Scratch-off game technology: Any way to cheat?

Factual Questions
1

OK, so I have this McDonald’s french fry box thingy and I answered the question correctly, now I have to pick one (and ONLY one) of the six prize boxes to scratch off to select my prize. Chances are the $1,000,000 prize is NOT going to be one of the six but if there IS a non-trivial prize on the card, I obviously want to choose it. Does anyone know of a technique to determine what is under the paint(?) of these (and other similar) game cards. Perhaps using an infrared imaging device coupled with selective minor heating or cooling of the imprinted areas? Anybody know the technology involved here? Composition of the paint? Anyone know? Anyone?

2

buy some silver paint, scratch them all off and paint the ones that did not win…

Hey, it could work.

3

Here ya go
http://www.cheril.com/millionaire/2nd_life_line.htm

4

From BeagleDave’s link:

So that only give you the answers to the questions (most of which are not all that tough anyway).

5

I haven’t tried with the McDonalds one, but sometimes if you shine a laser pointer through the back in a dark room you can see the outline of the hidden message. That only works if the silver stuff isn’t too thick though.

6

I don’t know if this would work on a fry box but a “friend” I know used to cheat on a similar promotion in which they gave you a game card and you had to match 3 prizes to win. You need that slightly opaque Scotch tape for it to work. You place the tape over the scratch area and rub it a bit and then pull it off removing some of the silver stuff. You do this enough times so that when you hold the card up to the light you can read what’s behind the scratch surface without it looking like it’s been tampered with. My friend got a lot of free burgers this way.

7

Here’s a scam I heard that only the stupidest mark would ever fall for.
On most lottery tickets, there is the game area, and at the bottom in an inconspicuous area, there is a code number used to verify the card is a winner. A con artist bought like a hundred lottery cards, and carefully scratched off just enough of the code number area to read whether the card was a winner. He left all the game play area untouched. He pulled all the winning cards, and sold all the losing cards to unsuspecting but stupid people. Apparently people thought the cards were still good because the game hadn’t been scratched. Or maybe he showed the marks the cards with his thumb over the scratched area…