Help & FAQ
How Blocklock keeps score, what it does when a game does not go to plan, and how to reach a person.
Where do the scores come from?
Blocklock reads ESPN’s public scoreboard. While a game is live, the score poller checks it every 15 seconds, from about 20 minutes before kickoff until roughly seven hours after. What the board shows is what ESPN reports.
Blocklock is not affiliated with ESPN, the NFL, the NCAA, or any team. If ESPN and the league’s official record ever disagree, the official record governs and the commissioner settles on that basis.
What if a score is corrected or a play is overturned on review?
On every-score boards, a scoring play has to hold for about a minute before it pays, so a touchdown that comes off the board on review never pays out first. If ESPN removes a scoring play after it has already posted, that result comes off the board and everyone with alerts on gets a “Score overturned on review” notification.
Quarter results post once the quarter is over and stand as posted.
What happens if a game is delayed, postponed, or cancelled?
Delayed the same day (weather, a long stoppage): the board keeps following the game. Blocklock follows a game for about seven hours after its scheduled kickoff.
Postponed or rescheduled: Blocklock re-checks the league schedule for every board’s game once an hour. When a kickoff moves, the board’s kickoff moves with it and the change is shown at the top of the board. A board that had not locked yet stays open until the new kickoff, or until it fills. A board that had already locked stays locked, the digits never change, and scores post when the game is played.
Cancelled: the board says so at the top. There is no final score, so no further results are posted. Anything that already paid (a first-quarter result, say) stands as posted. What happens to the money is the commissioner’s call. Blocklock never holds it.
Does overtime count?
Yes. On every-score boards, overtime scores count like any other score. On quarter boards, the final result uses the final score, overtime included; the third-quarter result still pays at the end of the third quarter.
When does a board lock, and can the digits change?
The board locks the instant the 100th square is claimed, or at kickoff, whichever comes first. The digits are drawn on the server at that moment and can never be redrawn, not by the commissioner and not by us. If ESPN is unreachable at kickoff, the board still locks on time.
The commissioner can lock a board early from the device that created it, for example to start a half-full board. Unclaimed squares stay empty, and any result that lands on one pays nobody, so most groups fill the board first.
I lost my board link.
Commissioners: the link is in the “Your board is live” email we sent when you created the board. Everyone: open Blocklock on the phone you used and look under Your boards, which lists every board that device has opened. Finished games move to the past boards page.
To use your squares on a second device, open the board on the phone that holds them, tap “Using another device too?”, and follow the link it gives you.
Who pays the winners?
Blocklock keeps score: it posts who won what on the board, live, and keeps the results there after the game. The commissioner collects and pays out however the group already does. Blocklock never touches, holds, or moves money, and never asks for payment details.
Are squares pools legal?
Blocklock is a scorekeeping tool. Whether your group can play for stakes, and for how much, depends on where you live. That is between you and your group; please check your local rules before playing for money.
Alerts aren’t arriving on my phone.
On iPhone, Safari only allows notifications from sites added to the Home Screen: open the board, tap Share, choose Add to Home Screen, then open Blocklock from the icon and turn alerts on from the board. On Android, allow notifications when Chrome asks.
If alerts were working and stopped, check Focus and Do Not Disturb, then turn alerts off and on again from the board.
How do I remove a board, a name, or my email?
Email us the board link and what you want removed. Commissioners can clear a junk claim themselves from the device that created the board. We delete boards, squares, alert subscriptions, and commissioner emails on request; the privacy policy says what we keep and why.
Contact
Blocklock is a small shop. Email timothy.t.dolan@gmail.com with the board link and what you need. Expect a reply within a day, and faster on game day when a board is live.
New to squares? The rules, the best numbers, and fair payout splits are all under Squares 101.