Question About A Rush/Lottery Strategy

[RumTumJM]

Posted: 11/3/23 at 12:05am

As we all know, rush & lottery tickets are given at the discretion of a show's box office. Also, the tickets could be surprisingly good, or they could be rather bad/partial view.

Now, if one was to take a look at a performance's ticket availability, before going for rush tickets/entering a lottery, can that be read as an indicator of how good your tickets are likely to be? - In other words, if your looking for rush tickets/entering a lottery for a performance, where most of the mezzanine is still available, can you be rather confident that your tickets will be at least decent (should you win)? Similarly, if you go for rush tickets/enter a lottery for a performance where there are very few tickets available, can you assume that your tickets (if you get any) would be the (likely) less than desirable tickets that remain?

Thanks...as always...for the insight.

[Mark_E]

Posted: 11/3/23 at 6:36am

Often there are set tickets set aside for rush/lottery, for example front row/far aide orchestra seats. That said, if a show is vastly unsold, they're likely to sell additional lottery/rush tickets.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 11/3/23 at 8:05am

I think it depends on the show/theatre box office. I don't think there's a 100% once size fits all strategy or logic as to how the seats are allotted. For example, I won the Spamalot lottery for the VERY unsold first preview, and was assigned last row balcony on the side. I think each individual show/box office works differently, and even then, there's never really a clear pattern in my experience.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 11/3/23 at 11:53am

Mark_E said: "Often there are set tickets set aside for rush/lottery, for example front row/far aide orchestra seats. That said, if a show is vastly unsold, they're likely to sell additional lottery/rush tickets."

You’re correct that most shows have seats set aside for rush/lotto tickets. However, a show isn’t always likely to add to that given allotment if a given performance isn’t selling well. 

I can’t even begin to count the number of threads/ posts I have seen here over time where, someone would post, bitch and moan about how they couldn’t get a rush ticket even though the given performance wasn’t well sold. To me, that reeks of entitlement and lack of understanding that there’s absolutely nothing that says that a show must have a rush or lotto policy. Sure, they all do but it’s not mandatory for them to do so.