Super Bowl squares is one of the simplest ways to get everyone at your party invested in the game, whether they bleed football or just showed up for the dip. You don’t need to know anything about the Seahawks or Patriots. You just need a square, a little luck, and a score that breaks your way at the end of a quarter.
The problem? Setting up a squares board the old-fashioned way is a pain. You need poster board, markers, a way to collect names, and someone willing to draw numbers out of a hat. If half your group is joining remotely, a piece of paper taped to a wall doesn’t exactly work.
That’s why we built a free Super Bowl squares generator that lets you create a shareable board in under a minute — no account, no app download, no cost. Below, we’ll walk through how the game works, how to get your board set up, and which numbers you actually want (and which ones you don’t).
Super Bowl squares heatmap
Historical frequency of last-digit score combinations across all Super Bowls (I–LVIII). Each cell shows how many times that digit pair appeared as a final or quarter-ending score.
Based on final scores and quarter-ending scores from Super Bowls I through LVIII. Scores ending in 0, 7, 3, and 4 are most common due to touchdown (7), field goal (3), and safety (2) scoring. Squares with digits 2, 5, 8, and 9 hit far less frequently.
How Super Bowl squares works
The game uses a 10×10 grid with 100 total squares. One team is assigned to the columns (top), the other to the rows (side). Here’s the setup:
Everyone picks squares by writing their name (or initials) in empty boxes on the grid. You can let people claim one square or several, depending on your group size. The key rule is that all 100 squares should be claimed before numbers are assigned.
Once the board is full, numbers 0 through 9 are randomly assigned to each row and each column. This randomization is critical — it means nobody gets to cherry-pick the good numbers, and everyone has equal odds going in.
At the end of each quarter, look at the last digit of each team’s score. The square where those two digits intersect is the winner. Most pools pay out after every quarter, with the biggest prize going to the person whose square matches the final score.
Quick example: If the Seahawks lead 17-14 at halftime, the winning square is Seahawks 7, Patriots 4. Whoever claimed that box collects the second-quarter prize.
The easiest way to set up Super Bowl squares online
Instead of hunting for a printable PDF, taping it to a wall, and texting photos of the grid to people who couldn’t make it, you can create a digital board here that handles everything automatically.
Here’s how it works:
- Create — Pick the Seahawks vs. Patriots matchup (it’s pre-loaded for Super Bowl LX) and name your board. Takes about 10 seconds.
- Share — You get a unique link. Text it, Slack it, drop it in your group chat. Anyone with the link can claim squares from their phone, tablet, or laptop. No app to download, no account to create.
- Lock and randomize — Once your board is full, lock it before kickoff. The tool randomly assigns numbers 0-9 to rows and columns automatically, so there’s no argument about whether the draw was fair.
- Watch it live — The board tracks the real-time score during the game and highlights the winning square at the end of each quarter. No more squinting at the TV and cross-referencing a crumpled grid.
You can also print the board or export it as a CSV if you want a physical backup at your party. But the main advantage is that remote friends, family across the country, or the coworker who’s “definitely coming” but will bail last minute can all participate from wherever they are.
Best numbers to have in Super Bowl squares
Not all squares are created equal. Because football has a specific scoring structure — touchdowns (6 points), extra points (1), field goals (3), two-point conversions (2), and safeties (2) — certain score-ending digits show up far more often than others.
The best individual numbers to land on are 0, 7, 3, and 4. Here’s why each one hits so frequently:
0 is the most common ending digit in football. Any score divisible by 10 (10, 20, 30) ends in zero, and 0-0 is the starting score of every game. The first quarter, before much scoring has happened, especially favors this number.
7 appears constantly because touchdowns plus extra points equal 7, and multiples of 7 (14, 21, 28) are staple football scores. A team that scores two touchdowns with successful PATs sits at 14 — ending digit 4 on one axis, often paired with 7 or 0 on the other.
3 shows up thanks to field goals. Scores of 3, 13, 23, and 33 are all common, and 3 is often the first non-zero digit on the board after an opening-drive field goal.
4 is the natural result of combining 7s and 3s. A team with a touchdown and a field goal has 10 (ending in 0), but 14, 24, and 34 are equally routine — all ending in 4.
Across all 59 Super Bowls, the five most common winning square combinations at the final score have been:
- 0-0 — appeared 20 times across all quarters
- 0-3 — 14 times
- 0-7 — 12 times
- 7-0 — 11 times
- 3-7 — 10 times
The single most frequent final-score ending in Super Bowl history is 7-4, which has occurred five times (scores of 7-14, 7-24, 37-24, 7-34, and 17-14).
Worst numbers to have in Super Bowl squares
On the flip side, some numbers are borderline hopeless. The worst individual numbers are 2, 5, 8, and 9.
2 requires a safety (rare — only happens a few times per NFL season) or a two-point conversion to land on an ending digit of 2. Scores like 12, 22, or 32 are uncommon.
5 needs an unusual scoring sequence to produce. A score of 5 requires a field goal plus a safety, or a touchdown with a failed extra point. Scores ending in 5 (15, 25, 35) are possible but infrequent.
8 typically requires a touchdown plus a two-point conversion (8 points) or specific combinations that get to 18, 28, etc. With NFL teams still converting the majority of extra points as kicks rather than two-point attempts, 8 stays rare.
9 is arguably the worst number in the game. Reaching a score ending in 9 almost always requires an unusual combination — like a safety plus a touchdown, or a field goal and two touchdowns with a missed PAT. Scores of 9, 19, and 29 hardly ever happen.
The five worst square combinations, based on NFL game data since 2000:
- 2-2 — the rarest combination, appearing fewer than 4 times in nearly 7,000 games
- 5-5
- 2-5 / 5-2
- 8-8
Of the 100 possible final-score digit combinations, 53 have never appeared in any Super Bowl final. Last year’s Eagles 40, Chiefs 22 finish gave us the first-ever 0-2 Super Bowl final score ending.
Super Bowl LX context: Seahawks vs. Patriots
For those factoring the matchup into their squares excitement, the Seahawks are currently 4.5-point favorites with the total (over/under) set at 45.5 points. That projects roughly to a final score in the range of 25-21 in Seattle’s favor.
An implied total of 45.5 suggests around eight scoring changes during the game, which means eight different opportunities for a new winning square combination — one at each score change — if your pool tracks live scoring, and at minimum four payout opportunities in a standard quarter-by-quarter format.
Americans are projected to legally wager a record $1.76 billion on Super Bowl LX, according to the American Gaming Association, up 27% from last year. Squares pools account for a big chunk of the casual, social side of that action.
Tips for running a better squares pool
Share early. Send your board link out at least a day before the game. The boards that fill up completely are always more fun, and people need time to claim squares before kickoff.
Fill the whole board. 100 squares with 100 different owners is the ideal. If you’re short on people, let everyone claim two or three squares. A half-empty board means fewer payouts and less energy.
Lock before kickoff. Numbers need to be randomized before the first snap. If you’re using the DeFi Rate squares tool, this happens automatically when you lock the board.
Set clear payouts upfront. Common structures are equal payouts per quarter, or a weighted split like 15% for Q1, 20% for Q2, 20% for Q3, and 45% for the final score. Make sure everyone knows the rules before the game starts.
Don’t stress your numbers. Since assignment is random, you have no control over which digits you get. That’s the beauty of the game — the person who doesn’t know a first down from a fumble has the same shot as the diehard fan. If you land on 0-7, celebrate. If you land on 5-9, pour yourself a drink, enjoy the game, and remember that unlikely things happen every Super Bowl.
