Winterland

The problem

About six weeks from kick-off to launch, then thousands of people trying to book the same seats the moment tickets opened.

Booking a seat

How a ticket goes from a seat on the map to a scan at the gate, with thousands of people trying to book the same seats at once.

1. 01 · Website & app

   Pick a show and a seat

   Every venue is modelled down to the seat, with prices set per zone, so people choose exactly where they sit.

   Zone · section · row · seat
2. 02 · Backend

   One seat, one ticket

   The booking and the payment run inside one database transaction, and a database rule makes each seat unique per show, so the same seat can never be sold twice.

   Unique per seat, per show
3. 03 · Customer app

   The ticket lives on the phone

   Paid by card or from the in-app wallet, the booking becomes a QR ticket, confirmed by push notification and email.

   Card or wallet · push & email
4. 04 · Staff mode

   Staff scan it at the gate

   The same Flutter app switches into staff mode, so the team at the entrance scans tickets with no separate device or app.

   One app, both sides of the gate

Key decisions

1. 01

   Admins can lock seats by hand, for guests and holds, and non-seated events use bulk pre-reserved bookings instead of a seat map.

Outcome

5,000+ users in the first 24 hours. A customer website, a mobile app for customers and staff, an admin dashboard, a marketing site and the API, delivered in about six weeks.