Circa Squares:
Super Bowl Squares are never going away, but Circa Sports has a new option in that market. Circa Squares are a little bit different than what is traditionally played at Super Bowl parties, around the office, or with family and friends. The base concept is similar, but the execution is where the differences lie.
Let’s start with an overview of Super Bowl Squares and then talk about what makes Circa’s version unique and potentially way more profitable with an eye on Super Bowl LX between the Seahawks and Patriots.
Super Bowl Squares Explained
Super Bowl Squares have been around a long time. It starts with a 10×10 grid with the AFC representative either across the top or down the left side and the NFC rep in the other position.
All of the squares need to be filled in before the numbers are drawn. Some boards might be $1 per square. Others might be $100 or more per square. Most are somewhere in between.
When all the squares are filled, numbers are randomly drawn for the columns and rows. The numbers correspond to the last digit of a team’s score based on whatever rules the contest is using. Most Super Bowl Squares contests will pay out prizes for the first, second, and third quarters, as well as the final score.
So, if the combination in your square is NFC 7, AFC 3 and it’s 7-3 NFC at the end of the first quarter, you’d win the prize for that quarter. If it’s 17-13 NFC at the end of the third quarter, you’d win the prize for that quarter. Similarly if you have AFC 4 and NFC 3 and the score is 14-13 AFC at halftime, you would win. The digit combination on the board dictates who wins.
There are all kinds of variations to this game, though. Some bigger pools might give money to the squares that are touching the winning square on the board. Others might pay the “inverse”, so the square with AFC 7, NFC 3 might win something in the above example. Some squares boards will use the same numbers for all four quarters. Others will change the numbers every quarter, which are randomly drawn before the game even begins.
The Super Bowl LIX quarter results were [NFC 7, AFC 0] (7-0), [NFC 4, AFC 0] (24-0), [NFC 4, AFC 6] (34-6), [NFC 0, AFC 2] (40-22).
Circa Super Bowl Squares Explained
What Circa does is different. Instead of picking a square and getting numbers randomly assigned to you, you bet into the square that you want. Each square is assigned its own odds. These can be bet at all physical Circa Sports locations and on the mobile apps in Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, and Missouri.
The minimum bet is $1 and the maximum payout on a square is $100,000. Players can choose to bet into squares for any of the first three quarters or the final score. Frequent landing numbers like 3, 7, and 0 have lower odds than infrequent landing numbers like 9 or 2, but that’s part of the gamble that you take with Circa Squares.
Using the example above of NFC 7, AFC 3 for the first quarter, that opened at +850 for Super Bowl LX in the first quarter. Last year’s Super Bowl was NFC 7, AFC 0 after the first quarter, which opened at +450 for this one between the Patriots and Seahawks. Much like traditional squares, it is based on the last digit of a team’s score.
The final score odds board had the lowest odds open at 20/1 (NFC 7, AFC 0; NFC 7, AFC 4) for Super Bowl LX. Super Bowl LIX finished NFC 0, AFC 2 (40-22) and the opening odds of that combination for Super Bowl LX were 95/1.
The odds on each of the Circa Squares could be adjusted as more bets come in, but your odds are locked in at the time that the bet is made. If making a bet at the counter, it is best to use the four-digit number above the odds called the Rotation Number to eliminate any confusion between you and the ticket writer.
To illustrate the odds and the format, here is a look at the Circa Squares odds board for the 1st Quarter and Final Score as of January 26:
1st Quarter
Final Score
For more on Circa Squares, check out the Circa Sports website.
