How to Beat everyone else to Rush and Day Tickets

Understanding what Rush and Day tickets are, and the best strategies for beating everyone else to securing them

What are Rush and Day Tickets?

Rush and Day tickets are your chance to score cheap tickets to any performance of a participating show.

They are essentially a fastest-finger-first race to secure one or two of a handful of cheap tickets released every morning for many shows. You will need to be ready and prepared before the race starts. If you do manage to beat everyone else, you will only need to pay a fraction of the tickets' original price.

The shows that participate in this scheme are shown at the end of this post, and are also searchable within our Show Search page.

Show Search

What is the difference between
a Rush and Day Ticket

Rush Tickets

Digital-only tickets released via the TodayTix App only. They go live at exactly 10 am each morning for that day's performances. Expect to pay between £20 and £30. You cannot chose where you sit and will be allocated seats automatically.

Day Tickets

Day Tickets are very similar to Rush tickets except you enter them either through the show's official website, or in-person at the box office. These usually go live between 10 am and 12 pm, and some shows release their Day Tickets for the entire week on a particular day. These generally cost more than Rush tickets.

Download the TodayTix App Here

Strategy for Winning Rush Tickets

You will have needed to download the TodayTix app and be signed up. You should also enter your payment details beforehand. You can do this by tapping Account in the bottom right and then tapping the cog button in the top right.

Tap the Home button and tap Lottery & Rush from the menu at the top. Look for a show with the Rush icon that interests you. Note that some shows are marketed as something different (e.g. Moulin Rouge Rush Seat are called Bohhemian Seats). In the Rush section, tap the Unlock Now button.

You can skip the sharing on social media and just 'Unlock without Sharing'. Unlike the lottery, this does not increase your chance of winning.

Set an Alert if you want to be informed when the Rush is about to start.

At 09:59, you need to ensure you are ready. There is a countdown timer above the place you will need to tap. When it gets close to zero, start rapidly tapping the area underneath the timer. This is where the button will appear at 10 am.

You will then get a pop up screen at the bottom, where you can select either 1 or 2 tickets. You also need to tap this as quickly as possible. This is the point when you'll find out if you've been quick enough.

If you were successful, you'll have 5 minutes to finalise your order. That's why it's important to have pre-entered your card information. You can also view the seat locations here, so if you are not happy with them, you can always cancel (be sure to have the theatre's seat map handy). If you chose to buy, simply pay for them and they'll send you your e-tickets!

If you are not successful, you will get a pop up saying that all seats are being held.

Don't give up yet

If anyone else during their 5 minute window decides not to buy, those tickets will immediately be released. So you should keep trying for at least another 5 or 10 minutes.

Keep tapping the number of tickets you require, over and over again just in case someone else has dropped out. It is also worth signing up to as many rushes as you can, and tapping on those too until they are gone.

What most people don't realise is that you still have a slim chance of getting tickets up to 15 minutes after. Once all the rush tickets have been taken, you'll see “Sold Out” instead of the timer, and you will no longer be able to tap the button.

What are your chances of winning the Rush?

This is largely dependent on the show you are going for and if you are trying during peak or off-peak times. Trying to get Rush tickets for a popular show on a Saturday will be difficult. However, going for a less popular show in the middle of the week, from experience, you actually have a very good chance. We have been successful on Rush many times. You just need to ensure you are fully prepped and ready.

Pro Tip:

“Get as many people as you can to enter these. As long as they have a different TodayTix account and card information, you can brute force your way to winning. Just ensure you don't double buy - you'll have the 5 minute holding time to inform them if you were successful.”

Pro Tip:

“If you are flexible, try getting Rush (or Day) Tickets on a day when a show has a matinee - you will effectively double your chances of grabbing tickets, as there will be 2 performances to choose from. This especially applies to mid-week performances with a matinee, which for most shows is a Wednesday.”

Strategy for Winning Day Tickets

Since Day tickets are handled through the official websites of each show, the strategies will vary. Some shows release Day tickets weekly rather than daily.

Below are the shows that currently have Day Tickets available. The National Theatre also has Day Tickets for all their shows. Shakespear's Globe also has Day Tickets for most of their shows during late spring and summer. We've detailed these further down the page.

Always check the Day shows at the end of this post or search for them on the Show Search screen to ensure you have the complete list.

Current shows (as of writing) that have Day Tickets:

Show	Frequency	Time	Price	Details
Wicked	Weekly	10 am Wednesday	£29.50	24 Front Row seats are available online for all performances in the following week
Operation Mincemeat	Daily	10:30 am	£59.50	Only available direct from their Box Office at the theatre
Mamma Mia	Daily	10 am	£30	£30 for all seats, including premium seats if you are quick
Hercules	Weekly	12 pm Monday	£29.50	Every Monday for all the week's performances
The Lion King	Weekly	12 pm Monday	£29.50	Every Monday for all the week's performances
The Phantom of the Opera	Daily	10 am	£37.50	That day's performance(s)

Apart from Operation Mincemeat, which requires you to get Day Tickets from their Box Office, the others are available from their official websites.

The usual strategy for these is:

Visit the Day Ticket page on their website before the time/day stated. You can click on the Day Tickets offer link from the show page on our website to find this.

Ensure you are on this page prior to the time (or day) stated on their website.

At exactly that time, a form will appear (you may need to refresh). Enter your details (usually name, email, phone, post code) and submit.

Vehemently check your inbox for an email. If you're using Gmail, it's best to check your 'All Mail' folder, just in case the email goes to your spam or another folder.

If there are still tickets available, there will be a link on the email to purchase Day Tickets.

Click the link and you'll be taken to their exclusive seat map showing only the seats available for Day Tickets (you can choose matinee or evening seats if there are 2 performances that day). For the weekly Day Tickets, you'll also be able to select any performance during the week.

Select your seat(s) and purchase. Bear in mind that other people could still be trying to get tickets too, so until you have selected and confirmed these, they are not yours. Once you are on the payment page, you'll have some time to buy them. After purchasing, you'll be sent your e-tickets via email.

National Theatre Day Tickets

The National Theatre's version of Day Tickets (which they call ‘Friday Rush’) uses a online queuing system. Every Friday between 12:30 pm and 1 pm, a booking link appears on their Friday Rush page.

National Theatre Friday Rush page

NoteWhile the National Theatre refers to these as ‘Rush’ tickets, we classify them as ‘Day Tickets’ on this site to distinguish them from the TodayTix Rush tickets.

You'll need to ensure you are on the page prior to 12:30 pm to be entered into the waiting room. At exactly 1 pm, everyone in that room is assigned a random position in the queue.

If your random queue number is above 160, your chances of success are low as these frequently sell out before the queue progresses that far.

Friday Rush tickets are available for performances on the following week, and you can choose which performance you want them for, as long as there are seats left.

Shakespeare's Globe Day Tickets

Shakespeare's Globe also has ‘Rush’ Day tickets, released every Friday at 11 am for performances scheduled for the following Monday through Sunday.

Shakespeare's Globe £5 Rush page

Booking Process

Shortly before 11:00 am, a “Book £5 Rush” button will appear on the page. Clicking this button places customers in a queue where they are assigned a random position.

Once you reach the front of the queue, you can select your desired performance and choose the ‘Yard’ section from the seating map. If £5 Rush tickets remain, they can be added to the basket and purchased.

Groundling TicketsThese tickets are groundling tickets, which means you will be standing for the duration of the performance. Shakespeare's Globe is also open to the elements, so if it rains you are going to get wet. Ensure you take your waterproofs as umbrellas are strictly prohibited!

Groundling tickets are available for any show for £5 or £10, so if you don't fancy taking your chance with the ‘rush’, you can always purchase them ahead of time if there are any remaining.

What are your chances of winning Day Tickets?

Very good! Again, this depends on the show, time of year or day of the week, but most times we have entered these we have won. What's great about Day Tickets rather than the Rush Tickets is that because they are only available from the official website, far fewer people know about these. Even an hour or so after the time they become available, you can still sometimes find tickets.

For Wicked, we've seen tickets still available the next day!

For Mamma Mia, you can get premium seats right in the heart of the stalls for a fraction of what they would normally cost you!

We have not tried getting day tickets for Operation Mincemeat, but I would suggest turning up to their Box Office well before the official opening time.