Bowl game squares: a board a night through New Year's
Bowl season is the most football anyone watches in one stretch: a game nearly every night from mid-December through New Year's Day, with the family home and the TV on. It is also the easiest time to run squares, because the board does the work and the host just picks tonight's game.
Two ways to run bowl squares
- Marquee boards. Pick the four to six games your group cares about, usually the New Year's Six and the playoff games, and run a proper priced board on each. Share the links a few days ahead so they fill.
- A board a night. Low or no price, two or three squares each, drawn at dinner. The point is giving everyone a reason to watch a game between teams they have never heard of. The no-money squares guide has prize ideas that work for this.
Setting up each board
- In Boxpick, open Create a board, tap College, and search for either team. Bowl games show up in the picker as the matchups are announced, with team colors on the board.
- Set the price per square and the payout split, or leave the price blank for a just-for-fun board.
- Share the link. Players claim squares from the browser on any phone, no download.
- Draw the numbers before kickoff, on the TV if the room is full.
- Watch. The winning square lights up at the end of each quarter, with the payout shown, and the board tracks who has paid.
Bowl scores and your digits
Bowl games are college games, which means higher scores and wider digit spreads than the NFL. Teams playing with opt-outs and backup quarterbacks produce odd numbers too: a 23 to 14 third quarter is normal. Treat every square as live, and expect the final-score quarter to land on a digit the NFL rarely visits. The college football squares guide explains the shift.
The playoff boards
The College Football Playoff runs from the first-round games just before Christmas through the national championship in late January. Each round is its own board. Many groups run the playoff like a mini season: same players, same price, a running tally of who has won the most quarters, and a bigger board for the title game. The NFL version of that plan is in NFL playoff squares, and the two seasons overlap for most of January, so one group can run both.
What the Football Pass covers
Regular season college boards, including conference championship weekend, are free to host with no limit. Bowl games and the College Football Playoff are part of the Football Pass, one price for the season that also covers the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl. Not a subscription, nothing renews. Joining any board is free.
How do bowl game squares work?
Like any football squares board: 100 squares, random digits for each team, and the square matching the last digit of each score wins the quarter. Bowl season is unusual because there are dozens of games over about three weeks, so groups either pick a handful of marquee bowls or run a casual board a night.
Which bowl games are best for squares?
The ones your group will watch. The New Year's Six and the College Football Playoff games draw the biggest crowds, but a weeknight bowl between two teams nobody follows makes a fine family board because nobody has a rooting interest and everyone just wants their digits.
Can I run a board for the College Football Playoff?
Yes. In Boxpick, playoff games appear in the college picker as the bracket sets, from the first-round campus games through the semifinals and the national championship. Bowl and playoff boards are part of the Football Pass; regular season boards are free.
Do bowl boards need to be full before kickoff?
The numbers should be drawn before kickoff, and a board can be drawn with open squares. Many groups cap it at two or three squares a person so a 20-person family fills most of the grid, and leave the rest open for a smaller pot.
The whole bowl slate, one picker
Every bowl and playoff game shows up as it is set. Share the link and let the board follow the score.
