The format and pricing of the game has changed several times since its launch. Originally costing 25 pence per ticket, this has changed to 30 pence, 40 pence, 50 pence and £2 for a set of six tickets amongst others.

The increase in prices did result in increased prize money - starting at £25,000 it did reach a regular Sunday Evening prize of £200,000 at a cost of 50 pence per single ticket to playing members. Members however prefer to run up to six tickets (ie £3) as that guaranteed they would have all ninety numbers somewhere on their strip of tickets.

Technology has improved since the game began in 1986 and ISDN lines are now used to collate the information. The game works like this

  • Clubs register their ticket sales to game control by the cut-off time
  • Approximately 10 minutes before clubs play the game, a list of all 90 call numbers are relayed to the clubs. The clubs must keep a printed list of the numbers so players can check the validity of the game. The numbers are also transmitted to the callers computer so the game can be played.
  • After the game is played, each club then inputs their game winner details, the number of calls in which the claim was made and the last number called on the game as a double-check.
  • All the winners details are then collated by game control who release the overall winner and results as soon as is viable.
  • The national winners then sign paperwork and their claim is verified within approximately seven days when a cheque is issued to their club to collect. Sometimes presentations are made in the winning club to publicise the win, but some players prefer to remain anonymous.

 

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