Game show related lottery games

[PYLdude]

I was sort of inspired by Senor Henke's post about Wheel lottery games and since I didn't want to hijack the thread with what I want to ask I figure that, since a lot of lotteries have games branded with GS names/logos, I can't believe that they're ALL the same...so I ask those of you who have these games, how do you play them?

Example: I know there's a Minute to Win It game in New York and New Jersey but the New York one is on a larger ticket that costs $5 and the New Jersey one is a $2. The NJ one is a "match either one of two numbers" game, as is the Cash Cab game (which costs the same).

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[MikeK]

Most of the GS lottery games I have seen have been the variety of "match your numbers with the mystery numbers".  The last TPiR ticket in Ohio was that way, some 5 years ago.  The same goes for New York's Let's Make a Deal ticket from 2000.  The current Ohio Wheel of Fortune ticket is that way, but you have to match letters.

7 or 8 years ago, there was a $5 TPiR ticket with pricing games--two games, a showcase showdown where your number had to beat your opposition's, and the showcases where your bid had to match the ARP.  About 10 years ago, there was a $2 WoF ticket where you had a pool of 18-20 letters and you had to complete puzzles.  Complete a puzzle and win the prize attached to it.  Three years ago, around the time the syndicated Deal or No Deal premiered, Ohio had a $5 DoND ticket.  There was a game board with 19 slots, 14 had cash values and 5 had "NO DEAL".  After scratching 18 cases, you won whatever prize remained.  Simply put, if you had 5 cases with NO DEAL, you had a winner.  Like the current WoF promotion, randomly chosen lottery players from states with the DoND game were flown to LA to play some sort of unaired DoND game for cash.

[clemon79]

Three years ago, around the time the syndicated Deal or No Deal premiered, Ohio had a $5 DoND ticket.  There was a game board with 19 slots, 14 had cash values and 5 had "NO DEAL".  After scratching 18 cases, you won whatever prize remained.

Wait, so every single ticket was a potential winner?

That's fascinating. It also must have been a stone cold biatch to insure against.

[MikeK]

Three years ago, around the time the syndicated Deal or No Deal premiered, Ohio had a $5 DoND ticket.  There was a game board with 19 slots, 14 had cash values and 5 had "NO DEAL".  After scratching 18 cases, you won whatever prize remained.

Wait, so every single ticket was a potential winner?

That's fascinating. It also must have been a stone cold biatch to insure against.

No.  I think there was an error in the translation when I used the word "prize".  If you had a NO DEAL left, you won nothing.  If a cash prize remained, you won it.

[WilliamPorygon]

I think your wording gave Chris the impression that there were 19 cases, you scratched off 18 and won the value of whatever you didn't scratch off.  In actuality, there were only 18 cases to scratch off that you matched against the list of 19 potential prizes (well, 14 potential prizes and 5 "no deals").

Anyhow, pretty much every game show or otherwise branded scratcher I've seen in New York in the past ten years has been the basic "match one of your numbers to one of these numbers" game, even if it has jack squat to do with the format of the show.  I kind of get the impression that the lottery knows that people who are dumb enough to buy tickets regularly despite the terrible payout ratios are also too dumb to understand a game any more complicated than that.  (And given how frequently I saw discarded winners in the trash when I worked at the local supermarket, I can't really argue that they're wrong.)

[clemon79]

I think your wording gave Chris the impression that there were 19 cases, you scratched off 18 and won the value of whatever you didn't scratch off.  In actuality, there were only 18 cases to scratch off that you matched against the list of 19 potential prizes (well, 14 potential prizes and 5 "no deals").

Yes, precisely so. Your explanation makes a TON more sense.

I kind of get the impression that the lottery knows that people who are dumb enough to buy tickets regularly despite the terrible payout ratios are also too dumb to understand a game any more complicated than that.  (And given how frequently I saw discarded winners in the trash when I worked at the local supermarket, I can't really argue that they're wrong.)

Your newsletter. Let me subscribe to it.

/TELL me they let you dumpster-dive the winning tickets

[WilliamPorygon]

Your newsletter. Let me subscribe to it.

I'll let you know as soon as it's written up.  

/TELL me they let you dumpster-dive the winning tickets

As long as I did it during breaks or off the clock, they had no problem with it at all.  (Wegmans was actually a really nice place to work for, much more so than I ever gave them credit for when I was actually there, and now in retrospect I can see why they regularly make it near the top of Fortune's annual best companies to work for list.)

[Dbacksfan12]

I think your wording gave Chris the impression that there were 19 cases, you scratched off 18 and won the value of whatever you didn't scratch off.  In actuality, there were only 18 cases to scratch off that you matched against the list of 19 potential prizes (well, 14 potential prizes and 5 "no deals").

Yes, precisely so. Your explanation makes a TON more sense.

I kind of get the impression that the lottery knows that people who are dumb enough to buy tickets regularly despite the terrible payout ratios are also too dumb to understand a game any more complicated than that.  (And given how frequently I saw discarded winners in the trash when I worked at the local supermarket, I can't really argue that they're wrong.)

Your newsletter. Let me subscribe to it.

As someone who occasionally buys a ticket, I'll point out similar arguments have been made about people who watch the WWE.

[clemon79]

I kind of get the impression that the lottery knows that people who are dumb enough to buy tickets regularly

As someone who occasionally buys a ticket

Emphasis mine.

[WilliamPorygon]

Right.  I'm a fairly intelligent fellow, I know the odds are poor, and even I buy a ticket once in a while.  I'm talking about the folks who buy scratchers by the roll and spend a Benjamin on every drawing.