Well, kiddos, the day you’ve been dreading eagerly awaiting has finally arrived!
Registration for Burning Man 2012 tickets begins today, Monday January 9th and runs through January 22, at 11:59pm PST.
You can register to buy your ticket directly from Burning Man here.
The new ticket sale process has caused quite a bit of growling in the community, with many people seeing the “random selection” process as a stroke of lunacy in an already chaotic process. Really, the new process is meant to alleviate some of the problems that have plagued the Burning Man ticketing system in years past. You don’t have to worry about waiting in a crazy digital queue, or that the server will crash from the rush of folks trying to get the lowest tiers. Furthermore, the two ticket limit will ensure scalpers and resellers don’t snipe all the low tier tickets just to sell them later.
So, what can you expect from the new Burning Man 2012 ticketing process?
Well, friends, it’s pretty damn simple. All they need is your name, phone number, email, credit card number, and billing address. Then check the terms and conditions box, enter the simple captcha code, and click submit!
Easy, peasy, playa-lung-wheezy. (what?)
Just to be clear, when you click the submit button, you haven’t actually purchased a ticket, just an entrance into the random selection process. On January 23rd, the Burners-that-be will put all the names into a big sparkly top hat, give it a sprinkling of playa-dust, and pull the names of the winners of the 40,000 main sale tickets. Or something like that. In case you’re wondering, that’s 10,000 tickets at the $240 tier, 15,000 tickets at the $320 tier, and 15,000 tickets at the $390 tier.
In case you missed it, here it is again >> Register to buy your Burning Man 2012 ticket here.
What should you do if you don’t get a ticket to Burning Man in the main sale?
Not to worry, friendo! The Secondary Open Sale will include any tickets left over from the main sale, plus an additional 10,000 tickets sold at the $390 tier. This secondary sale happens in March 2012, and there is a limit 4 per person.
A couple important / weird / irritating things to note about the 2012 Burning Man ticket sales process:
1 – There is a service fee of $6 per ticket and $1 per order.
2 – Shipping costs $12 to anywhere in the US and $29 in Canada (per order).
3- You have to run the gauntlet of donation requests before you can complete your order. The options (not required) are the Black Rock Arts Foundation, Black Rock Solar, and Burners Without Borders. I’m not a fan of donation solicitation at the point of sale, but these organizations are all pillars of the Burning Man community and if you feel obliged to toss a couple more bucks in the pot, your donation will certainly not go to waste. That being said, I think they should lower the minimum donation to $1. Micro-donations are where it’s at, right ya’all? (word.)
One final gripe / suggestion:
The two ticket maximum is a pain in the ass for large theme camps and organizations who like to purchase multiple tickets for their volunteers, performers, core members, etc. I know that the two ticket limit is supposed to curb scalping, so I support it. But perhaps there should be a way for registered theme camps to apply for bulk ticket purchasing. Just a thought – and perhaps an unnecessary one. We’re not quite there at The Bureau, but we hope to be soon!
That’s all for now, faithful Bureaucrats. I know many of you are planning ahead, so we’re opening registration at The Bureau soon… as in… like… in 20 minutes. Click here to find out how to join us at Burning Man 2012 and support our Mission of Misinformation, Art Creation, and Booze!
Your faithful and disturbingly informative Captain of Misinformation,