So today I made good on one of those goals for 2007: I bought a ticket for Burning Man 2007.

The ticketing process for the event is an interesting one. Burning Man LLC opens its virtual ticket window at precisely 10am PST, January 17 (by putting a "Buy Tickets Now" button on a dedicated page), and the tix are sold on a "first come, first serve" basis. Since there are different price levels - from $195, $225, $250 to $280 - and the lowest three levels are limited to only 10,000 tickets per level, everybody of course goes for the cheapest ones first. This results in a real cyber-run in the first 24 hours. Or maybe I should say first minutes.

Because I got into the virtual line at 10.02am, and there were already 3225 people in front of me ... How's that for savage burner dedication?

To make the wait a bit less boring and anxious-ridden, the good people from the In-Ticketing agency devised this nifty little counter though that lets you know every 60 seconds just how many people are still in line in front of you. And in total fascination, I watched the thing count down ... figuring that it processed roughly 100 orders per minute.

So it took me exactly 50 minutes to actually be able to buy my ticket, and another 5 to make the transaction. But I did get in on the $195 level - which now allows me to put the $85 I saved off the regular price towards good organic food to take with me to the Burn, or maybe some cool fabric to fashion a new costume out of, or ... or ... or ...

Ah. Decisions. And only 220 days left to make them ...

Excellent.

Good for you!

I'm not burner-edumacated.

Why are there different prices for tickets? Are there areas that aren't accessible by cheaper tix?

keeneye@gmail.com

No, there are no area-restrictions - that would be logistically impossible.

The different ticket prices are basically just there to give less wealthy people the opportunity to go - as it actually *costs* Burning Man LLC something like $214 bucks to host a single person (that's at least what the number was last year).

This includes the price BM LLC has to pay to the BLM to "rent" the playa for the duration of the event, plus the cops they *have to* hire, plus the cost of putting in all the infrastructure at the event (Center Camp, street markers, lights, porta-potties, etc. etc.), and the administration costs of putting on the festival. Oh, and of course, the tickets also fund the Black Rock Arts Foundation, which is responsible for giving out grants to artists to create playa artwork.

Does this make sense?