Guess the Attendance

Guess the Attendance is a game played by WSC members in which they attempt to guess the total attendance at screenings in the week ahead.

History

The game has a long history in the society, and has been played across various mediums, from Discourse to Slack to a Facebook Group. The earliest record of the game being played is in a Discourse thread in April 2009.

The Rules

• The Gamemaster outlines the films being shown in the week ahead, including any pertinent information such as whether a film is a double, a collaboration, or free for members, and sets a deadline for guesses, usually the start of ticket sales for the first film of the week.
• The Gamemaster is usually a member of the Exec, although this has not always been the case - in the past, the role of Gamemaster has been carried out by enthusiastic guessers! The Gamemaster is permitted to guess.
• Participants then post their guesses. Preferably, this takes the form of a breakdown of expected attendances for the week (for instance, Tuesday's film might get 20 people, Thursday's 30, and so on), and then a total for the week. However, people have been known to simply post their total guess for the week.
• Only one person can guess a particular total for the week. If more than one person has the same total, then the Gamemaster should ask the second person to change their guess.
• After guesses close, the Gamemaster usually posts a summary of total guesses ranked by magnitude. Statistics of interest have occasionally been included in the post.
• After the last film of the week, the Gamemaster shall calculate the total attendance for the week, and the winner shall be the person whose guess is closest to the actual total. The statistics for the week can be found on either EPOS or Dashboard.
• One special case in terms of summing up attendances is AllNighters. For these events, staff tickets are typically excluded from the totals, as they are sold to people working the show and are only printed off as souvenirs. This should be communicated by the Gamemaster ahead of guesses opening.
• Prizes have occasionally been provided to the winners, but the glory of victory is usually more than enough of a prize!

Controversy

• Concerns have been raised that the current system of selecting a winner is unfair. As the total attendance is the only metric that matters in the competition, participants have occasionally won in spite of their guesses for particular films being wildly wrong. Additionally, people who put less effort into their guesses by posting only a total of the week sometimes come out on top of participants who provide a full breakdown. However, despite a trial, a better measure of the week's attendance has yet to be found.