Patent ID: 8109513

Claim:
A computer server-based method for implementing a lottery game, comprising: at a game terminal configured in communication with a game server, providing a plurality of selection spaces to a player in a matrix format, the selection spaces being indistinguishable from each other except for their relative position within the matrix; the player designating a subset of the selection spaces within the provided matrix based solely on their relative position with the matrix, the designated subset of selection spaces being less than all of the selection spaces within the matrix, the player's designation of the subset of selection spaces being done prior to game indicia being subsequently randomly assigned to selection spaces within the matrix by the game server in the following step; after the player's designation of the subset of selection spaces, the game server randomly populating a plurality of the selection spaces in the same matrix that is less than all of the selection spaces but greater than the number of selection spaces in the player's subset of selection spaces with one or more game indicia of varying point value between negative and positive values utilizing a random drawing or random generation algorithm such that the randomly populated selection spaces are not determined as a function of the player's designated subset of selection spaces and the player's odds of winning the lottery game are predetermined and known prior to start of the lottery game by the player; after the step of randomly populating a plurality of the selection spaces with game indicia, providing to the player a lottery ticket via the game terminal that includes the entire matrix with the player's designated subset of selection spaces and the randomly populated selection spaces with game indicia visually displayed in the matrix; from the matrix presented on the lottery ticket, determining which ones of the player's designated subset of selection spaces correspond to any of the randomly populated selection spaces; and awarding a prize based upon the total number of points associated with the game indicia in the corresponding player's designated subset of selection spaces determined in the preceding step.