Super Bowl Squares for the Commercials

How to play

It works just like regular Super Bowl squares. The one twist: instead of numbers along the top and side, you use the names of popular companies, and the commercials decide the winners.

Create your grid. Draw a 4x4 grid on paper, 16 squares in all. More people in the room? Add rows and columns to fit the crowd.
Sell the squares. Charge a set price per square (I use $2) and let people buy as many as they want to boost their odds. Write each buyer's name in the squares they claim, and fill the whole board before you label anything.
Set the board: companies, not numbers. Once every square is claimed, label the axes. Columns across the top are the NFC, the food and car ads. Rows down the left are the AFC, the beverage ads. Assign one company to each row and column. Now every square sits at the intersection of two brands.
Score the commercials. A commercial airing counts as a score change, and only one row or one column moves at a time, matching the last ad shown. Say a Bud Light ad airs first: everyone in the Bud Light row is live. A Toyota ad airs next: whoever owns the Bud Light and Toyota square is now leading. Then M&Ms airs: the Bud Light and M&Ms square takes the lead. The leading square keeps sliding to the last commercial shown.
Pay out every quarter. Whoever holds the leading square when a quarter ends wins that quarter's pot. Whoever is leading when the game ends is the champion.

A blank 4 by 4 Super Bowl Squares grid drawn on paper — Start with an empty 4x4 grid.

A filled Super Bowl Squares board with NFC food and car brands across the top, AFC beverage brands down the side, players' names in the squares, and a payouts box — Companies label the top and side, players' names fill the squares, payouts in the corner.

NFC National Food & Cars, across the top

M&Ms, Toyota, Hyundai, Pringles, Avocados from Mexico, Doritos, Ram, WeatherTech, Kia, Burger King, McDonald's.

AFC American Fizzy Club, down the left

Bud Light, Budweiser, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Michelob Ultra, Stella, Bubly, Mountain Dew, Coors Light, Busch.

Mix in other categories if you like: insurance, movies, digital products, cell carriers. T-Mobile, Walmart, and Amazon are solid subs. Just don't get duped by pizza companies, they barely show up in the Super Bowl.

Settle the negotiable rulings first

Before kickoff, decide whether sub-brands count under the parent company. If a square says Budweiser and a Bud Light ad airs, does that count? What about the seltzer they keep pushing? Make the call before you start, not mid-argument.

Payouts based on $2 a square

End of Q1 $2
Halftime $10
End of Q3 $2
End of game $18

Whoever wins the game gets crowned champion, their praises sung across social media for one full day. Post the winning board and tag @hijoemartin, I'd love to see how your game turned out.

Read the full write-up

Super Bowl Squares,
for the commercials.

Show me your squares board.