2012

$240–$420. 2012 was the first year to introduce a ticket lottery, which has survived in its basic form. The STEP program was introduced in the midst of the ticket lottery phase. Directed group sales was also created, as an emergency measure, as described below.

The plan was to have a pre-sale phase at a higher price, followed by a lottery sale, and finally open ticket sales.

Pre-sale phase: In November and December, 2011, tickets were sold at $420, limited to four per person.

Next, 40,000 were sold via lottery at $240, $320 or $390. When you registered for the lottery you specified the maximum you would pay. If your name was drawn in the first round, you’d pay $240 regardless of what you specified; if drawn in the second round you’d pay $320 so long as you had specified you’d be willing to pay that amount. Those drawn last would pay $390 so long as they indicated they were willing to pay at that tier.

Finally, 10,000 were planned to be sold at $390 per person in a first-come, first-serve system, which happened after the lottery sales had ended, akin to the modern OMG sale.

Once the lottery began, it was apparent things were going very wrong. First, the org had expected around 50,000 applications for the 40,000 tickets. Instead, over 80,000 applications were received. The org noted:

It is clear that many people seeking Burning Man tickets for 2012 padded their odds by requesting more tickets than they need, and having friends, family and campmates ALSO register, ALSO requesting more tickets than they need. JRS, January 27, 2012

Concerned over the extra tickets ending up on eBay at inflated prices, the org instituted the STEP program, to allow ticket exchanges at face value.

It soon became apparent that the event was facing a crisis, as camp leaders, and others who needed to attend to orchestrate the basic backbone of the community driven event hadn’t received tickets. In reaction, the org cancelled the final ticket phase, and distributed the 10,000 tickets in the first directed sale, primarily to camp leaders, artists and other key participants that made the event come together.

The organization explained the situation in multiple emails and web-postings, and citing variety of reasons for the over-subscription, including the release of a viral video (Oh the places you'll go…) shortly before the ticket selling began. This posting provides the best overview of what happened in the ill fated 2012 sale.

By event time, it was clear that many who had purchased the tickets “just in case” were not going to go, and in San Francisco many tickets changed hands free of charge in the weeks leading up to the event.

Burning Man 2012: Fertility 2.0 event ticket designed by Cory & Catska Ench