DENVER — Denver resident Mark Reneau's luck is beginning to change. First, the project manager got called back to work last week after being laid off last May. Then he matched all six numbers in last Friday's MatchPlay drawing, winning the game's $206,584 top prize and becoming the game's first jackpot winner.

"This is huge!" said Reneau of his win. "I've been so strapped for the past year almost. This catches me up. I can relax a little bit."

When Reneau checked his numbers online Friday night, he couldn't believe the winning numbers were staring back at him. In fact, he woke his roommate to verify his ticket. Reneau has been playing MatchPlay regularly since the game launched Feb. 21. Until now, his biggest win was $27. He plans to use his winnings to pay off bills and build up his savings.

Reneau purchased his ticket at 7-Eleven, 580 Josephine St., Denver. The store will receive a $1,000 bonus for selling the lucky ticket. The MatchPlay jackpot started at $100,000 and has been growing by a minimum of at least $10,000 since the game's first drawing Feb. 23. The winning numbers for Friday's drawing were: 9, 10, 13, 22, 27 and 29.

MatchPlay provides consumers three lines of play for $2. Players can select the first line (or opt for Quick Pick), while the next two lines are automatically generated by the system. To win the jackpot, players must match six numbers across a straight line. But players can also win prizes (ranging from $2 to $1,000) for matching three, four or five numbers in any straight line, or by matching five numbers or more in any combination from all three lines. The Lottery has awarded more than $1 million in MatchPlay prizes to more than 218,000 players since the game began last month. Nineteen people have won $1,000 alone by combining numbers across lines to match 10 numbers or more.

The overall odds of winning are 1 in 6 – better than any other Lottery jackpot game. MatchPlay drawings are held on Tuesdays and Fridays.