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But we’re not here to discuss supply side economics. I’m going to show you how to maximize your gate revenue using similar logic.
When @RonCo made me aware that I was playing a financial simulation (inside a writing simulation), I realized that I should start devoting greater attention to that part of the game. My first inclination was to attempt to maximize attendance. I cut ticket prices. This did, indeed, raise attendance, but resulted in less gate revenue. This tells us that my ticket prices were on the left of T*.
I discovered that when I changed ticket prices inside the game, the game would respond by altering the amount shown in Total Money Available (in the Financial Summary of the Front Office / Finances page), hereafter referred to as TMA. When you enter a new ticket price and hit enter to save it, TMA does not appear to change. But if you leave that page and return, you’ll see a new value.
Let’s say that you add a dime to your ticket price. If TMA increases, you are on the left side of the curve and need to continue to increase your ticket price. If TMA goes down, you are on the right side of the curve and need to adjust ticket prices downward.
The next step is like determining the proper range for an artillery target. You want to try to bracket it and then keep reducing the interval until you identify the ticket price that corresponds to T*.
The game has a maximum of $85 but I suggest that you start your search with a maximum of $30. The game seems to be broken at extremely high ticket prices.
Once you’ve identified the optimum ticket price, your attendance may drop but you can be confident that you have maximized your gate revenue.
