Are some numbers better?

Yes — football scores love certain digits. Touchdowns and field goals make 0, 7, 3, and 4 land far more often than 2, 5, 8, or 9. Across NFL history, the single best square on a classic board — home 7 against away 0 — wins around 7% of all periods, while the worst combinations win well under 1%.

Here's the thing: it doesn't matter when you claim. The digits are drawn *after* every square is taken, so picking early or late, corner or center, changes nothing — everyone buys the same lottery ticket. The 2-5 square was always going to be somebody's; you just find out whose at the draw.

And if the digit luck bothers you, that's exactly what the other formats are for:

• 5×5 gives every square two digits per team — the good digits spread across the whole board.

• Shotgun runs on the combined total, which mixes the digits thoroughly.

• Reverse pays both orders of the digits, so a "backwards" square still cashes.