INVERNESS, N.S. -- The Chase the Ace lottery craze that gripped Cape Breton earlier this year is getting a reboot.

The wildly popular fundraising game, which attracted tens of thousands of people to the tiny community of Inverness, is starting up again this weekend at the local Royal Canadian Legion.

Cameron MacQuarrie, the legion's vice-president, says it's unlikely this round of weekly draws will generate the same level of excitement, but he says there's no way to know for sure.

"We didn't want to lose the momentum," MacQuarrie said in an interview. "We're going to try it again and see where it takes us."

Chase the Ace is like a 50-50 draw in which players buy numbered tickets for five dollars each. The winner gets 20 per cent of the total ticket sales and a bigger jackpot if they pull the ace of spades from a deck of cards that gets smaller with each successive draw.

On Oct. 3, after 48 weeks of Saturday afternoon draws, a $1.7-million jackpot was awarded to a Cape Breton woman and her ailing husband before a large crowd at the local arena.

MacQuarrie says as many as 20,000 people descended on the town of 1,300 for the final draw. The RCMP had dispatched extra officers to the area to ensure public safety and an extra cellphone tower was brought in to handle the added digital traffic.

As well, people travelled from across the Maritimes for their shot at winning the jackpot.

"Chances are, we're not going to see a repeat performance of such a large Chase the Ace," he said. "It's something that only happens once in a while."

In all, 3.5 million tickets were sold generating $5.9 million in revenue and more than $2.9 million in prizes.

The net profit, roughly $2.5 million, was split between the legion and the Inverness Cottage Workshop, which provides vocational, personal and social skills training for adults with intellectual disabilities.

The legion has plans for a renovation and expansion. The Cottage Workshop has similar plans, but it needs more money to get the job done.

Meanwhile, Chase the Ace fever has spread to western Prince Edward Island where thousands of people are expected to head to Tignish -- population 800 -- for a draw Friday that could offer a jackpot topping $650,000.

Harley Perry, the local fire chief, says after 41 weeks of draws, 11 cards are left in the deck.

"All the businesses are doing well with the crowd that comes in on Fridays," he says. "It's a win-win for everybody."

In a page taken from the Inverness playbook, organizers in Tignish have enlisted the help of the local arena to accommodate the growing crowds. Last week, there were 800 people at the legion hall and 2,100 at the rink, Perry says.

Still, Tignish has yet to experience the big crowds and carnival-like atmosphere that created a national buzz for Inverness.

"You just don't know what to expect," says Perry. "It's coming on winter ... Not much has changed. We're a pretty relaxed bunch."

Chase the Ace draws are nothing new to the Maritimes. Both Tignish and Inverness have held similar draws in the past, as have several other communities. But the jackpots rarely get this big. The final draw last year in Tignish paid out $23,000.

-- By Michael MacDonald in Halifax