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The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots meet in Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday. Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold and New England quarterback Drake Maye are making their first Super Bowl appearances.
Which quarterback will lead his team to the first score of the game and kick-start one of the most popular Super Bowl party games of all time? That’s when you might hear this question: “Who has 7-0?”
What are they talking about? That’s Super Bowl squares — a game of chance, a Super Bowl staple and a popular fundraiser — that makes the Super Bowl experience a little more fun. Each player gets two numbers in a square to track throughout the game.
Last year, the Eagles led the Chiefs 7-0 after the first quarter, meaning that number combination was a winner if you had “7” for the Eagles and “0” for the Chiefs. How do you get there? Sporting News has a guide that answers those questions, including rules, tips and a printable squares grid.
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How to play Super Bowl squares
The Super Bowl squares game is easy to play. Here is the six-step process to get your game started. The key terms to know are "squares," "numbers" and "board."
- Print out a 10x10 grid with 100 "squares" on it or set one up using one of the many free sites out there.
- Make sure the grid has an extra blank row (horizontal) and column (vertical) for drawing "numbers." This is how you match "numbers" to the "squares" on the "board."
- Fill in the "board." Ask guests, co-workers or other players to select squares by signing their initials within the grid. Each square is worth one entry. Typically, those "squares" inside the "board" are labeled 1-100. So square "25" would be the fifth square in the third row on the "board." There is no skill in picking a square.
- The "board" is set when all 100 "squares"are selected. 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. It is a random draw and a randomized game of chance.
- Winners are traditionally determined by the second digits of the score at the end of each quarter. For example, if the score is 0-0 after one quarter again, the player whose initials occupy the square with a "0" for the Eagles and a "0" for the Chiefs is the winner.
Super Bowl squares rules
The game is played on a 10x10 grid with a "home" team row on top and the "visitor" column on the side. So in this year's matchup, the Patriots would be across the top (horizontal) and the Seahawks would be down the side (vertical).
A grid starts with 100 "squares." You can make the grid on a poster board. 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.
How Super Bowl squares are picked
There is no exact science to picking a square, but participants sometimes choose numbers for sentimental reasons. It might be a birthday, a lucky number or, this year, a jersey number such as No. 10 for Maye or No. 14 for Darnold.
Next, fill out the board. Invite friends, family, co-workers and party guests to play. Have them pick a square and write their name or initials in it.
The numbers for the Patriots and Seahawks will be drawn at random once all the boxes in the 100-square grid are filled. Selecting multiple squares in the same row or column reduces the number of combinations you can have, as you will only have one number for one of the two teams.
The board is complete when all 100 squares have been assigned. Numbers cannot be drawn until every square is filled.
Another way to play is to use “winning score” and “losing score” instead of team names for a more complex pool. For the sake of simplicity, however, we will stick with “Patriots” and “Seahawks.”
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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 for the final score, which accounts for the fourth quarter and the possibility of overtime.
There have been a total of 236 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 Eagles led the Chiefs 7-0 after the first quarter and 17-0 at halftime. That means the combination of “7” for Eagles and “0” for Chiefs won the first quarter and second quarter. Philadelphia led 27-6 after the third quarter – so “7” and “6” won – and the final score of 40-22 meant that “0” and “2” hit for the final.
The final winning combinations were (starting with home team number first): 0-7, 0-7, 6-7 and 2-0.
In the history of the Super Bowl, the four best combinations have been 0-0 (20 times), 0-3 (14 times), 0-7 (12 times) and 7-0 (11 times) and 3-7 (10 times). Surprisingly, 7-7 (8 times) has not hit as many times as those other combinations. Here is a look at the most-frequent winning Super Bowl square combinations in Super Bowl history:
| 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 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 36 |
| 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 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 43 |
| 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 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 58 |
| SUM | 17 | 5 | 38 | 25 | 6 | 11 | 46 | 10 | 7 | 71 | 236 |
How to draw numbers for squares
Desinate a person to hold a drawing to randomly place numbers 0-9 across the Eagles row and the Chiefs column. Post-It notes, an online number generator or a deck of cards are options for the drawing. You can make the drawing fun by posting a video of it.
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. So, a player could have "3-0" for the Patriots and "6-7" for the Seahawks. That gives more winning combinations for the users. In this case, if New England leads 13-7 or Seattle leads 6-3, then that "square" wins. 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. Some pools award equal prizes for each quarter. Others, escalate the prize with each quarter and award more for the final score. Another Super Bowl squares game generating popularity is one where prizes are awarded for each score change. This is an “every score pays” model.
The standard game, however, pays by the end of each quarter.
How are those winners determined? Go back to those numbers of "7" for the Patriots and "0" for the Seahawks.
That player would win if the Patriots lead 7-0 at halftime or Seahawks win 20-17 for the final score. The magic "number" is always the last number in the score. Obviously, 7, 3 and 0 are among the most-popular numbers in this game, but it is not a guarantee for a win.
Printable Super Bowl squares grid
Need a printable grid for your Super Bowl squares? Now you know the rules, here is a PDF version for Super Bowl 60.
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