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Timed play session
A timed play session is admission to a play area sold as a fixed number of minutes for one child, with a start, a set length and a finish, run on a timer and matched to a wristband. At zero the child leaves, buys more time, is given some, or becomes an overstay.
What is sold in a timed play session?
Minutes, rather than entry. A parent pays for a block of time for one named child, in whichever lengths the venue lists, and the floor cares about three moments: the start, the length and the end. A wristband colour tells anyone on the floor roughly when a child is due out. Because each session has a length, the venue can plan a busy hour and price it from its cost per child-hour, then sell more time on top.
How does a timed session run on the floor?
One routine repeats all day, and a shared board holds its four stages together.
- Start. The sale starts the clock and gives the child a wristband colour, usually one colour per window of the day, so the band says roughly when its wearer is due out.
- Play. The board shows time left and warns as an end approaches.
- Time-up. At zero the board raises an alert and a team member finds the family.
- Close. The session is ended, the band comes back, the place goes to the next child.
What happens at time-up: leaving, extension, complimentary time or overstay?
At zero there are four outcomes, and a venue should settle its preference before the first busy Saturday, not in front of a queue.
| Outcome | Who decides | Effect on the clock |
|---|---|---|
| The child leaves | The family, prompted by staff | Closed, nothing more to pay |
| Paid extension | The family, at the desk | A sale moves the end later; a refund puts it back |
| Complimentary extension | Staff, on the floor | A few minutes added at no charge |
| Overstay | Nobody | Runs past zero unpaid, flagged until dealt with |
Three are decisions; the fourth is the absence of one, which is why overstay has its own entry and the written rule on grace, extensions and the words used at time-up lives in the overstay and time extensions guide. Pricing the extension belongs to the session pricing guide.
How does timed play compare with all-day admission?
All-day admission sells the visit rather than the minutes: the family pays once and leaves when it suits them. It removes the time-up conversation, and with it any way to say how many children a day will take or what an hour of the floor is worth; on a busy afternoon the room fills while nobody is due out. Timed play trades a little desk friction for capacity you can plan and time you can sell; the venue capacity planner turns your children-at-once limit, session length and changeover time into sessions a day, and from those the largest number of child visits a day, on your own figures, and the capacity management guide covers choosing the capacity number.
How PlayAreaOS runs a timed play session
Selling play time at the POS puts that child's countdown on the timer board under a wristband colour and into live occupancy, so the four outcomes above all happen in front of a team that can already see the clock.
Questions
What does timed play mean at a soft play centre?
It means entry is sold by the clock. A family pays for a set number of minutes for each child, the child's time is tracked from the moment the sale is made, and when it runs out the family leaves or buys more. The alternative is all-day admission, where one price covers however long the family chooses to stay.
Can a family stay longer than the session they bought?
Yes, in two ways worth keeping apart. They can buy more time at the desk, which moves the end of the session later and is refunded like any other sale if plans change. Or a team member can add a few minutes at no charge, which is a gift rather than a sale and should read as one in the record. A child who stays on without either is an overstay.
Is a timed play session the same as a play session?
Nearly. A play session is the block of time a child plays for; calling it timed stresses that it has a fixed length and an end somebody acts on, rather than an open-ended visit. In a venue where every session is sold with a length, the two words describe the same thing.
How long should a timed play session be?
Long enough that a family feels they had a proper visit and short enough that the floor turns over on a busy day, and no single number suits every venue. Shorter sessions give more turns and more time-up conversations, longer ones give fewer of both. Work it out from your own capacity and cost per child-hour, then judge any change against your own earlier figures rather than another venue's.
Does a timed session need wristband scanners or other hardware?
No. The wristband is a colour the venue already buys, matched to the same colour on the timer board, and a team member reads it across the room by eye. PlayAreaOS runs in a browser on the tablets and phones a venue already owns.