Scratch cards consist of a base made from a choice of materials, including finished card, thick paper, plastic or laminated sheets. The second layer is a special scratch-off layer which is then added on top. This coating can be made from either an aluminium-based substance known as rub-removed latex or a glossy and metallic-looking foil.

Once the design is fed into the printing machine, cards will be produced that carry the standard information — such as contact details, terms and conditions, logos, etc, along with the variable aspects of the game to be found under the scratch-off area.

The cards then go through the foiling/latexing process. This produces a scratch-off area of uniform size and shape on each card.

Many modern-day scratch cards require the player to register online in order to either:

• Find out if they have won
• Pick up their prize

This creates a perfect opportunity to gather valuable data that can be used for marketing purposes. It also allows those who commissioned the scratch cards to track which prizes have been collected.

Scratch cards used as promotional material can be distributed in a number of ways:

• In store – your pack of scratch cards can be split evenly between the stores that will carry them. When this is the case, the cards can be given over the counter or handed out as a free gift with a purchase.
• At Event or Trade Shows – scratch cards can be given out at exhibitions or trade shows as a means to attract visitors to your stand and engage customers with your business.
• By mail – you may wish to send out scratch cards to your existing customers. This is often done as part of a promotion for new stock, a new store etc.
• On request – give customers the option of playing your game by including details on how to obtain a free scratch card within other marketing materials. This is another means of acquiring useful marketing data.

This is entirely down to you. A limit on when people can collect prizes might be required to coincide with the end of a promotion and the beginning of a new one. However, you could leave it open-ended to allow for the maximum amount of marketing value.

Some people may feel aggrieved when they find out that they are no longer able to claim their prize. One way of mitigating bad feelings is to state that all uncollected prizes will be donated to charity after a certain date.

The scratch off area can be any shape you like. In the past we’ve done scratch areas in the shape of a heart and the shape of an eye. A lot of our customers are after a simple rectangle and that’s fine too! A more unusual shape won’t cost you any more than a generic one. Cost is only likely to go up if you require a much bigger latex area on a big run.

Yes, we have the technology to assign a unique code to each scratch card or a particular code to a batch of scratch cards using a hexadecimal system that can be random or sequential. This means that different prizes can be assigned different prefixes, or different geographical areas can be assigned different codes. It also enables you to verify the legitimacy of any scratch card and helps you trace your cards. We can also foil with security holograms on to your scratch cards to help verify their authenticity.

The overwhelming majority of customers will opt for latex in its “natural” state i.e. in grey/silvery colour that most of us are familiar with. It’s the colour that is found on the majority of scratch cards. Gold is another alternative which is popular and won’t cost too much more to do. In theory, you can have the latex in a more inventive colour but this isn’t necessarily a cost-effective option.

Rub remove latex is the latex we use on our scratch cards. It is an aluminium paste mixed into a medium to make it printable. The medium binds it together but keeps its varying colours. We use a clear varnish directly under the latex (in the exact same shape) so that it can rub off easily.

Rough, uncoated papers are not suitable for applying latex to, as the rough surface traps the latex and stops it rubbing off. A varnish won’t prevent this, as the surface is too porous, and the varnish will absorb straight into the paper, instead of sitting on the surface. Sometimes we’ll use two layers of varnish to accommodate for this – the first is absorbed so that the second can sit on top.