Fruit Explosion #1803 Stays on Top - Get em Quick

Fruit Explosion remains the top selection with one of its three Grand Prizes of $75,000 left to claim, two of its three second prizes of $25,000 and one of its three third prizes of $10,000. Your chances to win the top prize are 260,000:1 which is the best of any game with the exception of Wild 10's and its plentiful but small Grand Prizes. Your chances to win any prize are 1:3.27 and your chances to win any prize greater than the cost of the ticket are 1:5.87. Altogether, a good choice. Now the bad news - a blog commentator has informed us that retailers have been instructed not to open any new packages for the game. That means that you will have to be on the lookout for the game.

Only an estimated 10% of the float remains and it looks like once again we may not get the chance to get the last remaining prize. Readers have been quite vocal about this concern in the comments section, and I agree with what they have been saying. For anyone who is traveling the 401, I stopped in at several Canadian Tire gas bars along the way and they all seemed to have Fruit Explosions left. I picked a few up and would have purchased more had I known about the pending retirement of the game.

Top Rated Games

1. $3 Fruit Explosion #1803- Get em while you can.
2. $3 Cashingo #1801 - One Grand Prize and one Second Prize left and only 13% of the float. 
3. $4 Bonus Cash For Life #1168 - All five Grand Prizes left after 44% of float sold Odds are 1.1 million:1 to win $675,000 for a $4 ticket. Not bad. 
4. $3 Crossword #3205 - The secondary prizes have been hollowed out. If you don't get the remaining Grand Prize, the next best prize is $100.
5. $1 Cash Cow #1805 - Three of the Five Grand Prizes of $10,000 remain and 31% of the float. Second prize is only $200.

Games to Avoid

1. Cross Tripler #1766 - All of the top three prize levels are gone. The most you can win is $300. Cancel this game OLG!
2. Win Take All #1800 - All seven Grand Prizes are gone. Stay away.
3. Crazy 8's #1765 - Blog commentators love to hate this game. The numbers agree with them.
4. More Lucky Lines #1794 - Launched last week and sinks to the bottom. Two of its three Grand Prizes were claimed in the first week. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
5. Bingo #3015 - Lots of tickets - few good prizes. How about 1 chance in 1.9 million to win $50k for your $3 investment. Horrible. 

$1 - $2 Game Update

Either Cash Cow or Royal 7's are good choices.

$3 Game Update

Avoid Bingo, More Lucky Lines, and Scrabble.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Avoid Cross Tripler #1791, Win Take All, and Jacks are Wild.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Fortune is the best play but any game is playable.

Comings and Goings

Hello new More Lucky Lines! We still had the bitter taste of the old version of the game in our mouths when the brain trust at OLG headquarters rolled out the new version. After the old version went to its grave with all of its Grand Prizes intact, this version coughed up two of its Grand Prizes in its first week. Come on! I guess the good news is that this game is unlikely to ever become a recommended play.

For the record, here is the prize distribution:

Grand Prizes - 2.3% of revenue (5th of 9 in Group)
Other Top Prizes - 2.6% of revenue (4th of 9 in Group)
Smaller Prizes - 46.5% of revenue (6th of 9 in Group)
Win your $3 back - 13.5% of revenue (2nd highest of nine in Group and that is not a good thing)

Bottom Line: at present, your chances of winning $75,000 for your $3 investment are one in 2.9 million the worst of any game currently for sale.

Personal Play

I have been taking a beating. Two Bonus CFLs were worth nothing. I am, at present, 1 for 14 and a return of $4 on this game. Two Black Pearls bought just to be different returned nothing and six Fruit Explosions returned nothing. That's right - shut out! My Year To Date return is now 60%. The bloom is off the rose.

 Meanderings

I thank all the posters for keeping us up to date on game cancellations, reporting on phone conversations at the OLG call center, and on individual results. I enjoy reading them.

I would like to clarify one point with readers: OLG policy is to cancel games that are devoid of Grand Prizes only if the Grand Prize is less than $100,000. Why? They have learned from surveying their players that those who buy $1 - $3 tickets care not if there are any prizes left whatsoever. Only people spending $5 and more care about such trivial matters. Do you agree?

I wrote to the OLG four years ago and asked them to state their criteria to cancel a game. Here is what I was told, in writing, by their Acting CEO in October 2010:

1. Inventory for a game is completely sold out.
2. All top prizes are claimed for games with $100,000 or greater top prize.
3. Average weekly sales reflect significantly decreased customer demand and a new replacement game is scheduled to be launched or has launched.
4. Quality issue with game in market.
5. Security issue with game in market. 

It strikes me that reasons 1,2,4,5 are all objective and 3 is subjective and can justify almost any decision on their behalf. Average weekly sales are a function of many factors other than popularity with the public. How about simply canceling print runs and not sending out additional tickets to retailers. That would certainly create the appearance of "decreased customer demand".

For anyone who wishes to see my original letter and the OLG response, drop me a line and I will send you a link to the documents.

I hope you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving.


Doug