “square” matches those two numbers on the horizontal row and vertical column. Again, there is no skill involved. It is a random draw.
Winners are traditionally determined by the second digits of the score at the end of each quarter. For example, if the 49ers have a 17-10 halftime lead, the player whose initials occupy the square with a “7” for the 49ers and a “0” for the Chiefs is the winner.

Super Bowl squares rules

The game is played on a 10×10 grid with a “home” team row on top and the “visitor” column on the side. So in this year’s matchup, the Chiefs would be across the top and the 49ers would be down the side.

A grid starts with 100 “squares.” You can make the grid on a poster board or and it helps to have those squares labeled from 1-100.

The next step is filling out the board. That needs to be done before you randomly draw the numbers for each team.

(SN illustration)

How Super Bowl squares are picked

How should you pick a square? There is no exact science. What is your lucky number? A birthday? A jersey number? A number with sentimental value? The truth is it doesn’t matter.

Invite friends, family, co-workers and party guests to play in the game. Have them pick a square and sign their name or initials on it.

The numbers for the Chiefs and 49ers will be drawn at random once all the boxes in the 100-square grid are filled.

If you select multiple squares in the same row or column, then that decreases the number combinations you will have because you will only have one number for one of the two teams.

The board is filled when all 100 squares have been assigned. You cannot draw numbers unless all of the squares are full.

Another way to play: You can also use “winning score” and “losing score” instead of the team names for a more complex pool, but for the sake of simplicity we will stick with “Chiefs” and “49ers.”

MORE: Tracking the best Super Bowl 58 commercials

What are the best numbers for Super Bowl squares?

Most Super Bowl squares pools give a prize at the end of the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter and the final score.

There have been a total of 228 winning number combinations in Super Bowl history (which is a limited sample size), but here’s how those combinations have hit by quarter. The home team is on the horizontal access and the road team is on the vertical axis.

Last year, the four Eagles and Chiefs were tied 7-7 in the first quarter. Philadelphia led 24-14 at halftime and 27-21 after the third quarter. Kansas City won 38-35.

That means the winning combinations were 7-7, 4-4, 7-1 and 5-8.

In the history of the Super Bowl, the four best combinations have been 0-0 (19 times), 0-3 (13 times), 0-7 (11 times) and 7-0 (10 times) and 3-7 (10 times). Surprisingly, 7-7 (8 times) has not hit as many times as those other combinations.

COMBO	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	SUM
1	0	0	1	1	2	1	4	1	0	2	12
2	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	4	8
3	2	0	8	2	0	2	7	0	1	13	35
4	3	0	4	6	0	0	5	1	1	5	25
5	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	7
6	1	0	6	0	0	3	4	4	2	5	25
7	3	1	10	6	0	2	8	0	0	10	40
8	0	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	6
9	3	1	0	1	1	0	3	1	0	5	15
0	3	0	7	7	1	2	11	3	2	19	55
SUM	17	4	37	25	5	10	46	10	7	67	228

How to draw numbers for squares

You should designate a person to hold a drawing to randomly place numbers 0-9 across the Chiefs row and the 49ers column. Post-It notes, an online number generator or a deck of cards are options for the drawing.

Another way to play: You could also do a 25-square grid where each home and road team gets two numbers instead of one. In that case, each player would have two numbers for each team. This is a good way to make the game fun at smaller gatherings.

Once the board is full, each player has two numbers for each team instead of one.

How do you win Super Bowl squares?

Most standard Super Bowl squares pools pay a winner after the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter and final score. How is that determined? Go back to those numbers of “7” and “0.”

That player would win if the 49ers lead 7-0 after the first quarter or Chiefs lead 10-7 after the second quarter. The magic “number” is always the last number in the score. Obviously, 7, 3 and 0 are among the most-popular numbers, even if it doesn’t always shake out that way.