The short answer
Everybody writes their name in some boxes. Then the digits 0–9 are drawn at random for the rows and columns. At the end of each quarter, the last digit of each team's score picks the winning box.
The grid
A squares pool is a ten by ten grid — one hundred boxes. One team's name goes across the top, the other down the left side. Everyone writes their name in as many boxes as they want to buy.
The boxes are blank at this point, and that is deliberate. Nobody knows which square is good yet, so every square costs the same and is worth the same.
Then the numbers
Once every box is claimed, the organizer draws the digits 0 through 9 in random order across the top, then again down the side. Each column and each row now has one digit.
This has to happen after the squares are sold. If people can see the numbers while they are choosing, they will take the good ones, and a pool that was pure luck stops being pure luck. It is the only rule in squares worth being strict about.
How a square wins
At the end of each quarter, take the last digit of each team's score. Find one digit across the top, the other down the side, and the square where they cross wins that quarter.
Say the score is 17–13. The last digits are 7 and 3, so the square sitting at column 7 and row 3 takes that payout. A 24–20 score pays 4 and 0. A 3–0 score pays 3 and 0. That is the entire calculation.
Nothing about the square's position matters — a square in the corner is worth exactly as much as one in the middle. Only the two digits matter.
Payouts
Most pools pay four times: first quarter, halftime, third quarter and the final score. A common split is 20% / 20% / 20% / 40%, which rewards the final result without making the first three quarters meaningless.
At $10 a square, a full grid collects $1,000 — so $200, $200, $200 and $400. Write whatever your group decides into the payout notes so it prints on the sheet. Written down beforehand beats remembered afterward.
Pickani does not handle money. It prints what you type and tracks who won; the organizer collects and pays.
Variations people play
Reverse squares
The reversed digits also win a smaller amount, so 17–13 pays both 7×3 and 3×7. Twice the winners.
Quarter rollover
If a quarter's winning square is unsold, that payout rolls into the next one instead of going back to the organizer.
50 and 25 squares
For smaller groups. Rows — and on a 25 square sheet, columns too — cover two digits each, so every score is still covered.
Score-change squares
Every score change pays out instead of every quarter. Fun, chaotic, and much harder to track on paper.
Questions
What if nobody buys a square that wins?
Your group decides in advance. The two common answers are that the payout rolls over into the next quarter, or that it goes back to the pot and is split at the end. Write it in the payout notes before the game.
Can I buy more than one square?
Almost always yes. Most pools have a handful of people taking five or ten squares each. Entering “Jamie x5” in Pickani gives Jamie five random squares.
Does overtime count?
The final payout uses the actual final score, so overtime counts. The third-quarter payout uses the score at the end of the third quarter.
Is this gambling?
That depends entirely on your jurisdiction, your workplace and whether money changes hands. Plenty of squares pools are played for nothing at all. Pickani does not take entries or pay winners — it makes the sheet.