In festival season the email is almost always the same.
“We expect 800 people. Which plan?”
The useful follow-up is how many will play at 2 p.m. versus 2:10 p.m. Headcount is the number on the insurance form. Concurrent devices is the number of phones actually in a PlayTours session at the same moment. Those two numbers are rarely the same.
This week the 2026 FIFA World Cup is still running in the US, Mexico, and Canada (11 June to 19 July). Fan zones and watch parties are the extreme version. People trickle in from noon. They spike when a match kicks off. They leave for the next line. If you buy for peak headcount you overpay. If you buy for average attendance you can hit a join wall at the worst minute.
A device is one phone or tablet actively playing. Two people sharing one phone still count as one active device. Concurrent is counted across all your games at the same time, not per event. A device stays active while it is used and for a short inactivity window.
If you hit the cap, new devices can be blocked from joining until someone goes idle. We do not kick people who are already in.
Every paid tier has the same features: live leaderboard, AI photo judging, facilitator chat, the lot. You are not unlocking a better product at USD 395. You are buying a bigger pipe.
Trickle-in public day. Farmers’ market, open house, World Cup fan zone, city festival. Maybe 2,000 walk through between 10 and 4. Maybe 80 phones are in the hunt at 11:40. Size for the spike you can see on the facilitator dashboard during a test hour, not for the gate count.
Timed cohort. Intern class, conference coffee break, company offsite that starts at 9:00 sharp. If 120 people all tap Join in ninety seconds, you need 120 concurrent. This is the shape that surprises teams who thought staff would trickle in. If the QR is on the projector, they will all join.
Staggered waves. Campus orientation, trade-show booth hours, museum late night. Groups of 40 every half hour. The 60-device plan often holds if you force a gap. If wave two starts before wave one submits the last photo, it will not.
Your subscription limits concurrent active devices on the account.
A session can also cap teams or devices for that one game. That session cap is a different switch. Players also create extra teams by accident and join twice from a second phone. Plan a little slack. Twenty unused seats is easier than a blocked QR at the door.
For a one-off, subscribe for a month and unsubscribe after. We bill monthly. We do not prorate. Cancel the day after the event.
Above 300, email us. We scale from the 120-device price, sometimes 10–15% off for large spikes. Use a current quote, not an old one written for a different headcount.
If 120 phones join and then all run to task 1, billing can be fine and the lawn still is not.
Use Shuffle chapters so teams do not share a start pin. Keep first and last chapters fixed if you need a briefing and a finish line. Prevent bunching sends a team to the least crowded next chapter when they complete one. In the builder that control is labelled “Dynamically set the next chapter to the least crowded chapter at the point of chapter completion.” Use it for festivals.
Instant Join QR belongs on more than one wall. pyts.link/qr/{game}/{code}. If the only QR is at registration, you have built a queue.
Public riverfest. The organiser says 800 guests. Programme is 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hunt is optional. Last year about one in five groups played, and they did not all overlap.
I would start them on the 120 concurrent plan (USD 159). Watch the facilitator dashboard for the first hour. If they sit at 40 devices, they overbought, which is okay for year one. If they slam 120 and new joins start waiting, they can upgrade for the afternoon. You can change tiers. There is no prorated refund for unused hours, so pick once with a little room.
Conference. 400 badge holders. Hunt during a 25-minute expo break. Assume 30 percent play, almost all at once. That is about 120 devices. A 60-device plan is tight for a break, because breaks create interest.
Office. 40 staff, one phone per pair. Twenty devices. Free tier if they accept the watermark. USD 35 if they do not.
Above 300 concurrent we quote from the 120-device price and scale. Email hello@playtours.app with the spike time as well as the guest list.
Facilitator dashboard: who is in, who is stuck, live locations if you enabled them. Download results after, not during the spike.
Game timer cannot be paused. If the match on the big screen goes to extra time and you need to hold people, stop the session from the dashboard.
If another player tries to join after you are full, they wait. Existing players keep playing. Tell greeters that so they do not reboot everyone’s phones.
Subscribe here: admin.playtours.app/subscription.
If you email hello@playtours.app, send the spike time along with the guest count. That is the number that picks the plan.
Email us at hello@playtours.app
