Football Grid Pool Rules

Football games are enjoyed by fans across North America. Some watch for the excitement of seeing two teams do battle for 60 minutes on the field. For others, the enjoyment can be found in other avenues, such as football pools. Running a football grid pool takes a little organization and cooperation, but can be done easily and is a popular way to generate more interest in the game.

  1. Filling Squares

    • Football grid pools are most commonly drawn on a piece of poster board. They measure 10 squares wide and 10 squares long for a total of 100 squares, with room to write in numbers for each row. Once an amount is set for each space, patrons are invited to purchase squares. Those who wish to play must write their name or initials in the space they choose and pay the pool operator the appropriate amount for the square. The person running the pool can decide whether to limit the number of squares a player can buy, but generally people are permitted to purchase as many as they would like. Once all 100 squares are filled, no one else can buy into the pool.

    Choosing Numbers

    • After all the squares are sold, the pool organizer completes the grid by assigning numbers to both the rows and the columns. This is commonly done using playing cards. Face cards should be removed from the deck. The pool organizer draws a card and writes the number on the card above the first square along the top row. (Aces represent one and 10's represent zero.) All cards of that denomination are then removed from the deck. The process continues until all 10 numbers have been assigned. The organizer then starts over and does the same for the 10 numbers written vertically along the side. By the time all numbers have been assigned, each square should have a horizontal and a vertical value assigned to it. The horizontal number will represent the "home score", while the vertical number represents the "visitor score." If there is no deck of cards available, the host may print out numbers 0 through 9 on separate squares of paper, then place them into a hat and draw them out at random.

    Format and Payouts

    • As the game is played, the end-of-quarter scores are used to decide the winners. Only the final digit of each team's score counts. For example, if the score at the end of one quarter is 7-6 for the home team, the player whose square lines up with the 7 on the horizontal line and the 6 on the vertical line wins the pool for that quarter. If the halftime score is 14-14, the player with the 4 on the horizontal line and the 4 on the vertical line wins that pot. Most grid pools award four prizes, one for each quarter of play. The payout can be done any number of ways, but in most pools the player with the square matching the final score is awarded half the total prize pool. The other 50 percent is divided among the other three winners, with the halftime winner often earning 20 percent of the total pot while the first and third-quarter winners taking home 15 percent of the total pot each.