DES MOINES, Iowa – A Morning Sun man claimed the top prize of $50,000 playing the "EZ Grand" scratch game.

John Smith was getting gas and used his change to buy an EZ Grand scratch ticket.

"I thought I'll just buy one of those $5 tickets," explained Smith to the Lottery staff. Smith scratched his ticket at a table inside the station.

"I sat down there and scratched it off. I went across the numbers and I thought it was a $50 winner because I didn't scratch it all the way off," said Smith.

He continued to scratch the rest of his ticket off to see if he had another winner. Then he went back and scratched it all off revealing a little more than $50.

"I thought, 'Man that's $50,000!’ I must have made a mistake somewhere," explained Smith. "I had somebody else come over and look it and everybody said, 'It's got to be a winner!'"

Smith purchased his winning ticket at Kum & Go, 13410 State Highway 78 in Wapello. He said by winning on Saturday, it made for a long weekend.

"Sunday was a long day," said Smith on Monday when he was finally able to claim his prize at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids.

EZ Grand is a $5 scratch game. Players try to win a prize by matching any of "Your Numbers" to any of the "Winning Numbers" and win the prize shown for that number. If players find the "2X" symbol they win double the prize shown for that symbol. If they find the "10X" symbol, players win 10 times the prize shown for that symbol. Prizes in the game range from $5 to $50,000. The game has overall odds of winning of 1 in 3.74.

Smith said his win was "a once in a lifetime thing." He had plans to share some of his winnings with his children along with a vacation to Mississippi.

"We might go on another vacation down there before it gets too warm," said Smith.

Six top prizes of $50,000 are still available in EZ Grand, as well as more than 545 prizes of $1,000, and more than 530 prizes of $100.