Lottery Reviews - Pennsylvania

In my continued attempt to create content in a dearth of lottery related news (no new games or anything like that), I've decided to start reviewing entire lotteries. Every game, well, every on-line game at least. The scratch-offs will be graded cumulatively. Each game will be graded on a 5-point scale, and the overall state score on a letter scale. So, with that said, let's do my first of hopefully many state lottery reviews, with the state I'm currently in, Pennsylvania.

Don't let the name confuse you, it's pick-3. And that's about it. Run of the mill. Straight, box, straight/box, combos (known as Super Straight), and front and back pairs. Midday is drawn with computers, but evening is drawn the right way with balls, so players have choice of draw methods. But other than that, nothing really special. It's pick-3, nothing more, nothing less.
Score: 3.2/5

A clearer title, it's a typical pick-4. Problem is, it's very bare bones. Straight plays, box plays, and nothing else, not even straight/box. That can be a bit frustrating for a lot of players, as you either have to fill out twice the number of plays, or frustrating for the clerks at the store, because it means twice the number punching. And there's the whole matter of more paper being used, but then again if the lottery cared about trees, they wouldn't print each play on a separate ticket. Plus it's pick-4, so you get a lot of losers before you get a winner. But that's a general problem all pick-4's have.
Score: 2.7/5

A lot of players on Lottery Post are envious of PA players because of this game, and I for one don't get it. This is an awful game! You think pick-4s can get frustrating? This is 10 times as hard. Straight players (and by "straight", I mean exact order) can expect to buy 99,999 losing tickets before winning the $50,000 top prize. 1 in 100,000 odds of winning anything. That's just mental, I don't care what the prizes are. Sure there's also box plays (but like Big 4, no straight/box), but best odds you can get there are 1 in 833.33. You might as well buy a straight on Daily Number. And the front and back combinations, in the 2-, 3-, 4-digit, are straight only. So don't expect to win, unless you get a pair, but then again, you can do that on TDN too. So this is game is completely pointless, either on account of redunancy or ridiculous odds. Should they get rid of it, no, other people do like it, blind of it's flaws, but if they do get rid of it, I won't miss it.
Score: 1.0/5

O.K., now here's a good game. It's got a lot of the things you look for in a good game. Good odds of winning something, good prizes for the odds, and the jackpots are decent too, good because of the odds, and sometimes, good from the sheer size. $100,000+ jackpots are not uncommon, and the record was $180,000. And this is a pick 5 of 30 we're talking about here, odds of winning the jackpot are comparatively low; about 142.5 thousand. And unlike Quinto, the odds of winning something are only 1 in 5.45. So this game will at least throw you a bone sometimes. I'd give this game a perfect score, but it has one flaw, computerized drawings. Unlike the digit games which give you an option, this game is only drawn at midday, and like all midday games in PA it's drawn in the secretive world of RNG cyberspace. Well, no game is perfect, well at least this one isn't. But it's worth throwing a few dollars at.
Score: 4.0/5

A lot of folks would call this game an all-time classic. Well, I disagree. Now the original 5/39 Cash 5 was an all-time classic. But the Cash 5 of today is nothing like the game introduced in 1992. When they added 4 balls to the field 2 years ago, they essentially created an entirely new game that just happened to have the same name and look as the game it replaced. Now, the original 5/39 was pretty good. The current 5/43, it's just O.K. It's harder to win a prize now, even though the lower-tier prizes did not really go up, except for the match 4 prize, which actually went down. But the jackpots have gotten bigger, because they been able to roll longer, which culminated in a record of $1,800,000 back in April of '08, and has led to 6 $1mil+ jackpots over the past 12 months. But nonetheless, this a definately a jackpot-driven game now, the other prizes are just an afterthought by design, and in my opinion that hurts the game. But, if you're all about big jackpots that are not too hard to win, Cash 5 is still where it's at. Score: 4.0/5

I just talked about this game in a recent post, as it just came back. And how wonderful it is that has. This is one of my favorites. You know how it works, you get three lines of numbers, and you win by matching 3 or more on one of the lines, or 4 or more on the three lines combined. Match all 6 on one line and win the jackpot, that starts at half a million. This is one the few on-line games that you can call straight-up "fun". And not only that, it combines a fun play style with pretty big jackpots, that like Cash 5 and Treasure Hunt are all-cash. The last version got up to about $9 million one time, IIRC. That's quit-your-job money right there. Only flaw, it's $2 per play, but you get a lot for the money. Glad to see they brought this game back before nostalgia sets in.
Score: 4.5/5

Now to review the instant games, and yes, that is a picture from "Groundhog Day". Gus the Groundhog, Groundhog Day, get it? HA!

And again, this is a cumulative score, so this takes into account every game. Problem for Pennsylvania, the scratch-off's here are actually a pretty staid affair. Almost every game $2 and above is of the number match variety, with very few variations therein. The only tickets that don't fit that category exclusively are the Bingo/Crossword games, $2 Win For Life, and $5 Birthday Bucks. I guess they're only interested in providing variety in the $1 tickets. And as far as extended play games, they typically only offer a $2, $3, and $5 Bingo, and a $3 Crossword. And though a $5 Crossword just came out, I don't look for it to come back for another edition. Other $3 extended play games come around every now and then, such as Money Comb, but they usually don't deviate from the Bingo/Crossword format.

The payout percentages, a very important factor in instant games, are about on the national average. The exact percentages are noted in a previous post, they have not changed since then. But payouts aside, these are some pretty standard offerings. Nothing special play-style or payout wise, so there you go.
Score: 3.5/5

Now for the overall score. The instant games are, for the most part, just the same game with different names. So nothing special. Yet Pennsylvania has long been an innovative lottery in the on-line game department, and continues to be today. Granted, some of these innovations are poorly-executed (Quinto), but some are great (Match 6). PA's on-line games numerous enough that, even if you hate one game, there's bound to be one you like. And the lottery has ball drawings for most of those games, and they air live at 7 across the state. So, overall, a good lottery. You're probably going to find something that suits your fancy.

Overall Score: A-