The crowds were big, and the jackpots were even bigger.

Over the past two years, hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to Atlantic Canadian communities for Chace the Ace, and the chance to become an instant millionaire.

Chase the Ace mania reached a fever pitch in Inverness, N.S., in the fall of 2015. The weekend crowds would multiply the village's population by more than tenfold.

Donelda MacAskill walked away from the draw with the $1.7-million grand prize.

“That night on the stage, in a sea of people, and I felt so alone,” says MacAskill. “I haven’t allowed it to change me.”

Lightning struck for a second time on Cape Breton Island only a few months later, when a jackpot in Sydney reached nearly $3 million. That’s when the curious new card game started receiving national attention.

"It was mass hysteria at some points,” says Chase the Ace organizer Stephen Tobin. “We had hotels, restaurants, you name it.  We had lineups sometimes that would stretch down the street and around the corner.  People were excited."

When Kathy MacPherson of Sydney flipped over the ace for a cool $2.9 million, tens of thousands were watching from around the world.

“People would tune in, see their friends, see their neighbours participating, and that level of excitement would grow with the jackpot," Tobin says.

Other communities have had big draws of their own since Cape Breton’s Chase the Ace success. A jackpot in Dalhousie, N.B., sent the winner home with $1.6 million. Another put on by the North River Fire Department in P.E.I. went for just north of a million. Most recently, there was the utter mania in St. John's, with lineups extending for kilometres.

Maritime charities are starting to feel Chase the Ace’s benefits. Funds from the draw are going to the new Horizon Achievement Centre in Sydney, which will one day replace the decades old building currently home to programs for adults with disabilities.

Will the Chase the Ace craze ever return?

Two years after the first Chase the Ace draw landed in Sydney, some are wondering whether the island will ever see anything like it again.

The draws keep popping up, but new regulations in Nova Scotia say once the jackpot gets high enough, tickets are sold throughout the week rather than one night. That will prevent the type of overcrowding Inverness couldn’t handle. 

The rule also hopes to avoid the controversy in Sydney that saw one winning ticket producing two winners.

"From a public safety standpoint, I do understand putting new rules and restrictions in place. But the unfortunate side to that is I think it does impact the allure of the draw," Tobin says.

But whether or not there will be any more instant millionaires, people will look back on the days when the ace truly was the king.

"Anyone who participated, or was even on the periphery watching it happen, will remember it for quite some time," says Tobin.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald.