What is football squares?
Football squares is the easiest game to play with a crowd during a football game. There's no strategy and no football knowledge required, just a grid, a few friends and a little luck.
A board is a 10×10 grid: 100 squares. One team goes across the top and the other down the side. Everyone claims squares, by writing their name in them on paper or, on JaxSquares, by tapping them. Once the board is full, the numbers 0 to 9 are drawn at random across the top and again down the side, so every square ends up with one digit for each team.
When a quarter ends, look at the last digit of each team's score. If it's Hawks 17, Wolves 14, the winning square is where the Hawks 7 meets the Wolves 4. That's the whole game. Because the numbers are drawn after everyone picks, nobody can grab the "good" squares, and the person who has never watched a down has exactly the same chance as the superfan.
How a game of squares works
Make the board
Pick the game, choose when squares win (every quarter is the classic) and set how many squares each person can take.
Fill the squares
Share the board and let everyone claim their squares. Each pick shows up for everyone right away.
Draw the numbers
Once the picks are in, the digits 0 to 9 are shuffled across the top and down the side. Now every square has its two numbers.
Watch the score
At the end of each quarter, the square matching the last digit of each team's score wins.
Ways to play
- Every quarter
- Winners at the end of Q1, at halftime, at the end of Q3 and at the final score. The classic.
- Halftime and final
- Two winners, so each one is a bigger moment.
- Final score
- One winner, decided by the final score, overtime included.
- Every score
- Each time the scoreboard changes, the square matching the new score wins. It keeps everyone in it all game.
- Reverse winners
- The square with the two digits swapped wins too, so at 17–14 both the 7–4 and the 4–7 squares win.
- 10×10 or 5×5
- 100 squares for a big group, or 25 squares, with two numbers per row and column, for a small one.
The full rules guide covers each of these in detail, plus what to do when a winning square is empty.
Why run your squares on JaxSquares
A live board
Every pick, the draw and every score land on every phone within a second. No refreshing, and no more “can someone send a photo of the sheet?”
Every score, on its own
Link your board to a real pro or college game and the scores fill in by themselves. Typing in your own matchup? A score takes two taps.
Free to set up
Making a board, inviting your group and picking squares cost nothing. Players never pay to join.
Made for phones
Built for one hand on the couch: big tap targets, a dark theme for the TV room, and a gold glow when your square hits.
No app needed
Friends tap the link and they're in, with no download and no account. Same room? Show a QR code or a six-character board code.
Fair by design
The numbers are drawn at random after the board locks, every pick is visible to everyone, and a square limit stops one person taking half the board.
Squares for every game
The big game in February is the biggest squares day of the year, and the big game squares guide covers planning a board for a party, an office or a family group chat. Running a board every week? NFL squares has ideas for Sunday afternoons, prime-time games, Thanksgiving and the playoffs.
College fans get a full slate every Saturday, plus rivalry week and bowl season: see college football squares. And if you'd like a sheet for the fridge door too, grab a free printable football squares template. Each one has a QR code that turns it into a live board.
Squares isn't just for football, either. Basketball squares works the same way for NBA, WNBA and college games, and the March Madness squares guide covers a board for every tournament game. On a soccer squares board, every square is a minute of the match and each goal's minute wins.
Prizes without the awkward part
JaxSquares never collects, holds or sends money, and nobody pays anyone through the app. If your group likes to play for something, the host can show a square price and prizes on the board as plain information, in dollars or in points, so everyone sees the rules before they pick. Any settling up happens among yourselves.
Plenty of groups skip amounts entirely. Mark the board Just for fun, or add a prize note like “Loser brings the wings” or “Winner picks the halftime playlist.”
Questions people ask
Is JaxSquares free?
Making a board, inviting your group and claiming squares cost nothing, players never pay to join, and drawing the numbers is free on a board of up to 5 players. Bigger boards have a small host fee, paid by the host when they draw the numbers and shown clearly before they pay.
Do my friends need to download an app?
No. They open the link you send, pick a name, a color and an emoji, and tap their squares. It works in any phone or computer browser.
How are the numbers drawn?
At random, once the host locks the board. The digits 0 to 9 are shuffled once for the top and once for the side, and every phone sees the result at the same moment.
What happens if the winning square is empty?
Decide that before kickoff. Common house rules are to carry that prize to the next period or to give it to the nearest claimed square. On JaxSquares the host can also pick a winner by hand.
Can people play from different places?
Yes. Everyone follows the same live board on their own phone, wherever they're watching, so the cousin across the country is as much in it as the people on the couch.
Does JaxSquares handle any money?
No. JaxSquares never collects, holds or sends money between players. A square price or prize amount on a board is information the host chooses to show, and any settling up happens among the players.
Make your board in a minute
Pick the game, text the link, and let the scores do the rest. Your friends don't need to download a thing.
Free to set up and invite. Players never need an app or an account.