:: Squares Pools

The standard rules

1. The commissioner attaches the grid to one game (or, in a Multi-Game pool, to a set of games).
2. Entrants claim squares on the grid until the commissioner locks it.
3. The commissioner draws the numbers. Each side of the grid gets the digits 0 through 9 in a random order, and the grid locks.
4. At each scoring checkpoint, the last digit of each team's total score picks out one square. Its owner wins that checkpoint's prize.
5. The pot is the number of claimed squares times the Price per Square, split across the checkpoints by the percentages the commissioner set.
6. A squares pool has no overall champion. Every checkpoint is its own prize.

Claiming squares

Any member of the pool can tap an open square to claim it. A square is named by its column letter (A–J, across the top) and row number (1–10, down the side), so the third column and seventh row is C7.

• Display names. A claim asks for the name that shows on the square. It defaults to your username and can be anything up to 20 characters, such as a friend's or a co-worker's name. If the name differs from your username, the grid shows your username underneath it.
• Max Squares per Entrant. The commissioner can cap how many squares each entrant may claim, from 1 to 100. At 0 the cap is Unlimited. The cap applies to entrants claiming for themselves; the commissioner can always assign beyond it.
• Changing your mind. Entrants can cancel their own squares, and the square opens back up for everyone, until the grid is locked.
• Squares that have already scored. Once a checkpoint has landed on a square, entrants can no longer claim or cancel it, because that would move a win that was already decided. Only the commissioner can change such a square, and the change is announced in the pool feed.

The commissioner works in Commish Mode on the grid itself. It can assign a square to any entrant, or write a custom name for someone who is not in the pool or not online, edit or remove any square, and keep editing after the grid is locked. Squares written under a custom name are billed to the commissioner on the Finances tab, and the custom name is what shows in the winner post if that square wins.

Locking the grid and drawing the numbers

By default the grid never locks or draws numbers automatically. The grid locks when the commissioner presses LOCK GRID or draws the numbers, and the commissioner can unlock it again. A locked grid stops entrants claiming and canceling, but not the commissioner.

The numbers are never filled in ahead of time. When the commissioner presses ASSIGN NUMBERS, each side of the grid gets its own random order of 0–9 and the grid locks. Because nobody knows which square will carry which digits until the draw, every square is an equal ticket at the moment it is claimed.

The Lock and Draw at Pool Start? setting can also automatically lock the grid and draw numbers when the game (the first game, in a Multi-Game pool) starts: choose Yes — Lock & Draw and the grid locks and the opening draw is made for you. Choose No — I'll Do It to lock and draw yourself. The automatic version only fires on a paid grid that has at least one claimed square.

A grid is paid for with a Squares Token, one per grid (two for a Multi-Game grid). The token is applied on the Pay for Pool tab or, if none has been applied, spent from the wallet of the commissioner who makes the first draw. Current token prices are listed in a pool's Pay for Pool tab, and on the Get Started => Pricing page.

The opening draw can be made any time once a game is attached. Re-draws open 24 hours before the game starts, and no draw can be made once the game is over. After the game ends, the commissioner has 48 hours to adjust winners and awards, and then the grid becomes read-only.

Which team is on which side

Grid Axes sets what the two sides represent:

• Home Team / Away Team. Columns are the home team's digits and rows are the away team's. This is fixed all game.
• Winning Team / Losing Team. Columns are the leading team's digits at each checkpoint and rows are the trailing team's. If the score is tied, both sides carry the same digit, so there is still exactly one winning square.

Checkpoints and how the pot splits

Scoring Checkpoints are the moments that pay. The commissioner ticks the ones the pool uses and gives each a percentage of the pot.

• NFL and college football: 1st Quarter, Halftime, 3rd Quarter and Final. The default is 20% for each of the first three and 40% for the Final.
• MLB: the 1st through 9th Inning and the Final, each a separate checkbox. The default is 7% for each inning and 37% for the Final. An unplayed bottom half counts as zero runs, so a skipped bottom of the ninth or a walk-off still scores the inning at the final score.

The score at a checkpoint is the running total at that boundary, not the points scored in that period. If it is 7–3 after the first quarter and each team scores another 10 and 7, the halftime score is 17–10 and the winning square sits at the digits 7 and 0. A checkpoint's prize is the pot times its percentage.

The percentages can add up to less than 100%: whatever is left over stays in the commissioner's Available balance in Grid Tools and can be paid out by hand with Declare an Award. They cannot add up to more than 100%. A pool with no Price per Square has a $0 pot, so no percentages are needed.

A prize that has already settled keeps its amount if squares are claimed or canceled afterwards. The commissioner can re-price settled prizes with Reprocess Scoring, which re-grades past checkpoints under the pool's current settings.

Auto-Process Winners

Yes — Auto-Process (the usual choice): each checkpoint's winning square is found from the live score, announced in the pool feed with the winner's name, the square, the score and the prize.

No — Commish Handles It: nothing is posted or awarded automatically. The commissioner pays out by declaring awards in Grid Tools. Any checkpoints you tick are still computed, but the winning square is shown only to the commissioner, as a reference. A pool created with Set a game later starts on this setting, because there are no live scores until a game is attached.

Overtime and extra innings

The Final checkpoint has a switch: Include Overtime in Final (or Include Extra Innings in Final in MLB). It is on by default.

• On. The Final is the score when the game ends, overtime included. The Final pays when the game is over.
• Off. The Final is the end-of-regulation score, which is the first four quarters or the first nine innings. It pays as soon as regulation ends, however long the game runs after that.

One draw or a new draw each period

Number Draws sets whether the digits stay put:

• One Draw. The commissioner draws once and the digits do not change, unless the commissioner re-draws by hand.
• Re-Draw Each Period. After the opening draw, fresh digits are drawn automatically after each scoring checkpoint. Because one lucky draw can otherwise decide several payouts, some groups prefer this. It is only available on a single-game pool with Auto-Process Winners on and at least two checkpoints ticked.

The commissioner can re-draw by hand in either mode with RE-DRAW NUMBERS, choosing the checkpoint the new digits start from. A checkpoint that has already paid keeps the digits it was scored with: only checkpoints that have not settled can be re-drawn. Once any checkpoint has settled, ASSIGN NUMBERS no longer works, and re-draws are the way to change the digits for what is left.

A worked example

An NFL pool at $10 a square has all 100 squares claimed, so the pot is $1,000. It uses the default split: 20% for the first three checkpoints and 40% for the Final, which is $200, $200, $200 and $400. The grid uses Home Team / Away Team, and overtime does not come into it. The game's total score at each checkpoint, and the digits that pick the winning square:

If the draw put the home team's 7 in column C and the away team's 0 in row 4, the owner of C4 wins both the Halftime and the Final prizes, $600 in all. One square can win more than once because the last digits repeat. Football scores land on 0, 3 and 7 more than on other digits, so which digits you draw matters, and that is why some pools re-draw each period.

When a winning square is unclaimed

If the winning square has no owner, the pool posts a no-winner message to the feed and the checkpoint's prize needs somewhere to go. Unclaimed Winning Squares sets where that is. It is available when Auto-Process Winners is on.

Commissioner Decides is the default. The other options apply from the moment they are saved: they never change a roll that has already been made. When there is nowhere left to roll to, such as an unclaimed Final, the prize goes back to the commissioner to award. Under Roll to the Last Game, the last game's own earlier checkpoints roll to that game's Final. On a Multi-Game grid under Roll to the Next Checkpoint or Roll to This Game's Final, When a Game's Final Is Unclaimed can send an unclaimed Final to the Final of the last game to start instead of back to the commissioner.

Multi-Game grids

Game Format is chosen when the pool is created and cannot be changed after. Single Game attaches the grid to one game. Multi-Game attaches one grid to a set of games, such as a week's NFL slate, a day of MLB, bowl season or the playoffs, and it uses 2 Squares Tokens instead of 1. A Multi-Game pool needs at least two games from one period, and only games that have not started are offered.

• One grid, one draw. The claims and the number draw are shared by every game, and every checkpoint you choose pays out in every game. Re-draws are not available on a Multi-Game grid once the first game starts, and Re-Draw Each Period is not offered.
• Each game gets a share of the pot. The checkpoint percentages then split that game's share. A prize is the pot times the game's share times the checkpoint percentage. The default checkpoint is the Final alone.
• Equal split. By default each of N games gets 1/N of the pot. In a 10-game pool with a $1,000 pot and only the Final ticked, each game's Final pays $100.
• Weight prizes by round. When the games span more than one playoff round, the commissioner can turn on this toggle so later rounds pay more. Each game in a round pays the same share, and the round shares cannot add up to more than 100% of the pot.
• Removing a game. If a game is postponed or canceled, the commissioner can remove it. Prizes it has already settled stand, and its unpaid share returns to Available.
• Ending. The pool is finished when every game still in it has settled its last checkpoint. The commissioner can adjust results for 48 hours after the last game ends.

For an NFL postseason grid, the weighting starts from a preset that roughly doubles each round. With a $1,000 pot and only the Final ticked:

Any cents left over by the rounding stay "Available" for the Commissioner to award manually. The checkpoint shares are editable, so this is a starting point and not a fixed rule.

Prices and payouts

The commissioner sets a Price per Square. ALA does not collect or pay out the money. For a priced pool the Finances tab shows what each entrant owes (their squares times the price) and the prizes each has won, so the group can settle up between themselves. A pool with no price still plays, and the commissioner can set any checkpoint's prize in dollars by hand, even on a free grid.

Play a squares pool

ALA hosts squares for the NFL, college football and MLB. To set one up, see the settings in Pool Settings, or go straight to Create a Pool. Other pool terms are in the glossary.

Keep reading

• ALA Pool Formats: ExplainedGuides to Survivor, Confidence, Pick'em, Credit, and other pool formats
• Sports Pool GlossaryPlain-English definitions for the terms you'll meet in survivor, pick'em, confidence and margin pools.
• How to Run a Survivor PoolA commissioner's checklist, from choosing the rules to crowning the last entry standing.

Ready to set one up? Create a pool. Creating one is free, and the commissioner's pool fee is due 7 days after the pool starts.