This suggests that the history of scratch cards goes back a lot further than the 1980s. However, the patent office noted that 'instant game tickets comprising of a card having game playing indicia imprinted on a window thereon and a removable opaque layer covering the window' had been around for several years. Scratch cards were officially patented in 1987 by Astro-Med Inc.
Due to this simple gameplay, the games have also made their way online with a very similar design and feel as the offline cards. Similar to matching symbols at the reel of slot machines, the aim of the game is to match varying numbers of symbols according to the rules of the card to win a prize. Beneath this foil are symbols or numbers that equate to prizes. How often should you find a winning scratch off ticket?Īs we briefly mentioned above, scratch cards are cardboard sheets covered in scratchable foil.
