A good football watch party runs on two clocks at once: the game itself, and everything happening around it. Get the setup right before kickoff and you won't be scrambling to explain the squares grid while everyone's already watching the opening drive.
Set up squares before anyone arrives
A 10 by 10 football squares grid is the single game every watch party should have, and it only works if it's taped up somewhere visible and filled in before the game starts. Assign numbers to the rows and columns at the coin toss, not during the first quarter, so there's no argument about when the grid locked. Keep it for fun rather than money if you've got guests who'd rather not wager anything.
Bingo for the whole broadcast
A bingo card built around things that happen in every football broadcast (a coach throws a challenge flag, an analyst says "line of scrimmage" twice in one sentence) gives guests something to track through four quarters instead of just the plays. Running a few different card layouts keeps one person from bingo-ing out in the first quarter.
Prop picks and a commercial scorecard for the ad breaks
Twenty prop picks, locked in at the coin toss, give people something to argue about every time the broadcast cuts away, and a commercial scorecard turns the ad breaks themselves into something worth watching instead of a bathroom break. Both are especially good for guests who are there more for the party than the game.
Trivia for the fans who actually want to be tested
Twenty football trivia questions with an answer key work as a pregame activity or a halftime filler, and keeping the questions on rules and basics rather than obscure stats means even a casual fan can hold their own at the table.
Judge the food like it matters
If your party has a chili, wing or dip cook-off (and most do), use secret ballots and numbered dishes instead of a show of hands. People take more care with a dish when they know it's being judged fairly, and it gives the room something to do at halftime besides watch recap shows.
Running the day
Set up the squares grid and tape the bingo cards out before guests arrive. Lock in prop picks at the coin toss, run bingo and the commercial scorecard through the whole broadcast, and save the cook-off vote for halftime, when the room's gathered around the food table anyway. Hand out the trivia round whenever the game slows down.
Our Football Party Games kit has all of this ready to print: eight games, a 10 by 10 squares grid, six Game Day Bingo cards, 20 prop picks, football trivia with an answer key and chili and wing cook-off ballots, for 6 to 40 guests. Nothing is played for money.