Commissioner setup guide

Event Bingo — Commissioner Setup Guide

Our own format, and the one you cannot run anywhere else: every player gets a 5×5 card of things that can happen in the game, and it marks itself from the live play-by-play. One game or a whole series, any number of players, and no grid of 100 to fill.

Watch parties, booster clubs & anyone whose squares grid never fills · 7 min read

Event Bingo is our own format and ChooseASquare is the only place it runs. Every player gets a 5×5 card of things that can actually happen in the game — a three-and-out, a pick six, a leadoff walk, a called third strike — and the squares mark themselves from the live play-by-play. Nothing to tap, nothing to claim, no numbers to memorise.

It exists because of the way squares pools fail. A grid wants 100 squares sold, and a grid that never fills is the most common reason a pool dies; worse, once the numbers are drawn a squares player can be mathematically out by halftime and still have three quarters to sit through. Bingo has no board to fill — it runs the same with four of you or four hundred — and every card is alive to the final out.

A pool can be a single game or a whole series. Pick one game for a Super Bowl party or one World Series night, or pick every game of a series and each player is dealt a fresh card for each game. A row, column or diagonal takes that game's prize, and if nobody gets there the prize rolls into the next game.

Football and baseball both run today. Each has its own measured square library, and the sport is chosen when you create the pool — it decides the squares, the scoring and the live feed.

Creating the pool

From your org console, New contest → Event Bingo. Five choices and you are done.

Which sport: Football or baseball. This decides everything downstream — the square library (122 football squares, 92 baseball), the scoring and which live feed we poll. It cannot be mixed: a football pool is dealt football squares and nothing else.
What is this pool for?: Just for fun, free with prizes, a prize pool, or a fundraiser. This decides whether we ask you about money at all, and it is what tells the rest of the console (and your players) which kind of pool this is. You can change it later on the Settings tab.
Pool name & series name: The pool name is what commissioners and players see at the top; the series name is the label players see for the run of games ("World Series", "Week 1"). Both are suggestions until you change them, and they follow the sport you pick.
Entry fee per card: Only asked if the pool charges. Every card bought adds this to the pot. Players pay you directly — we never hold the money and never take a percentage.
Which games: Straight from the real schedule, never typed. Pick one game or as many as you like; one card is dealt per player per game. Picking from the schedule is what makes the pool score itself — every game carries its provider id, so we can follow its play-by-play.

When players see their card

On the contest's Settings tab. Two options, and the right one depends on how your group buys.

Show on purchase: The default. A player sees each card the moment they buy it, and can buy another if they do not like the one they got. This is the right setting for most pools, because buying a second card is most of the fun and nobody can judge that decision blind.
Seal until first pitch: Nobody sees any card until the game starts, so everyone finds out at the same moment. Fairest when everybody buys exactly once, and the better choice if you are selling cards in person over a week.
Cards per player: Leave it unlimited, or cap it. A cap is worth setting when the pot is split and you do not want one person holding a third of it.

How a game pays

Set this BEFORE the first card is dealt. It is frozen once anybody holds a card — two people who paid the same price must be playing the same game.

Everyone with a bingo shares: The default. Every card with a completed line splits that game's prize equally. There is no race and it does not matter when anybody looks at their card — which is what lets people enjoy the game instead of refreshing a phone.
First card to bingo wins it: One winner takes the game's prize. We settle it by replaying the finished play-by-play to find the exact play each card completed its line on, so nobody wins by being quick on their phone and nobody has to be watching. If two cards get there on the same play, they share.
Prizes per game: The pot is what players pay in, less your cut, split evenly across your games until you say otherwise. Give a particular game a bigger share from the Prizes tab — a final worth double, say.
When nobody makes a line: That game's prize rolls into the next game of the series and the pot builds. On a single-game pool the closest card takes it — ranked by the best line, then by how many squares were marked.
Commissioner cutPro: Take a percentage, a flat amount, or a per-entry amount off the top for your program. The prize players see is always shown net of it.

While the game runs

There is nothing for you to do here. This section is what to tell players when they ask.

The squares mark themselves: We read the live play-by-play and mark each square the moment it happens. A card updates on its own; nobody has to claim anything or shout first.
Players can tap their own squares: For the fun of it, as they watch. Those marks are explicitly NOT official and never decide a prize — the card shows the difference, and ours are the ones that count.
If we miss one, or fire one wrongly: A player can flag a square from their card. We re-check it against the play-by-play and, if they are right, correct it for everybody in that game — not just the person who flagged it.
Printing cards: One per sheet, or four to a page to cut up and hand round, for the people at the party who will not open an app. Marked squares print filled and carry a tick, so a photocopy still reads.

Where the squares come from

Worth knowing, because it is the question a sceptical player asks.

Every square was measured: Each one was checked against real games to find how often it actually occurs — baseball against a decade of postseason games, football against all 285 completed games of the 2025 NFL season — and the card is built from that measurement rather than from somebody's guess.
Why that matters: It is what keeps a game from being decided in the second inning or never decided at all. The mix of easy and hard squares on a card is tuned so a game is neither a coin flip nor a lottery.
Every rule is published: The full dictionaries are public and need no account: /contests/event-bingo/squares for baseball, /contests/event-bingo/squares/football for football. "Runners on the corners" means second base is empty; "a punt of 50+ yards" is the kick, not the kick plus the return. Each square says exactly what it counts, before anybody plays.
One season for football, ten for baseball: Deliberate. The rule book moves — the dynamic kickoff arrived in 2024 and turned "a kickoff returned past the 25" from a coin flip into something that happens in nearly every game. Banding football against ten old seasons would have handed a free square to every card holding it.

What it costs

Free for up to 10 players: No card, no trial, no feature held back.
Beyond 10: A Contest Pass sized to your pool, or any paid plan. A pass covers that one contest; a plan covers everything you run.
Your players never pay us: There is no platform fee and no percentage. Entry fees go straight to you by whatever method you have set up.

FAQ

How is this different from squares?

A squares grid gives you two digits and a fixed outcome: once the numbers are drawn you either can win or you cannot, and plenty of people know by halftime that they cannot. Bingo gives everybody a card of things that might happen, so every card is still alive at the final out. It also does not need 100 people — there is no board to fill.

Can I run it for just one game?

Yes. Pick a single game at setup — a Super Bowl party, one World Series night, a Monday nighter. Or pick every game of a series and each player gets a fresh card for each one. The prize ladder follows whichever you choose.

How many players do I need?

As many as you have. Four at a bar or four hundred in a booster club runs the same, because nothing has to sell out before the pool works.

Do players have to watch and mark their own card?

No. We read the live play-by-play and mark every square the moment it happens. They can tap their own squares as they watch if they enjoy that, but it is for fun — ours decide the prize and the card shows which is which.

What happens if nobody gets a bingo?

On a series, that game's prize rolls into the next game and the pot builds. On a single-game pool, the closest card takes it — ranked by the best line, then by how many squares were marked.

Can more than one person win?

Under the default, yes — every card with a completed line shares that game's prize equally, so a game can make several people's night. Switch to "first card to bingo" if you want one winner, but choose before the first card is dealt: it is frozen after that.

Which sports can I run?

Football and baseball today, each with its own measured library. You choose the sport when you create the pool and it decides the squares, the scoring and the live feed. Other sports follow the same shape.

Somebody says a square should have marked. What do I do?

Nothing — they can flag it from their own card. We re-check it against the play-by-play and, if they are right, correct it for everybody in that game.

Can we play on paper?

Yes. Print cards one per sheet or four to a page. The pool still scores itself, so the printed cards are for the room rather than for the maths.

Ready to run yours?

Set it up in a few minutes — every option here is right there in the wizard.

Start an Event Bingo pool →