Bryce Berginski/PCT Rugby resident Caroline Doucette scratches a card she received at Rockin’ Relics Wednesday. The Scratch & Win contest began Nov. 20.

The third Scratch & Win contest is under way, and Rugby area shoppers have a 1 in 2 chance of winning a prize.

This year’s Scratch & Win began Nov. 20 with an estimated 38,000 cards in circulation at 34 Rugby businesses and Balta Bar & Grill. North Dakota Telephone Company and the four Rugby banks Merchants Bank, Bremer Bank, Ramsey Bank and North Star Community Credit Union help sponsor it. An estimated 19,000 cards contain prizes, from percentages off items in stores to buy-one-get-one promotions, and from gifts to gift certificates.

One thing area residents have seen upon scratching cards they receive is “sign the back of this card for a second chance drawing”. There will be a drawing of names at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 20 on 1450 AM KZZJ. One lucky winner will receive $2,500 in scratch & win bucks, five winners will each receive $500 in scratch & win bucks. Those who signed the back of the cards and placed them in bags at participating businesses must be at a participating business at the time of the drawing, and the $2,500 winner has five minutes from the time his or her name was announced to call in and claim his or her prize, according to Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Shelley Block.

Block said the scratch cards are a way to bring people through the doors of area businesses, especially newcomers or people who don’t come in the doors as much.

Thrifty White Drug store manager Jackie Albrecht had nothing but good things to say about the scratch cards.

“People really like getting the coupons and like that there are so many winners,” Albrecht said. “We’ve given out a lot of prizes, and we’ve had a lot of winners redeem them.”

This year there are fewer cards in circulation that previous years, allowing for a 50 percent chance of winning.

“I can honestly say our businesses have gotten more ingenious with their prizes,” Block said. “They’ve just gone the extra mile.”

Carrington also does scratch and win cards; they are the only other North Dakota town to do so.