Hardest Lottery(s)- Page 2

[Lot666]

Posted: 4/19/17 at 2:56pm

akmiller_98 said: " posted this yesterday and ended up winning Phantom for tonight. What a marvelous show it was!

That's awesome! I hope to go at some point in the next few months. I've lived in NYC for 17 years and have never been!"

It's still my favorite show of all time. 

[HunterK]

Posted: 4/19/17 at 10:20pm

PK2 said: ""I don't seem to trust online lotteries."

Does anyone remember when there was a cheating system with in-person lottery many years ago?  If I remember correctly, it was Taboo but I don't remember 100% what show it was now.  I tried a couple times and the cheating was so obvious that anyone could tell."

 

Does anyone remember West Side Story revival? They put the entires in a tote bag and after it closed the two people running the lottery went inside the Palace theatre glass doors by the box office and one stood in front of the other, you couldn't see anything. Then they came out and announced the winners and the 3 times my friends and I tried, we noticed the same girls won. It was a joke, we weren't the only ones noticing. 

 

[skittleALY]

Posted: 4/20/17 at 1:06pm

I've won Sweeney Todd once before.  My TodayTix app didn't notify me for some reason though, so I didn't get to see it!  The hardest for me to win are Hamilton, Dear Even Hansen, and now Anastasia.  

I've won a whole bunch of other lotteries however - Kinky Boots 3 times, School of Rock twice, The Price two times, Cirque du Soleil Paramour, and Present Laughter and Groundhog Day a bunch of times.  

I'm really, really hoping to win Hamilton sometime and Dear Even Hansen as well but have been really unlucky so far with those shows.  

[akmiller_98]

Posted: 4/20/17 at 1:47pm

A woman I work with won the Hamilton lottery yesterday!

She's the only person I've personally known who has won.

[djoko84]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 6:40am

Digital lottery has been awful for the most popular shows. If they still had in-person lottery it would be much easier to win for DEH, Anastasia, and Hamilton. Instead of competing against about a hundred people, you're now competing against thousands. It's horrible.

[annang]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 12:00am

If I could make one change to digital lotteries, it would be to take people's credit card info in advance, and if you win, you get charged, whether you show up or not. That would prevent people from three states away entering just to see if they can win, and even people in the area would only enter the shows they actually expected to want to attend. The producers could use the extra money to lower the price of each lottery ticket, or pay for more discounted seats for schoolchildren, or donate to BCEFA, or just pocket it. So long as it acts as a bit of an incentive to cut down on random entries, it would improve the system greatly. 

[Wick3]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 3:01am

djoko84 said: "Digital lottery has been awful for the most popular shows. If they still had in-person lottery it would be much easier to win for DEH, Anastasia, and Hamilton. Instead of competing against about a hundred people, you're now competing against thousands. It's horrible."

It's the window period when one can enter that sucks for digital lotteries. At in-person lotteries that I've been to in the past, people only had a 30 minute window to enter the lottery.

For digital ones, it ranges from 2 hours to 6+ hours! That's why there would be thousands of people who enter. If, perhaps, they limit the time window to 30 minutes or even 15 minutes, the likelihood of winning may be better for the show's biggest fans.

 

[JillianSch]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 10:07am

annang, I think that is a great idea! I wish there was a way to pitch that to producers. 

[LxGstv]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 12:48pm

Wick3 said: "djoko84 said: "Digital lottery has been awful for the most popular shows. If they still had in-person lottery it would be much easier to win for DEH, Anastasia, and Hamilton. Instead of competing against about a hundred people, you're now competing against thousands. It's horrible."

It's the window period when one can enter that sucks for digital lotteries. At in-person lotteries that I've been to in the past, people only had a 30 minute window to enter the lottery.

For digital ones, it ranges from 2 hours to 6+ hours! That's why there would be thousands of people who enter. If, perhaps, they limit the time window to 30 minutes or even 15 minutes, the likelihood of winning may be better for the show's biggest fans.

 

 

"

That's a really good idea actually, it should follow the schedule of the in person lottery... opens 2 1/2 hours before the show and closes 2 hours before the show... Although Hamilton closes at 1pm now and it didn't make much of a difference...

But it definitely wouldn't hurt to have a shorter application period and being a little closer to showtime...

[djoko84]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 7:50pm

I would be for anything that lessens the amount of people you have to compete against. However, 2.5 hours before the show is not a good idea. That's not enough time for winners to make into the city. The earlier the better and a 15-30 min window is fine with me.

[Megsamegatron]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 9:30pm

djoko84 said: "I would be for anything that lessens the amount of people you have to compete against. However, 2.5 hours before the show is not a good idea. That's not enough time for winners to make into the city. The earlier the better and a 15-30 min window is fine with me.

 

" The closer to showtime that it closed the less people would be able to enter. It would prevent people outside of the city from entering

 

[djoko84]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 6:15am

Megsamegatron said: "djoko84 said: "I would be for anything that lessens the amount of people you have to compete against. However, 2.5 hours before the show is not a good idea. That's not enough time for winners to make into the city. The earlier the better and a 15-30 min window is fine with me.

 

" The closer to showtime that it closed the less people would be able to enter. It would prevent people outside of the city from entering

 

 

"

Well, I live and work in NJ so I would not be for that. It's also hard to change/cancel plans so close to the show. I like the earlier the better.

[hanabana]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 11:58am

I live in Queens, and even for me, 2 hours prior to show time is definitely not enough notice.  Depending on what I am doing at the time of notice, I may have to do different things to get ready to head into Manhattan, and NYC transit, especially on weekends, may not be very efficient.  I think the 2 hour notice would probably only benefit people who live in Manhattan or very close to a subway station.  I find that at least 4 hours of notice is best.  Putting down credit card information would be a good idea, but that may be a problem should someone become very lucky on a particular day and win multiple lotteries if they choose to try their luck with different shows.  Limiting the time window for entry though, sounds like a good idea.

[djoko84]

Posted: 4/25/17 at 6:33am

Putting a credit card down would discourage people from entering more than one lottery so I'm for that. I miss the good ole days when you pick a show and go to that lottery and take your chances on that one show.

[Wick3]

Posted: 4/25/17 at 7:21pm

djoko84 said: "Putting a credit card down would discourage people from entering more than one lottery so I'm for that. I miss the good ole days when you pick a show and go to that lottery and take your chances on that one show."

I agree. From what I recall most if not all the in-person lotteries back then were at the same time as others so you really have to pick the show you really want to see.

If you didn't win, you and your friends then just go to TKTS and see which shows still have tickets.

 

[djoko84]

Posted: 4/26/17 at 7:13am

Wick3 said: "djoko84 said: "Putting a credit card down would discourage people from entering more than one lottery so I'm for that. I miss the good ole days when you pick a show and go to that lottery and take your chances on that one show."

I agree. From what I recall most if not all the in-person lotteries back then were at the same time as others so you really have to pick the show you really want to see.

If you didn't win, you and your friends then just go to TKTS and see which shows still have tickets.

 

 

"

And some shows offering "lottery loser" tickets. Or going to the box office and seeing if you can rush tickets if you don't with the lottery. Those were the days.

[TheThreadMaster]

Posted: 4/26/17 at 10:15am

Is The Price lottery hard?

[TheThreadMaster]

Posted: 4/30/17 at 10:51pm

Bump. Any word on The Price lottery? Where are the seats, was it hard, ect. Just any info on it is what I'm looking for. Thanks

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 5/1/17 at 12:05am

akmiller_98 said: "Its crazy how things turn out. I posted this yesterday and ended up winning Phantom for tonight. What a marvelous show it was!

That's awesome! I hope to go at some point in the next few months. I've lived in NYC for 17 years and have never been!

 

"I'll go with you !!!

 

[cryan71]

Posted: 5/1/17 at 1:36am

Yeah BOM and Hamilton are the hardest.  Never won those.  I've won Wicked and a few others.

The strange one was the If/Then lottery. I went after I lost the Hedwig lottery (for some reason If/Then did their lottery 30 minutes after most shows did their lotteries).  When the 2nd name was drawn, the guy to my right won. He left to get into the line for winners. Then a woman moved to the same spot where he was standing, and she won!  When she left, I decided to move to that same spot and I won.  The other easy win was American Idiot at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles.  We basically showed up on Sunday morning for a matinee lottery and there were barely enough people in line, so the box office just had us line up as if it was a rush.  Everybody won.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 5/1/17 at 4:13am

I'm in the same boat as those who miss the in person lotteries. I started going to the theater only a few years before in person lotteries died, but I still loved the feeling of excitement when your name is called! When I was in NYC in 2014, I was super lucky and won If/Then. Seeing Idina belt her face off from the 2nd row was amazing, and even more amazing that I entered at the last possible second and was seeing it for $35. Again, echoing what others have said, is that you put your faith in the one show you really want to see, and if you lose you have 1.5 - 2 hours to figure something else out. On that same trip my bus was late coming into the city, so I didn't even get to enter the Hedwig lottery. My backup was to check to see if Cinderella had any rush left (it was a slow time of year, and I had heard it was an easy rush). On my way to that show, I walked past Gentleman's Guide and figured I'd see if they had any rush left, and long story short I ended up with the final SRO spot and saw the OBC about a month before they left for $27. 

The only online lotto I've tried is Hamilton (once in NYC, three times in Chicago) and I've lost everytime.

I love that some tours still have in person lotteries and/or reliable rush policies. When BOM was in my city, I saw the show 6 times through the lottery simply because people didn't know about it. You just had to show up to win. Wicked's tour (and I'm sure broadway as well) is still kinda tricky. I won theirs on my 3rd in person try. 

So yeah, basically bring back in person lotteries! It actually required people to really want to go see the show, and to make the effort to drag themselves into the city to enter. Anyone could countlessly enter online lotteries and not buy the tickets, screwing those who would buy them in a heartbeat if they had the chance. 

[djoko84]

Posted: 5/1/17 at 7:47am

cryan71 said: "Yeah BOM and Hamilton are the hardest.  Never won those.  I've won Wicked and a few others.

The strange one was the If/Then lottery. I went after I lost the Hedwig lottery (for some reason If/Then did their lottery 30 minutes after most shows did their lotteries).  When the 2nd name was drawn, the guy to my right won. He left to get into the line for winners. Then a woman moved to the same spot where he was standing, and she won!  When she left, I decided to move to that same spot and I won.  The other easy win was American Idiot at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles.  We basically showed up on Sunday morning for a matinee lottery and there were barely enough people in line, so the box office just had us line up as if it was a rush.  Everybody won.

 

"

The funny thing is I always noticed people won who were standing around the same area. I know it was just a coincidence, but I found it very funny everytime.

[quizking101]

Posted: 5/1/17 at 8:23am

I just won for "Six Degrees of Separation" on Friday. It took about six tries, but it was worth it and the seat was excellent (Orchestra Left, O-9).

For $32, it was a real treat!

[ANewBrainn]

Posted: 5/1/17 at 1:02pm

I won for Pacific Overtures on Friday after entering maybe 10 times.  I was surprised because the show is selling very well and it's a small theatre.  I also got to use the $10 discount code TodayTix sent out for the weekend which was great.

I've also recently won Groundhog Day which seems pretty easy, I won after 3 tries and my friend won for the same day (and this was not on a day Andy was out)

 

I think DEH, Hamilton, and Anastasia are the hard ones right now.  DEH and Anastasia seem to have a very small amount of lotto tickets available

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 5/1/17 at 1:17pm

Does anyone who has won the Six Degrees lottery know when the deadline to purchase tickets is if you win? I'm going to have to enter during my layover in Chicago and wont be landing until 12pm. The site says the winners are announced at 9am but it doesn't say when you have to purchase won tickets by. 

Updated On: 5/1/17 at 01:17 PM