Running the gate on a wet Sunday: offline scanning, re-entry and walk-ups

What do I do before the gate opens?

Sync every device that will scan, while you still have signal. Each one downloads a signed manifest of the credentials valid for that session, which is what lets it admit people later without asking the server anything. Season passes are included on the manifest for every date they cover, so a pass holder is admitted by a device that has no way to look them up.

Check the day-of page for the sessions you are running and the numbers sold. If you are opening a slot you had closed, change capacity before you leave the office: the manifest is what the gate believes, and it was built from what the server knew at sync time.

What happens when the signal drops at the gate?

Nothing visible. Validation is local: the device checks the presented code against the manifest it already holds, admits or refuses, and appends the scan to its own log with a device id and a running sequence number. There is no spinner and no queue at the desk.

When connectivity returns the log replays. Applying it twice is harmless — a re-upload counts as duplicates rather than double admissions — and the first scan wins by its timestamp, so the record reflects the order people actually arrived in.

Can two entrances scan at the same time?

Yes, with one limit stated rather than hidden: two offline devices cannot agree in real time. If the same code is presented at the main gate and the garden gate while both are offline, both scans are recorded and the second is flagged as a conflict once they reconcile.

Conflicts are recorded, never silently resolved — the console has a conflict queue per session for exactly this. Attendance counts distinct visitors, so a conflict never inflates the day's number even before anybody reviews it.

A visitor wants to come back after lunch — what does the scanner say?

At the gate that let them in, it readmits them and says when they first arrived. Re-entry is declared for this vertical and the door performs it, so the scan is an admission rather than a question for your staff. At a DIFFERENT gate, while they are still counted as inside, it says the code has already been used and names the gate that used it — so brief your team to send returning visitors back the way they came in.

That refusal is exactly what you want when a phone is being passed back over the fence: it names the gate and the time the code was first used, so the operator can say why. Attendance is recorded once either way, so your numbers are unaffected by however many times somebody scans.

How do I sell to someone who turns up without a booking?

Use the walk-up sale on the day-of page. It shows live availability per ticket type, takes a real hold, applies the same prices and the same registration rules as the website, captures a card on your device and issues a credential that scans immediately.

It decrements the same pool the website sells from, so a slot that is genuinely full refuses the sale rather than overselling the site. Cash is the one thing it will not record as a ticket sale: crediting your balance for money the platform never held would pay you twice when the payout runs.

What if we have to close for the weather?

Close the day from the day itself. It comes off sale at once, and you choose what happens to the money — refund everybody, credit everybody, or keep their booking for a date you will offer — applied to every booking on the day in one action. Tick the box and each visitor is emailed after the money has moved, told which of the three happened to theirs.

Two things to know in advance rather than at seven in the morning with rain on the forecast: refunding or crediting in bulk needs an owner or your finance role, and nothing in bindro reads a forecast, so the decision is always yours to make.

What should I check after closing?

Reconnect the devices so every log replays, then look at three numbers.

• Attendance per session, which counts distinct visitors rather than scans.
• The conflict queue, if two gates were scanning — each entry is a code presented twice.
• The till page, for the day's shop and café takings, which are yours and never appear in a payout.
• Any walk-up sales, which sit in your ordinary orders alongside the website's.