SoCal Bong
Rotational Player and Threatening Starter's Job
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2004
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To make a game more interesting and keep everyone at a Super Bowl (or other football) party we like to play small-stake pools. I know that scoring grids are the universal super bowl pool but I’ve never found much entertainment value in it. You feel pretty stupid cheering for an 8 and a 6, or at least I do.
Here’s a game we play when we attend our alma mater college games but works just as well for watching with a small group at home or in a bar.
Everyone drops $1 in a cup or hat
One person holds the cup for one offensive play of the team we are rooting for. Cup does not move when team is on defense.
During that particular play the following can happen:
Win $1 for a completed pass or a first down (still just $1 even if both happen)
Win half the pot for a field goal or other non-TD score
Win the whole pot when a TD is scored
Pay $1 if none of the above happen and $2 if they commit a turnover
So you pass the cup after paying or collecting on each play and everyone antes up again after a TD or whenever the pot goes to zero. At the end of the game the person holding the cup on the last offensive snap collects the final pot.
At the Super Bowl party we are going to be at we’ll have people rooting for both sides so I’m thinking of trying another game I just thought of.
Say you have 15 people and again everyone starts by putting in $1. Everyone draws for #s 0 – 14. The # you draw represents the minute of the quarter in which you win if there is a score by either team (14 is the first minute and 0 is the last 60 seconds of the quarter). Example: Steelers score a TD at the 8:15 mark of the first quarter, the person with #8 would win the pot and everyone antes up again. Any non-TD score (FG, safety or drop kick) would win half the pot. If a turnover of any kind (fumble, interception, punt, missed FG) occurs during your minute then you add a buck.
The person with #0 would have an advantage since scores in the last minute of both halves are more common than other minutes of the game so it actually works better to have less than 15 people so that you can continue rotating #s. Alternatively you could re-draw #s every quarter.
Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions regarding these games or know of others that work well. We play similar games for baseball too but I won’t get into that right now.
Here’s a game we play when we attend our alma mater college games but works just as well for watching with a small group at home or in a bar.
Everyone drops $1 in a cup or hat
One person holds the cup for one offensive play of the team we are rooting for. Cup does not move when team is on defense.
During that particular play the following can happen:
Win $1 for a completed pass or a first down (still just $1 even if both happen)
Win half the pot for a field goal or other non-TD score
Win the whole pot when a TD is scored
Pay $1 if none of the above happen and $2 if they commit a turnover
So you pass the cup after paying or collecting on each play and everyone antes up again after a TD or whenever the pot goes to zero. At the end of the game the person holding the cup on the last offensive snap collects the final pot.
At the Super Bowl party we are going to be at we’ll have people rooting for both sides so I’m thinking of trying another game I just thought of.
Say you have 15 people and again everyone starts by putting in $1. Everyone draws for #s 0 – 14. The # you draw represents the minute of the quarter in which you win if there is a score by either team (14 is the first minute and 0 is the last 60 seconds of the quarter). Example: Steelers score a TD at the 8:15 mark of the first quarter, the person with #8 would win the pot and everyone antes up again. Any non-TD score (FG, safety or drop kick) would win half the pot. If a turnover of any kind (fumble, interception, punt, missed FG) occurs during your minute then you add a buck.
The person with #0 would have an advantage since scores in the last minute of both halves are more common than other minutes of the game so it actually works better to have less than 15 people so that you can continue rotating #s. Alternatively you could re-draw #s every quarter.
Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions regarding these games or know of others that work well. We play similar games for baseball too but I won’t get into that right now.
