Soccer squares, one minute at a time

How soccer squares works

A soccer match can end 1–0, so the classic squares game, which reads the last digit of each team's score, would leave most of the board with nothing to cheer for all afternoon. Soccer squares uses the clock instead. The board is still a 10×10 grid of 100 squares, and everyone still claims their squares first. Then the digits 0 to 9 are drawn at random across the top, for the ones digit of the minute, and again down the side, for the tens digit. Every square ends up as one minute of the match, from 00 to 99.

When a goal goes in, read the minute the match shows. A goal in the 43rd minute wins for the square where the 4 row meets the 3 column. It doesn't matter which team scored, and an own goal counts like any other: a goal is a goal. Nobody knows which square is which minute when they pick, so the friend who has never watched a match has the same chance as the one who never misses one.

When squares win

Every goal

Each goal's minute wins, the first and the last included, so a match that ends 2–1 has three winners. The classic for a group that wants plenty of moments to cheer.

First & last goal

Two winners: the minute of the first goal, and the minute of the last one, settled at the final whistle.

Last goal

One winner: the minute of the match's last goal. A late goal changes everything.

One goal, one win

Every goal already includes the first and last goals, so a board plays every goal or the first and last goals, never both. No square wins the same goal twice.

Reverse winners

The minute with its digits swapped wins too, so a goal in the 43rd minute also wins for the 34th minute's square.

No goals

A 0–0 match still has a winner: the 00 square takes each of the board's goal winners, once.

10×10 or 5×5

100 squares for a big group, or 25 squares, with two digits per row and column, for a small one.

The numbers are drawn once and stay put for the whole match. A soccer board doesn't reshuffle at halftime: a minute is a minute in either half. The rules guide covers reverse winners, board sizes and what to do when a winning square is empty.

Stoppage time and extra time

The soccer clock has a few wrinkles, and the board handles each one the same way every time, so nobody has to argue about it at the final whistle.

First-half stoppage time

Counts as the 45th minute. A goal at 45+2' wins for the 45 square.

Second-half stoppage time

Runs on. A goal at 90+3' is the 93rd minute, so the 9 row belongs to the late drama.

Extra time

Keeps the last two digits: a goal in the 105th minute wins for the 05 square, and one in the 118th for 18. Stoppage time after 105 counts as the 105th minute, and after 120 it runs on, so 120+2' is 22.

Penalty shootouts

Don't count. Only goals scored while the match is played decide the winners.

Each row is a ten-minute stretch of the match. Goals come at any time, and late ones are common, so the squares in the 8 and 9 rows are never out of it until the final whistle.

Watch the clock, not just the score

In football squares, a quiet quarter means waiting. In soccer squares, every minute that ticks by hands the spotlight to the next square. On a linked match, the board follows the clock: the square for the current minute glows, so everyone can see whose square a goal would land on right now, and your board tells you how many minutes until one of yours comes up.

When a goal goes in, its minute and the winning square land on every phone within seconds, and anyone with notifications on hears about it. A goal in the 89th minute is just as big as one in the 9th, which makes the last few minutes of every half worth watching, even in a match that's already decided.

Link an MLS, NWSL, Premier League or LaLiga match

When you make a board, pick Soccer and then the league: MLS, NWSL, the Premier League, LaLiga, Liga MX or the Champions League. The next seven days of matches are listed by day, and you can pick a date to look further ahead. Link your board to a match and the goals fill in on their own, each with the minute the match showed.

Watching a match that isn't listed, like a youth tournament, a college game or your Sunday league? Type in any two teams instead and the host adds each goal: tap the team that scored, type the minute and any stoppage time, and the board shows whose square it is before you save. A goal entered wrong can be fixed or removed from the same screen.

• Weekend mornings: Premier League and LaLiga matches kick off early in the Americas, just right for a board over breakfast.
• Derby day: the rivalry match everyone in the group chat has an opinion about.
• MLS and NWSL nights: a full schedule from spring into fall, then the playoffs to close the season.
• Midweek in Europe: Champions League nights put the top clubs from across Europe on one schedule.
• Liga MX: a packed calendar and loud crowds, for the family group chat.

Why run your board on JaxSquares

Running a board for another sport too? The football squares guide covers the NFL and college seasons, and the basketball squares guide has the NBA, the WNBA and college hoops.

A printable soccer board

Soccer squares board

US Letter, landscape · PDF · 103 KB

A 100-square minute board: the tens down the side, the ones across the top, with lines for the first, every and last goal.

Download PDF

It prints on one Letter page, with the minute boxes across the top and down the side, lines for the first goal, each goal and the last goal, the stoppage-time rules and a QR code that turns it into a live board. The printable templates page has the football boards, an A4 board and a prize sheet.

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 breakfast next match day” or “Winner picks the next match we watch.”