Scratch cards, a now old phenomenon that is still very relevant today. It is, of course, a regular feature in any somewhat decent kiosk, where you buy a scratch card for a small fee. You scratch open the boxes and hope there is a nice prize behind them. When there is, you can cash it right away. Unless, of course, it is a substantial amount, in which case your details are noted and you are contacted.
This way of gambling has also found its way to the online casino and thus it is no longer necessary to go out the door. Moreover, it is good for the environment as it goes digital and there is no waste from used scratch cards.
How exactly does a scratch card work?
Scratch cards come in different shapes and sizes. The advantage of this game concept is that it is not bound by any specific rules in terms of layout and size. Thus, you can find scratch cards with a small number of slots to scratch open, but also huge cards. It just depends on how a game is set up and the concept is very simple both offline and online: all you have to do is scratch open the boxes.
Offline, you do that with a coin. For example; online, that could be rubbing your phone screen, or scratching with your mouse, as it were, to reveal what’s behind it. In that respect, it is a game that anyone can play, because per card, you basically scratch open everything that is covered. It doesn’t get much simpler than that, but of course that alone won’t get you there. This is because it is specifically about what lies behind the surface to be scratched away.
In many cases, symbols are used and they may recur more than once on a card. Thus, it is a matter of scratching out a certain amount of the symbols. This may or may not win you a prize. With the larger scratch cards, this also means that you have a chance of winning multiple prizes, as certain symbols regularly recur in large quantities.
How do you win with scratch cards?
As already mentioned, you need to find symbols that are the same. This varies greatly from one scratch card to another, but know that the advice is always to scratch away the entire surface. This is because for the game, it doesn’t matter if you leave a section closed, because in the end it’s all about what is hidden on the card as a whole. Therefore, don’t be stopped if you already have a winning combination, because who knows, there might be more to come.
By finding a certain number of symbols, you can win a prize. How that prize distribution is, however, varies from scratch card to scratch card and therefore cannot be explained in detail. However, it is a given that common symbols often don’t fetch much, so you hope for the special symbols that have a higher value. Should you have a few of those on your scratch card, it can be a very lucrative affair.
Depth in online scratch cards
The concept as described so far basically applies to both online and offline scratch cards. However, online there are many more possibilities thanks to the techniques, and needless to say, this concept has been increasingly developed over the years. This also makes several online casinos offer multiple variants of scratch cards, which come with an additional set of options/functions to make the game more exciting.
For instance, the more advanced games work with multipliers and jackpots, giving the game a much deeper layer right away. Think of it as a more varied version of the traditional scratch card. To give a few examples, we’d like to tell you how it can work like this.
Multiplier
On a scratch card, for example, you need to find three matching symbols and that will give you a prize. However, you can boost that prize by finding multipliers. These can also be hidden behind a square. The first thing to do is to get the three matching symbols in the first place. However, to then get the most out of it, you need to scratch open several multipliers, which multiply the amount in front of the symbols. For example, you can win €5 with a series of symbols, but if you then also have a multiplier of x100, the payout is not €5, but as much as €500.
Jackpot
Another form that is also regularly applied is the jackpot. This can be built up according to the players and their stakes. There can also be a fixed jackpot linked to a scratch card, where, in addition to playing for symbols to win, you also claim the jackpot. Here the concept is also simple, because in this case you hope that a jackpot symbol will come back several times on your scratch card. If that is the case, you not only grab the prize linked to the symbols, but also the jackpot, which sometimes runs into tons.
Extra bonus games
It doesn’t stop there in terms of the possibilities regarding scratch cards, because in some cases it even goes a step further. This is because some feature extra bonus games, which you can play if you are lucky. For instance, after collecting a certain number of symbols, you might get access to a bonus game. Through that kind of game, you could then potentially unlock additional multipliers, which increase your prize.
Explaining specifically how these kinds of games work is a bit tricky, as it varies from scratch card to scratch card. Besides, you only see this online, as this is not possible offline due to the simplicity of the concept. Online, of course, much more is technically possible. Developers therefore seek the depth with scratch cards, as the basic concept provides a solid foundation to build on.
Well-known games with high RTP
Considering scratch cards fall under traditional gambling games in the digital segment, an RTP applies to them. With a fully automated process, there is therefore a fixed ‘Return to Player’ to be established. Generally, this is relatively high. We explain more about exactly how the RTP works in this article.
Some games with a high RTP in the scratch cards category are:
- Lucky Numbers (96.57%)
- Whack a Jackpot (96.30%)
- Merlin’s Millions (95.17%)
- Pig Wizard (95.82%)
- Wish Upon a Jackpot (96.06%)
Most of the aforementioned games also come with bonus features. Think extra games or jackpots, as well as multipliers, which potentially win you even more.
In short
Scratch cards are thus very concise offline. You scratch and you see right away if you have won something. Online, the concept is identical, but digitised and supplemented by bonus features. However, both types of forms of scratch cards share the fact that they are generally very short games. They also excel in simplicity, making it accessible to everyone.
