Buccaneers vs Chiefs: how to play Super Bowl squares

When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the Kansas City chiefs in Super Bowl LV on Sunday, many NFL fans will be making the occasion that little bit more interesting by playing Super Bowl squares with their friends and family.

Here’s a brief rundown on how you too can enjoy the popular game while you watch Bucs quarter-back Tom Brady bid to win an unprecedented seventh NFL championship ring.

Super Bowl news:

Super Bowl squares explained

Preparing your Super Bowl squares grid:

The first thing you need to do is draw up a grid 10 boxes high and 10 boxes wide. Next, assign the columns to one of the Super Bowl teams and the rows to the other, leaving you with something that should look like this:

Players then purchase the boxes they want, paying a pre-determined fee per square that is added to the winnings pot. Each player’s name is written inside the box(es) they have bought, leaving you with something like this:

The next step is to number the columns and rows at random from 0 to 9*, like so:

You can decide the order of the numbers by drawing them from a hat.

*You can also number the columns and rows before they're purchased, but it's preferable not to. Some players might have done the math on which numbers are the most likely to come up, so this way you can prevent the amateur statisticians in your group from gaining an unfair advantage.

How to play Super Bowl squares:

Now it’s game time.

After every quarter, the winner is the player whose box sits at the intersection between the final number of each Super Bowl team's score.

For example, using the grid in the last of the tweets above, if the Chiefs lead the Bucs 10-9 at the end of the first 15 minutes this weekend (what can I say, the teams came tearing out of the traps), that quarter’s winner will be Carol, because her box is where column number 0 meets row number 9.

If not every square on the grid has been bought and one of the jackpots goes to a box that is unaccounted for, those winnings are rolled over to the next quarter.

Final-score-only Super Bowl squares also an option

Some games of Super Bowl squares involve an equal jackpot for each quarter, while others make the prize for winning out on the final scoreline bigger.

Some people also play a variant of Super Bowl squares which, rather than involving a pay-out after every 15-minute period, only focuses on the end result.

Super Bowl LV: live updates

You can keep up with the latest news on Super Bowl LV by following our live blog building up to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs the Kansas City Chiefs.