How to Do a Football Pool Quarter by Quarter

Football pools are a way to get fans, even novice ones, more interested in a big football game such as the Super Bowl. With football squares, a person pays an entry fee and chooses a blank box as their own. If they happen to end up having the box that corresponds with one of the quarterly scores or the final score, they can win their money back 25 times over, maybe more. Setting up the squares, having competitors make their selection and choosing the numbers randomly are the important parts of setting up a football pool quarter by quarter.

Things You'll Need

  • Ruler or straight edge
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Instructions

    • 1

      Set up your squares. Create a box on a sheet of paper or posterboard, using a ruler or straight edge. Draw a line just below the top of the box, leaving 1/2 of space in between. Draw a line next to the far-left edge in the same manner. Draw nine lines vertically, the same distance apart inside the box, then draw nine line horizontally using the same method. List the competing teams for the game you have chosen in the small blank area at the top and on the side.

    • 2

      Pass the sheet around to friends, family and other potential players. Have them fill in one or several squares with their name or initials and pay their entry fee. Do this until all of the squares are filled. Place slips of paper with number 0 through 9 written on them in a receptacle, such as a hat. Have a non-player (or a couple of competitors) witness as you pull out numbers randomly and enter them, in the order they were pulled, onto the small vertical boxes at the top of the sheet. Repeat for the numbers on the side, as well.

    • 3

      Make sure that all competitors understand the rules. Alert them that the last digit of the score at the end of the each quarter will dictate the first winner. For example, if the home team scores 10 points and the visiting team scores 7 in the first quarter, whoever has their name in the corresponding box -- with "7-0" -- would be the first quarter winner.

    • 4

      Repeat this scoring tally for the remaining quarters of the game. Determine payout ahead of time. In general, payout is usually 25 percent of the pot for each quarter winner, although some pools weigh the final score a little heavier, so that the first three quarterly winners get 20 percent of the pot each and the person who has the square with the final score's digits gets 40 percent of the pot.

    • 5

      Try to sell all the squares, if possible, but have rules in place in case you are not able to do so. For scores during the game that end up on a blank square, carry over the winnings from that quarter to the next quarter. Create a tiebreaker system, such as each team's first downs or total yardage, and use those digits as the final number if the score of the game ends on a blank square.