Lottery game card having a Sudoku-themed game

Abstract

A lottery game card for playing a Sudoku-themed game is disclosed. The lottery game card includes a plurality of squares arranged in rows and columns, each square having a symbol. Selected squares are covered with a removable material. The lottery game card also includes a plurality of prize indicators, each prize indicator being associated with a predefined pattern of squares. Upon removing of covered squares by a player, if symbols in the plurality of squares match a predefined pattern, the player wins a prize associated with the predefined pattern.

1 . A scratch-off lottery game card comprising: 
 a plurality of squares distributed in a M×N matrix comprising columns and rows, wherein 
 each square containing a symbol to thereby create a Sudoku-style puzzle within the matrix,  
 a subset of squares being covered by a removable material; and  
   a plurality of prize indicators, wherein each prize indicator being associated with a predefined pattern of symbols within the matrix.    
     
     
         2 . The scratch-off lottery game card of  claim 1 , further comprising a bonus indicator placed in one of the plurality of squares.  
     
     
         3 . The scratch-off lottery game card of  claim 1 , wherein a prize indicator is associated with each column.  
     
     
         4 . The scratch-off lottery game card of  claim 1 , wherein a prize indicator is associated with each row.  
     
     
         5 . The scratch-off lottery game card of  claim 1 , wherein a prize indicator is associated a sub-matrix.  
     
     
         6 . The scratch-off lottery game card of  claim 1 , wherein the symbol being a numeric digit.  
     
     
         7 . A method for playing a scratch-off lottery game in which a scratch-off game card with a plurality of squares arranged in a matrix format is provided to a player, selected squares of the plurality of squares being filed with numbers, the scratch-off game card further having a plurality of prize indicators, each prize indicator being associated with a sub-group of squares, each prize indicator further having a plurality of game indicia that are covered by a removable material, the method comprising the steps of: 
 removing the removable material from the plurality of prize indicators; and    if game indicia from at least one prize indicator and numbers in at least one sub-group of square indicated by the prize indicator form a predefined pattern, awarding a prize associated with the at least one prize indicator to the player.    
     
     
         8 . A scratch-off lottery game card comprising: 
 a first plurality of squares arranged in a matrix format with selected squares in the first plurality of squares being populated with symbols; and    a second plurality of prize indicators, each prize indicator being associated with a selected set of squares defined by a predefined pattern, each prize indicator listing a third plurality of symbols that are covered by a removable material.    
     
     
         9 . The scratch-off lottery game card of  claim 8 , wherein the predefined pattern being a group of squares arranged in equal number of rows and columns.  
     
     
         10 . The scratch-off lottery game card of  claim 8 , wherein the selected set of squares comprises 9 squares and only 6 squares are populated with symbols.  
     
     
         11 . The scratch-off lottery game card of  claim 8 , wherein each prize indicator listing 3 symbols.  
     
     
         12 . The scratch-off lottery game card of  claim 8 , wherein the symbols being numeric digits.  
     
     
         13 . The scratch-off lottery game card of  claim 8 , wherein the symbols being mathematical symbols.