There is provided a shuffled playing card, wherein a suit and a rank are printed on one surface of a card base sheet, and a back pattern is printed on another surface, different sheet IDs for one card base sheet or each of a plurality of card base sheets are printed on the card base sheet, one deck or a plurality of decks are formed by individual cards cut by a cutting machine from the card base sheet, the one deck or the plurality of decks are shuffled by a shuffle machine to form a set of shuffled playing cards, different shuffled playing card IDs for each set are assigned to the shuffled playing card as ID codes, and the sheet ID of the playing card constituting the shuffled playing card and the shuffled playing card ID are associated with each other in a database.

A redundantly printed security-enhanced document, printing method and system are provided for ensuring the meaning of the information imparted by variable indicia printed on documents with removable scratch-off coatings by the redundant printing. By printing the variable indicia with multiple colors, redundancy and integrity of the intended indicia is achieved. Additionally, inverted color indicia countermeasures to pinprick attacks are also disclosed. The redundantly printed document, methods and systems enhance the overall appearance of the redundantly printed document, and reduce the consequences possibly resulting from misprinted variable indicia.

A printing method or system for making a security-enhanced scratch-off document and the document so made are disclosed. The security-enhanced document includes a substrate, variable indicia, at least one other printed portion having background noise, and a scratch-off-coating layer applied over the variable indicia to maintain the variable indicia unreadable until the scratch-off-coating is removed by being scratched off. The variable indicia includes ink having a signal-to-noise ratio relative to the background ink noise of the document's at least one other printed portion, such that the variable indicia are unreadable with reference to the at least one other printed portion when the scratch-off-coating remains intact. Additionally, digitally imaging countermeasures to unassisted and assisted mechanical SOC lift are also disclosed. These methods and systems enhance the overall appearance of the ticket as well as potentially reduce the time and setup costs between print runs.

A method and system include digitally imaging a secure portion and a non-secure portion of scratch-off coating protected gaming documents of at least one game, the gaming documents including variable indicia, the gaming documents and the at least one game being associated with at least one overall print run, each print run including (i) a plurality of non-winning gaming documents and (ii) a plurality of winning gaming documents determined by revealing secure variable indicia according to predetermined game programming, and wherein at least the secure portion of digital imaging is hidden under the scratch-off coating. The secure portion can be encrypted into ciphertext with the non-secure portion remaining plaintext or cleartext. This enables digital imaging on demand across a local or distributed network of both secure and non-secure areas of instant lottery tickets or other documents having scratch-off coatings.

A lottery game system, product and method employs multiple connected crossword grids, where players can employ a set of player letters to form words within the crossword grids. In various embodiments of the present invention, a total number of potentially winnable prizes is provided, with a first subset of the potentially winnable prizes associated with the first crossword grid, a second subset of the potentially winnable prizes associated with the second crossword grid, and a third subset of the potentially winnable prizes associated with the first and second crossword grids together. In various embodiments, at least one game play element is not in either the first or second grids and is not player indicia.

A game ticket printed on a ticket substrate includes a first surface portion with a first game play area thereon and a second surface portion of the substrate with a second game play area. Each of said first and second game play areas contains game play symbols printed on the game play area covered by a scratch-off material. The ticket can be modified by folding or by separating portions so as to provide movement of the second game play area relative to said game play information to allow playing by the player of the game symbols on the second play area. The ticket includes a single prize validated by a single bar code and the result of a combination of both the first and second aspects of the play.

A lottery system, ticket product and method incorporate a lottery ticket product having encrypted planar displays, wherein results are revealed through malforming the ticket, such as by manipulating the ticket to decrypt information contained on the ticket.

A computer-implemented method and system are provided for enabling digital imaging of both secure and non-secure areas of instant lottery tickets on demand across a geographically diverse network. Instant lottery tickets produced with this system accommodate smaller volume print runs, process color, and a greater level of customization.

A security-enhanced document includes a substrate; at least one lower portion of graphic imaging with or without first variable indicia directly or indirectly digitally imaged on the substrate; at least one release coat applied over the lower portion; at least one SOC applied over the release coat to maintain the lower portion imaging unreadable until removal of the SOC; and at least one overprint upper portion with digital imaging of second variable indicia over the SOC, the overprint upper portion being registered to cover at least a part of the imaging of the lower portion, the overprint upper portion being associated with the lower portion, such that the upper portion has at least one associated feature imaged with respect to a visual or thematic aspect of the lower portion. The document enhances the popularity and fun of games using the document, and may expand the consumer base for the games.

A method and system include digitally imaging a secure portion and a non-secure portion of scratch-off coating protected gaming documents of at least one game, the gaming documents including variable indicia, the gaming documents and the at least one game being associated with at least one overall print run, each print run including (i) a plurality of non-winning gaming documents and (ii) a plurality of winning gaming documents determined by revealing secure variable indicia according to predetermined game programming, and wherein at least the secure portion of digital imaging is hidden under the scratch-off coating. The secure portion can be encrypted into ciphertext with the non-secure portion remaining plaintext or cleartext. This enables digital imaging on demand across a local or distributed network of both secure and non-secure areas of instant lottery tickets or other documents having scratch-off coatings.