Scratch cards are the simplest of online casino games. Players have to reveal the hidden images and if they match up as per the requirement of the game then the players win a payout. Despite this simplicity scratch cards are popular at online casinos because they make excellent filler games. They help players unwind from serious blackjack sessions and can even be played while players wait for the slots reels to stop spinning. Software providers have always enhanced the presentation of scratch cards by using themes, as they do for online slots. But over the past few years there have been subtle but important changes in scratch cards and this article traces some of them.

The software provider Rival Gaming has the simplest scratch cards. Gunslinger’s Gold based on a cowboy theme is an example. The background of the card shows a cowboy and his horse. The card has six spots. Scratching a spot reveals a multiplier. In the payout card the silhouette of the first cowboy appears against the multiplier. If that multiplier is repeated then the second cowboy appears and if repeated a third time then the third cowboy appears. All the cowboys get animated and the player wins the multiplier times his initial bet. Gunslinger’s Gold can be played at Ruby Royal online casino.

The software provider Microgaming has done away with the card format in some of its popular scratch cards. Turtley Awesome has a dozen turtles surfing on the sea. As a player clicks one of them, they roll over and reveal a multiplier that gets transferred on the payout table. Three like multipliers result in a payout. Foamy Fortunes has further enhanced this idea. The symbols are bubbles but they do not appear at fixed positions on the screen but appear and disappear. Also Foamy Fortunes has a booby. If the player reveals three rubber ducks the game ends immediately. Turtley Awesome and Foamy Fortunes can be played at Platinum Play online casino and All Slots online casino.

The online casino software provider Cryptologic reveals symbols instead of multipliers in its scratch cards. The multiplier for each symbol is shown on a payout table. Three like symbols result in a payout that multiplies the original bet with the multiplier associated with that symbol. Money Farm has symbols of nine farm animals. The scratch card shows a coop with six doors. When the door is clicked it opens to reveal the hidden animal, with the animal making the appropriate sound. In addition to the usual Auto Scratch feature, Money Farm has an Auto Play feature in which players can select up to 99 cards, which are scratched automatically. Money Farm can be played at InterCasino.

The software provider Playtech is most active in the scratch card arena. It has recently released a number of new scratch card games. Playtech has taken to clubbing the themes on its online slots and scratch cards. The scratch card uses the same symbols that have been used in the corresponding slot game. An example is King Kong slot game and Kong Scratch. The format is also different. When a new card is selected a symbol and a payout are randomly revealed. If any of the six symbols on the scratch card matches the given symbol then the player gets the given payout. Kong Scratch can be played at Playtech online casinos.