Super Bowl 58 will feature two-time Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes II and Brock Purdy, the definitive Mr. Irrelevant story. Taylor Swift, winner of 12 Grammy Awards, could appear.
The entertainment value is high with the 49ers-Chiefs matchup, and there is a chance to cash in and get rich. It’s time to play for the Super Bowl spots.
“How do I play the Super Bowl boxes?”
This is always the first question for first-time players of 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.
Jugo Mobile has a guide for all those questions, including rules, tips and a printable grid of squares.
How to play the Super Bowl squares
The Super Bowl Squares game is easy to play. Here’s 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” or set one up virtually using one of the many free sites out there.
- Include an additional blank row (horizontal) and column (vertical) for drawing numbers. This is how the “numbers” are combined with the corresponding “squares”.
- Have your party guests, coworkers, and other players select squares by signing their initials inside the grid. Each square is worth one entry.
- The board.” is established when all 100 squares are filled. The entire board needs to be filled before the “numbers” are drawn.
- Draw “numbers” from 0 to 9 at random for both teams and fill in the extra row with the horizontal row and the vertical column. A “square” matches those two numbers in the horizontal row and vertical column. Again, there is no skill involved. It’s a random draw.
- Winners are traditionally determined based on 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 fill 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 at the top and the “away” column on the side. So in this year’s matchup, the Chiefs would be up and the 49ers would be down.
A grid starts with 100 “squares.” You can make the grid on poster board or it’s helpful to have those squares labeled 1-100.
The next step is to complete the board. This must be done before randomly drawing the numbers for each team.
How Super Bowl spots are chosen
How should you choose 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 that it doesn’t matter.
Invite friends, family, coworkers, and party guests to play. Ask them to choose a square and sign their name or initials on it.
The Chiefs and 49ers numbers will be drawn at random once all boxes on the 100-square grid are filled.
If you select multiple squares in the same row or column, that will decrease 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 spaces have been assigned. You can’t draw numbers unless all the squares are filled.
Another way to play: You can also use “winning score” and “losing score” instead of the team names for a more complex bracket, but for simplicity we’ll stick with “Chiefs” and “49ers.”
What are the best numbers for Super Bowl berths?
Most Super Bowl berth groups award 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 many those combinations have come in per quarter. The home team is in the horizontal access and the visiting team is in the vertical axis.
Last year, the four Eagles and Chiefs 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 Super Bowl history, 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) hasn’t been right as many times as those other combinations.
| COMBINED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | ADDITION |
| 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 | fifteen |
| 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 2 | eleven | 3 | 2 | 19 | 55 |
| ADDITION | 17 | 4 | 37 | 25 | 5 | 10 | 46 | 10 | 7 | 67 | 228 |
How to draw numbers for squares.
You must designate one person to conduct a drawing to randomly place the numbers 0 through 9 in the Chiefs row and the 49ers column. Post-It Notes, an online number generator, or a deck of cards are all options for drawing.
Another way to play: You can also make a 25-square grid where each home and away 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 spots for the Super Bowl?
Most standard Super Bowl square pools pay the 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 the 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, although this is not always the case.
Printable Super Bowl Squares Grid
Need a printable grid for your Super Bowl squares? Now that you know the rules, here’s a PDF version for Super Bowl 58.
You can download your Super Bowl square grid by clicking here:
