The Iowa Lottery today is moving toward a new game it hopes will catch the attention of those who’ve grown up in the computer age. Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer says new electronic game cards that are about the size of a credit card are being distributed statewide beginning today (Monday). She says, “It’s called the electronic game card and Iowa Lottery players are the first in the world to get to play it. The first card that we’re releasing statewide is called ‘Quarterplay.’ And I think the name is pretty self explanatory. There are 80 plays on the card and each play costs a quarter, thus the name Quarter Play.” The card (shown above) is powered by a tiny battery, and players push the front of the card and watch three digital windows looking for winning combinations of numbers. She says players accumulate points by playing and at the end the card displays how many points you’ve won. Each point is worth a quarter, so 20 points equals five dollars. Neubauer says each card is a guaranteed winner, with prizes starting at three dollars and the top prize is 500 dollars. Neubauer says players take the cards in to redeem the prizes. She says the cards are aimed at younger people who grew up in the era of electronic game playing.She says they think the game will appeal to players of all ages, “But I really would look at this product that is something that isn’t your father’s or your grandfather’s lottery. You know, companies of all kinds are coming up with new products, and really need to come up with new products or they won’t be successful for long.” While you can throw the paper scratch tickets away, the new electronic cards also required the Iowa Lottery to come up with a new way to dispose of them.She says, “This is a plastic product and it does contain a button-cell battery and we wanted to make that it would be recycled.” Neubauer says they’re giving retailers little bins where people can put old cards that’ll be sent to a recycling center. Neubauer says a test of the game in Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Dubuque proved very successful and prompted them to move forward with the new game.
