Super Bowl week usually includes the great tradition of the office pool.  Rather than a straight bet with a point spread, this pool involves picking boxes.  This draws even the non-football fan, as they can watch the big game with some interest, even when the commercials are over.

The Grid of Boxes

The pool involves a grid of boxes on a letter-sized piece of paper, usually printed landscape-style.  Each box represents the last number in the score for a particular quarter.  The sheet contains a total of 120 boxes laid out as shown below (click the image for a larger view):

As you can see, the grid is devoid of any numbers for the scores.  The yellow boxes will represent the scores for the Saints, while the green boxes will represent the scores for the Colts.  These scores will be picked after every white box has been selected by the pool participants.

Picking Your Boxes

The first step is finding out how much each box will cost you.  The higher the cost of the box, the bigger the potential payout.  It’s that risk vs. reward thing.  It really doesn’t matter which box you pick, as the scores will be selected randomly after all of the boxes have been claimed.  A rule of thumb that I use is to pick only one box per row and/or one box per column.  That way, if I get stuck with a lousy score of 5, it only ruins one of my selections.  Here’s what the sheet will look like when all of the boxes have been selected (click the image for a larger view):

Picking the Scores

The person who runs the pool will probably be the one who picks the random scores that will be used to fill in the yellow and green boxes.  They will certainly do this under some sort of supervision, as the witnesses will verify that the choices were random, and thus fair.  This can be done by putting pieces of paper numbered 0 through 9 in an envelope, and letting a neutral party pick them out one at a time for each specific box.  I’ve seen people use two sets of numbers, with the team name also written on each slip of paper.  Here’s what the sheet will look like after the scores have been picked (click the image for a larger view):

Sizing Up Your Chances of Winning

After the scores have been picked, you’ll receive a copy of the completed grid.  Now, you can see if you’ve got any chance of winning some loot.  Scores such as 3-0 and 7-0 are good for the end of the first quarter and first half.  The zero can represent 0 or 10.  If you get stuck with a 5 or an 8, you’d better hope for a high-scoring game.

The Payouts

Now we get to the important stuff.  You’ve plunked down your cash, and wound up with some potentially good boxes.  If you’re in a $10-a-box pool, the total payout will be $1,000 (100 boxes time $10 a piece).  In a simple pool, you’d get a set payout for the score at the end of each quarter.  For example, the payout schedule may look like this:

End of 1st Quarter: $100

Halftime: $200

End of 3rd Quarter: $300

Final Score: $400

So, if the score for the end of the 1st quarter is Saints 7, Colts 6, then Paulie would win $100:

If the final score is Colts 35, Saints 13, then Googs would win $400:

So, for Googs’ investment of $70 (7 boxes at $10 each), he pulled in $400, over a 500% return.  While I don’t advocate gambling for everyone, it sure keeps up your interest in a lopsided game.

As this is a primer on boxes, I didn’t get into some of the more advanced concepts like instant wins, satellite boxes, or the difference between the 4th quarter score versus an overtime score (a rather remote possibility, but they did come within 1:08 in Super Bowl XXXVIII).

If you’re not a big football fan, I hope this little primer helped, especially if you’re not a crazy American like me.  And even though the football Giants are sitting at home watching the game instead of playing in it, I’ll stay glued to the tube.  I think I have a decent shot of bringing home some dough this Sunday, and you can bet that the beer will be cold.  Good luck, and enjoy the game!

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