10 Square Football Pool

How does a 10 square football pool work?

Ten players each claim a square, the digits 0 to 9 get randomized across the ten squares once they're all taken, and at the end of each quarter the last digit of the combined score picks the winner. Here's how Super Bowl LX would have played out on a 10 square board, with the winning squares marked by the same board Play Squares hosts run on game day.

Notice that the square marked 2 won twice, once on the 3rd quarter total of 12 and again on the final total of 42. That happens far more on a 10 square board than on the classic grid, so tell your group before the draw that a square simply wins again when its number comes up again, which is what most pools do. For a full walkthrough of reading every board size, see how to read football squares.

Running the printed sheet? Wait until all ten squares have a name, then use the football squares number generator to draw the numbers. Take only the top row of digits and write them into the Number column from top to bottom, one per square.

Which number wins most often on a 10 square board?

Early in the game the totals cluster hard on 7, 0 and 3, because football scores move in sevens and threes, but by the end of the game every number's chances are close to even. The table below adds up the real home and away scores from 1,424 NFL games across the 2021-2025 seasons and shows how often each number would have won.

The first quarter is the lopsided one, where a total ending in 7 or 0 wins more than a quarter of the time each and a 5 or an 8 almost never does. By the end of the game the gap shrinks to a few points either way, so the last prize is the closest thing to an even draw on the whole board. None of this gives anyone an edge, since nobody chooses their number and the digits are only randomized after every square is claimed. For the same data on the 100-square grid, the football squares odds tool looks up any pairing by quarter.

Should you run 10 squares, 25 or 100?

Run 10 squares when you want a board that fills fast and a game that anyone can follow from one number, and run 25 or 100 when your group wants the classic row-and-column grid. A small group can still fill a bigger board by taking several squares each, so pick the size by how many squares you want to fill and how your group likes to play.

The 25 square football pool page has a printable 5x5 sheet, and how many squares are in a football pool compares every size side by side. Whichever size you choose, the host decides what each scoring period wins before the numbers are drawn, and how hosts split the prizes covers the options.

Can you run a 10 square pool online?

Yes, and on Play Squares you pick 10 squares when you set up the board, share one link, and your players claim their own squares from their phones. Once every square is taken the numbers are randomized on the board itself, and for NFL and college football games the score is tracked automatically.

While a quarter is still being played, the board highlights the number that's on track to win if the score holds, so nobody has to add up the score in their head or text you to ask whether their number is still alive. The football squares online page walks through how a board runs on game day, and Super Bowl squares covers the same setup for a party crowd, where a 10 square board is a quick side game for the people who've never held a square before.