New paying method introduced at Sziget Festival

The greatest festivals in Hungary — including award-winning Sziget — are introducing an innovative paying method this year. Thanks to this new technology, festival cards will be replaced with chips installed into the armbands.

The new paying method involving the armbands will be applied at the festivals of Sziget group, according to Portfolio. Sziget also confirmed that the festival cards were used for the last time in 2017.

The technology has already been tested at Neversea festival in Romania. Festipay, an enterprise dedicated to paying methods at events developed this solution, which solved ID-based entering and payment with a single chip installed in the armband. The website of the festival provided an interface for transferring funds from bank accounts to the personal chip online.

This system will be introduced this year not only at Sziget, but also at VOLT and Balaton Sound.

The chips in the armbands will operate with radio-frequency identifier (RFID) system. The chip will work a similar way to a keycard: it will contain information about the warrants of the owner and it will allow the entitled guest to enter the festival and the camping.

The chip contains the paying functions of the former festival card. This solution secures that guests will not lose their “ticket”, and it is easy to carry it everywhere. The price of the chip will be included in the ticket price, on the contrary to the festival card which required a minor deposit.