Free Pizza Domination

Cineplex has been running a great promotion in conjunction with Pizza Pizza lately. The top player in the Timeplay movie trivia competition (which precedes the trailers) wins a free medium pizza. The remaining top 10 players get a free slice of pizza. In 5 competitions, I've been the top player 4  times, and came in 2nd place the other time.

Here's what I've learned:

1. You can't have more than one of the same prize be redeemable within the "My Stuff" folder. For example, I had 2 free pizzas (because I didn't redeem the first pizza, before winning the 2nd free pizza), but once I redeemed the first free pizza, the 2nd one disappeared from the "My Stuff" folder. So, it's important to redeem the reward quickly, or at least before you win again.
2. You can't win more than one prize per day. Sometimes I take in two movies in a single day. I won a free slice in the first movie, and a free pizza in the 2nd movie. But, since I'd already won that day, the free pizza wasn't awarded.
3. Your odds of winning are better if there are fewer competitors. Thus, watching a film in the afternoon, or late at night might mean fewer players. I saw G.I. Joe one afternoon with only 3 other people in the theatre (it was in UltraAVX, and it had already been out for a week), and I was the only person playing Timeplay, so I won by default.
4. Looking at points #2 and #3 above, if you're going to see two movies in a single day, it might make sense to not play in the first movie (if it's more popular), and instead wait to play only in the second movie, when there's less competition.

Of course, regardless of whether one wins pizza or not, it still makes sense to play Timeplay in order to get the SCENE points that are awarded to all players. It takes 1000 SCENE points to get a free movie. Ordering movie tickets online earns 120 points. Adding another 50 points earned just by playing Timeplay ups the total to 170 points. Thus, it takes less than 6 paid movies to earn enough SCENE points for a free movie if one maximizes all opportunities to earn points. And, if one is smart, some of those points from paid movies might be generated via discounted Tuesday movies, whereas the free movie should always be redeemed for the most expensive Cineplex ticket, namely IMAX ($19.99 on a non-Tuesday).

Cineplex also benefits by having Timeplay, because it encourages people to get to the theatre in advance of the trailers (and other commercials before the movie). Having more people in the audience viewing those trailers and commercials means that they can charge a higher price to advertisers. It also gives Cineplex an opportunity to remind people to turn off their mobile phones after the game has ended. Combining rewards with the SCENE program also reinforces consumer loyalty for Cineplex. This is an excellent example of gamification in a marketing context.