The Lewis is designed to keep the "also rans" (like me) coming back...
The Lewis is figured this way ( simplistically):
Each shooter put up $2 for the Lewis
Say there's 30 shooters, the first shooter goes 100 straight, and each following shooter hits one fewer.
Lewis pot is split three ways, so
Shooters 1, 11, and 21 "hit" the Lewis. Simple, right?...each shooter gets $20
What complexifies it is the fact that not all shooter shoot different scores, and if the second-place Lewis is, say, 90, and six shooters shot that score, the one third of the Lewis pot for that score gets split six ways...and you get a $3.30 check!
A couple of shoots back, my son and I were 2 birds apart....If I'd missed one more, and he'd have hit one more, we'd have both won....as it is....zip! D'oh!
The Lewis is a great way to get people complaining....I have an old ( ca.1910) sporting magazine detailing the Lewis system ( though it's not called that), and all of the complaints are the same. I was told be a more-experienced shooter, "The only thing that changes if the typeface."
[I know that "complexifies" is not a real word, but I was feeling creative!]