I've always loved Super Bowl commercials. So I built a version of Squares that rewards the ads, not the score. Now the people who don't care about football have the most fun in the room.
How to play
Draw the grid. A 4x4 grid of squares on paper. Going bigger? Expand the grid to fit the crowd.
Sell the squares. Set a price per square (I use $2), let people buy as many as they want, and fill the board.
Number the rows and columns. Randomly assign 0-3 (or 0-9 on a bigger board) across the top and down the side, after every square is claimed.
Score the commercials, not the game. Pick the categories that decide winners: funniest ad, best celebrity cameo, most talked-about, and match them to the grid. Pay out as the night goes.