That Penny Lying On The Ground Could Be Worth $1,000

Do you ever pick up pennies on the ground? If not, you might want to start.

One hundred “lucky pennies” have been placed on the streets of 10 U.S. cities, with each penny worth a $1,000 prize, Ally Bank has announced.

The unusual contest began on Tuesday and features custom copper-colored discs that look like ordinary U.S. pennies. Each one bears the bank’s lowercase “a” logo and a unique redemption code.

The game pieces have been placed in Austin, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago; Denver; Detroit; Los Angeles; Miami; New York City; San Diego and Washington, D.C.

Ally says the point of the contest is to inspire saving, no matter how small.

“We hope that people will have fun searching for Ally Lucky Pennies in their cities and that the campaign will inspire people to look at money in a different way,” Andrea Riley, Alley’s chief marketing officer, said in a release.

In an effort to help participants, the bank is tweeting out hints for each city.

The contest’s official rules note that Ally will leave all the pennies in public places (or participating car dealerships) and in plain sight:

The Sweepstakes is intended to reward eligible participants who are lucky and encounter Ally Lucky Pennies in the course of their regular activities, not to encourage hunting for Ally Lucky Pennies in obscure locations or travel. Automobile dealerships in which Ally Lucky Pennies may be placed by Sponsor will display signage indicating that such dealerships are participating in the Sweepstakes. Except for such automobile dealerships, Ally Lucky Pennies will not be placed by Sponsor in retail stores or on other private property. Sponsor will place the Ally Lucky Pennies in plain sight (such as, by way of illustration only, on a sidewalk in a public park) and will not place Ally Lucky Pennies in areas that members of the public are not generally permitted to enter, or in locations where an Ally Lucky Penny could not be found without extensive searching or the moving of items (by way of example, an Ally Lucky Penny would not be hidden by Sponsor underneath a trash can, or in a storage room or closet, or behind or underneath merchandise on a shelf). Participation in the Sweepstakes does not require, and participants must not engage in, any unsafe, disruptive or unlawful behavior, and participants must not trespass on private property or violate any rules or policies in effect in places where Ally Lucky Pennies may be located.

Anyone who finds one of the pennies has until the end of the year to redeem it through the bank’s website  by using the coin’s code.