[peterwwillis]

It's almost strange that they would implement a system like this just because they sold out for the first time. Other regional burns around the country regularly sell out up to a month before the event, and they never implement alternate strategies for people to buy tickets. Then again i'm not aware of a scalper market for these since they are small and regional, but I have often considered buying four tickets at the lowest introductory price and selling them a week before the event ("Hello, my name is Peter, and i'm a capitalist.")

[unwiredben]

Burning Flipside here in Texas has had a lottery system for the last few years due to not being able to exceed 2500 people on site or be under the TX mass gathering law. They make the lottery a little inconvenient (sign up in early January, mail in a money order during one week later in the month, have the MO returned if you don't get tickets). They also have a no scalping policy and regularly go after sales on Craigslist and other sources for more than face value.

[scoot]

not being able to exceed 2500 people on site or be under the TX mass gathering law

Sorry, what? have all major sporting events been cancelled too?

[damncabbage]

No, it doesn't permit gatherings of more than 2500 people to last longer than five hours without a lot of overhead (money and paperwork):

http://law.justia.com/codes/texas/2005/hs/009.00.000751.00.h...

[unwiredben]

no, it's just that when you exceed 2500 people, a bunch of special provisions come into play, like having to provide water, security, vending, etc. that clash with the self-reliance/gift-economy aspect of a burn.