The Theater Chain Asking Moviegoers to Use Their Phones

[Jim Cassedy]

I recently discussed with Theater Toolkit
who makes the website that Alamo uses for in seat ordering if their system
could support using NFC/RFID tags for seat ID instead of QR codes, so the
lack of light during the movie isn't an issue and they indicated that this was
an option. I really hope Alamo will switch to NFC/RFID tags. Anything
requiring light in a theater if you can avoid it seems foolish.

As I mentioned in a previous post, this is already being tested at several
locations, but as far as I know, it hasn't gotten a company-wide rollout yet.

We've run into another interesting situation- - there is a 'high-security' advance
preview screening coming up. It's one of those where NO cell-phone use at all is
permitted. I'm not sure if they're going to collect phones and put them in bags as
I've seen done in the past, but obviously they're going to have to go back to pen-
and-paper ordering for that show. . assuming they haven't thrown all that stuff away.

(The strict no cell policy on this event is being dictated by the studio. Not the theater)

[James Henry]

So sorry, I missed where you had mentioned the nfc/rfid use!

[Lyle Romer]

It's already quite common around here... Scan a QR code on your table, place order, order arrives by robot. The places that have this figured out best do this with amazing speed.

So, I'm not even offended by this idea, because the service level is high... In the end, I'm there to have a good time with the people I'm hanging out with, I'm not there for the staff. I don't have to wait for anybody to take my order, I don't need to wait for anybody to pay my order and there's also nobody that will get a tip...

If you don't tip the robot, Skynet will remember that!

[Marcel Birgelen]

If you don't tip the robot, Skynet will remember that!

I'm afraid SkyNet has me on quite a few robot-naughty lists already...

Getting back to the local place I mentioned earlier that did the QR-code ordering now since a few years... I'd not visited it in a while, but I thought it had the right kind of "liminal vibe" to go see the Backrooms there. To my surprise, they now also had an NFC-tag per table, alongside the QR code. The NFC code worked way better than the QR code ever did. Obviously, you need to have NFC activated on the phone. It registered as an URL and offered to open with one of the three browsers installed.

Still, the process of ordering stuff, on the phone, during the movie is still an awkward process for me and slightly annoying. Luckily, the layout of the place is an old-school sloped floor design, at least in the particular room we watched the movie in. With the screen mounted high and just limited view on the public in front of you, the aisles on both side become more like "trenches", and any movement in there is way less distracting than in a stadium seated layout.

We've run into another interesting situation- - there is a 'high-security' advance
preview screening coming up. It's one of those where NO cell-phone use at all is
permitted. I'm not sure if they're going to collect phones and put them in bags as
I've seen done in the past, but obviously they're going to have to go back to pen-
and-paper ordering for that show. . assuming they haven't thrown all that stuff away.

(The strict no cell policy on this event is being dictated by the studio. Not the theater)

Are they even going to run their normal catering service during such a special event?

[Ryan Gallagher]

Phones or no phones is kinda becoming a pointless topic, because smart-watches are just as bad now, lighting up with notifications... it will one day be like everyone took their phone out of their pocket and placed it on the armrest display up instead.