March Madness squares 2027

The men's college basketball tournament puts 67 games on the schedule in about three weeks, and every one of them is a squares game. Brackets are over on day two for most people. A squares board keeps everyone in it until the final buzzer, because the numbers are random and nobody needs to know who the 12 seed is.

The 2027 tournament dates

• Selection Sunday: March 14, 2027
• First Four: March 16 and 17
• First round: March 18 and 19
• Final Four: April 3
• National championship: April 5, 2027, Ford Field, Detroit

Halves, not quarters

Men's college basketball plays two 20-minute halves, so a March Madness board pays twice: at halftime and on the final score. In Boxpick the standard split is 40% at halftime and 60% on the final, and hosts with the pass can change it. Overtime counts toward the final score.

One game, one board

Squares is one grid per game, so plan which games get a board. Most groups do one or more of these:

• Every game your school plays, for as long as it lasts
• The Saturday and Sunday games of the first weekend
• The Final Four and the championship, for the whole office

The guide to running a pool covers pricing and collecting; it works the same for basketball.

Why tournament squares are fair

Basketball scores finish all over the place, so the last digit is close to a coin flip across 0 through 9. Unlike football, almost no square is dead before tip-off, which is a big part of why squares works so well for a 68-team field full of teams nobody has seen play.

Setting it up in Boxpick

Tournament games appear in Boxpick on the day they are scheduled. Open Create a board, tap the College pill with the basketball icon, move to the game's day with the arrows, and search for the team. Name the board, set the price per square, and share the link. Players claim squares from any phone, no app needed. Tournament boards are part of the Basketball Pass or the All Sports Pass.