Football squares template: printable grid vs app
If you searched for a squares template, you are about to host a pool. Good news: the grid itself is simple, and you have two ways to run it. Here is exactly what a template needs, where paper works fine, and where it falls apart.
What a squares template actually is
A 10x10 grid, 100 squares total. One team gets the columns, the other gets the rows. The numbers 0 through 9 go across the top and down the side, but not until after every square is claimed. Players write their names in squares first, then the numbers are drawn randomly. Add a title, the price per square, and the payout structure, and that is the entire template. Any spreadsheet can produce one in five minutes: an 11x11 table with one extra row and column for the numbers.
When a printable template is fine
Paper has real charm, and for one situation it works: everyone is physically in the same room for the whole game, the group is small, and someone reliable owns the pen. A Super Bowl party of ten people who all arrive before kickoff can absolutely run on a printed grid taped to the fridge.
Where paper falls apart
The problems show up as soon as real life does. Someone is not at the party, so you are texting photos of the grid that are out of date the moment you send them. The draw needs witnesses, or you get the classic conversation about who pulled the numbers and when. Quarter winners need a referee to notice the quarter ended, do the last-digit math, and announce it, four times, during a party. And payment tracking lives in someone's head, which means whoever ran the grid spends the next week texting three people about $10. None of these are disasters. They are just the reasons squares pools quietly stopped happening in a lot of friend groups.
The app version of the template
Boxpick is the same 10x10 grid, minus every job listed above. Players claim squares from a shared link in their browser, no download or account needed. The number draw is an animated reveal everyone watches at once, on their own phone or on the TV. Live scores come in automatically and the winning square lights up at the end of each quarter. The host marks who has paid with a tap. The grid is identical to the one on the poster board. The difference is that nobody has to operate it.
Cost, since templates are usually free
Joining a Boxpick board is free, and hosting your first board is free with standard payouts, so the app costs the same as the printout for most groups: nothing. Hosts who run multiple boards or want custom payout splits can go Pro for $9.99 a year, with no per-board fees.
How many squares are in a football squares template?
100. The grid is 10 columns by 10 rows, with one team assigned to each axis and the digits 0 through 9 drawn randomly for the rows and columns after all squares are claimed.
Do players pick their numbers on the template?
No. Players claim squares first, while the grid edges are still blank. The numbers are drawn afterward, randomly, so every square has an equal chance at the good digits.
Can I run a squares pool if some players are not at the party?
On paper it is clumsy. With Boxpick, remote players claim squares and watch the live board from a shared browser link, so distance stops mattering.
Is there a free way to run football squares?
Yes, twice over. A homemade printed grid is free, and hosting your first Boxpick board is also free, with free joining for every player and no per-board fees.
Skip the printer
The same 100 square grid, with live scores, an animated draw, and winners that light up on their own.
