How to run a board

Pick your game from the NFL or college list, or enter your own matchup if it is not one ClaimMySquare already tracks. Set your price per square, that is what each player pays to claim a square. Then set what each quarter pays, forward and backwards.

The forward number is the normal payout, based on the last digit of each team's actual score. The backwards number pays the square that would have won if the two digits were flipped. Most hosts set backwards lower than forward, it rewards a near miss without taking away from the real winner.

Share one link in your group chat. Players open it, tap an open square, and type their name, no signup, no account, no password.

Squares come in as requests. You confirm each one once that person has settled up with you, cash, Cash App, Zelle, however your group already handles money. Confirming a square also marks it paid. If you need to walk that back, or if someone paid you outside of confirming, you can mark a square paid or unpaid separately at any time.

ClaimMySquare never touches the pot. You collect it however you already do, cash in hand or a payment app. The board just tracks who owes what and who has paid, so you are not scrolling back through old texts trying to remember who sent you money three weeks ago.

Private notes are yours alone. You can jot a reminder next to a square, a phone number, a "owes me from last time," anything, and players never see it. It is there for you, not for them.

Numbers are drawn automatically when the board fills up, or five minutes before kickoff, whichever happens first. Nobody, including you, can pick or preview the digits ahead of time. Once they are drawn, the board closes to new squares, so nobody can join after seeing which digits landed where.

Full detail on exactly how the draw works and why it cannot be rigged is on the how numbers are drawn page.

Scores come in from ESPN by themselves for real NFL and college games, you do not enter anything. The one exception is a custom game you created yourself, where you are the one typing scores in as they happen.

The payout report groups winners by person, so you know exactly who to pay and how much without adding it up yourself. There is a button to copy it as text for the group chat, and a button to save it as an image. Unclaimed winning squares show up in the report too, so the math always adds up even if a square never got claimed.

• Send the link early. Boards fill faster and with less chasing when people have a day or two, not fifteen minutes before kickoff.
• Four squares each is a good default for a family board, it lets more people play without any one person carrying the whole pot.
• Tell your iPhone people to install the app. On iPhone, alerts for quarter winners only work after installing to the home screen, see the get the app page.
• Print a copy for the wall if the older folks in your family still like a paper board to look at. The digital board stays the source of truth, the printout is just for the fridge.