Tired of a busted bracket?
Looking for an alternative to the all-or-nothing nature of your group or office NCAA tournament pool once your champion gets knocked out? Why not try March Madness squares instead?
March Madness squares take the guesswork out and give you a chance to win every single game. Sounds great, right? We know the next question:
"How do I play March Madness squares?"
It’s a lot like the Super Bowl squares game – but the March Madness squares pool is better because there are more chances to win. You can play a Men's Bracket and a Women's Bracket game, too.
It is a game of chance – yes, that means luck – but didn’t you say the same thing about the person that won your NCAA Tournament bracket last year? Who took Florida Atlantic and San Diego State again? This game of chance gives every player two "numbers" to follow. It’s a twist on March Madness that you might enjoy.
Sporting News has a guide for all those questions, including rules, tips and a printable squares grid.
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How to play March Madness squares
The March Madness squares game is easy to play. Here is the five-step process to get your party game started. The key terms are "squares," "numbers" and "board."
- Print a 10x10 grid with 100 "squares" on it or set one up virtually using one of the many free sites out there.
- Include an extra blank row (horizontal) and column (vertical) for drawing numbers. This is how you match the "numbers" to the corresponding "squares."
- Get your co-workers and any other players to select "squares" by signing their name of initials within the grid. Each square is worth one entry.
- The "board." is set when all 100 squares are filled. It is required to fill out the entire board before "numbers" are drawn.
- Draw "numbers'' from 0-9 at random for both teams and fill the extra row with the horizontal row and vertical column. A "square" matches those two numbers on the horizontal row and vertical column. Again, there is no skill involved. The drawing is random.
- Winners are traditionally determined by the second digits of the score at the end of each quarter.
March Madness squares rules
March Madness squares are a little bit different than Super Bowl squares in that there are more chances to win.
Super Bowl squares are played on a 10x10 grid with a "home" team row on top and the "visitor" column on the side. So in this year's matchup, the Chiefs won 25-22. The person with a “5” for Kansas City and a “2” for the final score was the winner.
March Madness squares are played on the same 10x10 grid, but the “winning” team is on the top and the “losing” team is down the side. What is different? Every game in the tournament is rewarded. So, there are 63 games that the winning combination of numbers is good for (67 if your pool includes the four First Four games).
A grid starts with 100 "squares." You can make the grid on a poster board or and it helps to have those squares labeled from 1-100.
The next step is filling out the board. That needs to be done before you randomly draw the numbers for each team.
PRINTABLE: Download a 2024 March Madness bracket here
How March Madness squares are picked
How should you pick a square? There is no exact science. What was your basketball jersey number? A year your team won the championship? A birthday?
Invite friends, family, co-workers and party guests to play in the game. Have them pick a square and sign their name or initials on it.
The numbers for the winning team and losing team will be drawn at random once all the boxes in the 100-square grid are filled.
Should you select multiple squares in the same row or column? That matters more in Super Bowl squares, where you are limited to one number for one of two teams. In March Madness squares, that matters less because you are getting numbers for different games.
If you select multiple squares in the same row or column, then that decreases the number combinations you will have because you will only have one number for one of the two teams. The board is filled when all 100 squares have been assigned. You cannot draw numbers unless all of the squares are full.
What are the best numbers for March Madness squares?
Super Bowl squares tend to favor numbers such as 0-0, 0-3 and 7-0 because those are among the most-frequent scores in Super Bowl history.
Basketball obviously is different, and the final scores are much more randomized. In, 2021, Business Insider reported that the average NCAA tournament score was 77-68. Does that mean that “7” and “8” is the best combination for March Madness quotes? Not necessarily,
The last 10 national championship games have produced 10 different number combinations, though the losing team has hit “9” in the final game each of the last two seasons. UConn beat San Diego State 76-59 last year, and Kansas State beat North Carolina 72-69 the previous year.
EXPERT PICKS: DeCourcy (UConn) | Bender (UConn) | Iyer (UConn) | Yanchulis (South Carolina women)
How to draw numbers for squares
You should designate a person to hold a drawing to randomly place numbers 0-9 across the winning team and losing team columns. Post-It notes, an online number generator or a deck of cards are options for the drawing. Some pools like to record the drawing – like a mini Selection Show – so all the participants can see how the numbers were drawn.
Another way to play: If the pool is large enough, you can pay out the half-time and final score for each tournament game. This is another way to include more winners in the game.
How do you win March Madness squares?
Most standard Super Bowl squares pools pay a winner after the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter and final score.
March Madness square pools are different in that they pay the final score from each of the 63 tournament games. Typically, the reward increases with each round – so the Final Four and national championship game scores would be rewarded more than the 32 first-round tournament games.
The bonus? Your bracket cannot be busted after the first round. You have a chance to win all the way through the Final Four.
Some March Madness square pools also reward the half-time score.
How do you win? If the final score of a tournament game is 71-68, then you match that score to your numbers. If you have “1” for the winning team, and “8” for the losing team, then you would win that “square.”
Printable March Madness squares grid
Need a printable grid for your March Madness squares? Now you know the rules, here is a PDF version:
You can download your March Madness squares grid by clicking here:
