Custom Scratchers with MS Word

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In the other tutorial I showed you how to quickly make a custom scratch off card using our pre-made Acrobat templates. Now I'm going to demonstrate how to make a scratch off card using a Microsoft Word template so you can drop in a personal photograph as a background. The Word file includes all the basics you'll need like a text box to hold the photo, 1"bubbles to hold your prize ideas and fit our standard scratch off labels, and a title box for you to write a quick message. It's extremely easy to do and probably won't take any more than 15 minutes to make up your very own scratch off card!

When designing your own scratcher I highly recommend watching the video first and then refer to the step-by-step instructions as you go along. Use the links to the right for ideas about prizes to offer and instructions for making scratch offs using our pre-made templates.

Video Overview (5 min.)

Click the maximize button in the lower right corner to view full screen.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Open the Word file and scroll down to the template on page 2.

Click inside the main text box and select the Insert tab and then Picture. Find the picture you want to use as a background and select it.

Click one of the edges of the Title Text Here box and drag it over the photograph to a good spot.

Highlight the title text and change it to whatever you like. this doesn't have to be a title, it can be a note, name of the game, or anything else you want to say. Once you're done, double-click any edge of the title text box to bring up the Format menu. In this menu you can change the text box fill, outline, and shape. For this example I'll change it to a red fill, no outline, and rounded corners.

Select the Home tab and change the text color to white.

Grab the Scratch ONE and WIN text box by any edge and drag it onto the photo. This is a good area for you to explain any rules, write a little note, or place other information, and it can also be modified using the Format tab. In the following image I changed the fill from gray to black.

Now it's time to place the scratch off bubbles. These are already formatted for our 1" scratch off stickers and the text is set to center vertically and horizontally. You only need to grab the edges of the circles and drag them into place.

I aligned the bubbles horizontally by selecting the three on the right first and then clicking Align -> Align Right from the Page Layout tab. To select multiple objects, select the first one and then shift+click the remaining two. I then aligned the bottom two bubbles vertically by selecting them and choosing Align Top. If you want to nudge things around at this point you can click on the border of any bubble and use the arrows on your keyboard to move them.

Now enter your prizes into the bubbles. If you're wondering about ideas, we have a number of them on the Scratch Off Prize Ideas page.

You're finished! At this point you can double-click the border of the main text box and remove its outline or move the bubbles around to find the placement you like, maybe only use 2 or 3 instead of 4, but you're basically done.

Print the document (just this page) onto 80 lb. paper, which can be picked up at your local Fedex Kinkos, Office Depot, or other copy shop. 80 lb. is a thick paper that will give the card a more authentic feel but will still feed through home printers without a problem, although you may have to help it feed with some models. Tell the copy guy that you only want a few sample sheets to see if they'll feed through your printer and you may get them for free.