The hours pile up like the empty paint cans littering his backyard.

All have been used to transform a well-groomed backyard into a you-gotta-see-it-to-believe-it miniature Super Bowl field.

In the past month, John Rau has spent more than 100 hours and used more than 30 cans of spray paint to create what he calls "Backyard at Royal Kunia," a replica field of today's Super Bowl, which is being held in Miami.

In its fifth year, it has become an affair complete with tiny bleachers, goalposts, scoreboard, tunnel and smoke machine, and, one year, a miniature blimp.

"Every year I think we can't do it anymore," said Rau, 38. "But it's exciting to do. Even if it's hard to do, it's exciting."

"(We've become) sort of obsessed," said Rau's wife, Dionne, 32. "I told him it's like our tradition now."

Rau begins his work in the first weeks of January. He spends countless hours, starting from when he gets off work as a produce manager at Mililani Safeway in the morning until past midnight. He's averaged five hours of sleep the past few weeks.

"I heard on the radio, the announcers were saying they should get rid of the two-week break between the league championships and the Super Bowl," John said. "I was like, 'Nooooooo.' "

The tradition started in 2003 with friendly verbal sparring between Dionne, a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan, and her friends, who are Oakland Raiders fans, when those teams were playing in Super Bowl XXXVII. It ended with Rau spending hours painting his lawn and hoping he wasn't killing it.

Every year he's elevated his "game."

This year, it is lining the field with 2-foot-by-2-foot plywood squares covered in team logos in black, gray and white — 30 in all, for the non-Super Bowl teams. The Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears each receive their own larger, colorful plywood that goes up next to the scoreboard.

The first year, 12 people showed up for the bash. This year, the Raus expect close to 60.

"It kind of blew everyone away," longtime friend Teena Hokama said of the first year Rau decorated. "From the first year, we were all impressed he went through all that trouble."

Now, all they know is it will be "amazing," and that it is "going to top the previous years," said Hokama, 32, a state employee from Honolulu. "I'm sure he has something special in store for all of us."

The first year she saw the backyard, "I didn't have any idea he was doing it," Hokama said. "But when we first saw it, it was, 'Oh, my God. Who did all this?' And when John said he did it, you believed it."

Rau, whose real sports passion is baseball, cheers for the Minnesota Vikings and Twins.

He has been waiting every year for the Vikings, Dionne said.

"He always tell me, if the Vikings get in, he's going to make the whole field Vikings, and I told him he can't," she said.

The Raus split duties to prepare for the party.

Dionne, a preschool teacher, manages household duties, including watching their two children, Evan, 3 years old, and Kaliyah, 19 months, while John has full creative control over the backyard. This past week, both have taken time off for work for final preparations.

"I just usually let him go and do his thing," Dionne said.

Hokama said their group of friends appreciates what the Raus do.

"I don't think any of us would go through all that trouble," Hokama said. "He does it for everybody. He's very generous in that way.

"We didn't expect it to be to this extent. It's amazing what he does and how much work he puts into it."

Hokama and her boyfriend Justin Oshiro have attended all of Rau's Super Bowl parties.

"We always look forward to the Super Bowl, because we know the field is going to be out there," Hokama said. "And he's going to top himself from the previous year."

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.