Update on 5 August: FringeGuru continues to advise you avoid the Fringe central box office.

Following major problems with its central box office system, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe has changed a number of ticket booking and collection arrangements this year.  Because of these issues, FringeGuru recommends you do not book with the Festival Fringe box office.  Instead, you can get tickets for the majority of Fringe shows directly from the venue - and the venues' own box offices are not affected by the Fringe's computer problems.

Background on Fringe ticketing

There are two completely different ways of getting tickets for Fringe shows. You can either buy through the central box office run by the Fringe itself, or go directly through the venue (or chain of venues) hosting the performance.

The two systems are not linked - they sell from separate ticket pools. That means it's common for one of the two systems to sell out while the other still has tickets available. What's more, tickets centrally booked with the Fringe can only be collected from the Fringe box offices... while tickets booked with the venue can only be collected there.

The Fringe box office crash

Problems with the Fringe central box office system emerged at the start of June, when ticket sales were suspended after the failed introduction of a new computer system.  In mid-July, there was a further panic when it emerged almost 140,000 tickets had not been posted out to their expectant owners.

The Fringe has worked hard since then to fix the problems, and we believe everyone who's booked through the central box office has now received or can pick up their tickets.  However, systems are running slowly, and we're advising that all new booking should be made directly with the venues this year.

Latest news and advice

We mystery-shopped the Fringe box office on Monday 4 August and found that, although there were some glitches, the systems were working at the time.  However, based on our experiences, we've revised our advice for getting Fringe tickets this year.

Book directly with the venue whenever you can.  The individual venues’ box office systems are not affected by the Fringe computer crash.  To book directly with the venues, look up phone number and website addresses in our Venue Guide.

If you’ve already booked tickets through the central box office, pick them up at the “e-ticket tent” at the east end of Princes Street.  The queues there are much shorter than at the main box office on the Royal Mile, and you can pick up at the e-ticket tent even if you didn’t book online.  See a map showing the e-ticket tent.

Different arrangements apply for shows at Brunton Theatre (Musselburgh) or the Queen’s Hall.  If you’ve booked those through the central box office, you need to pick your tickets up at the venue, on the day of the performance only.

If you’re a Friend of the Fringe, get your 2-for-1 tickets by phoning rather than by going to the “priority” box office.  Collect them at the e-ticket tent, as above.

For those few venues which don’t have their own box offices, book online at edfringe.com before you leave home, then pick the tickets up at the e-ticket tent.

And finally, if you absolutely must go to the central box office, try to get there in the morning.  That's when the desks are quietest and you stand the best chance of dodging the queues.

For more information on the history of our box office crisis, you can also read our detailed Q&A.  And if you'd like to, you can still read our original advice on Fringe ticketing.

Remember

When you're in the know about where to go, it's still straightforward to get tickets this year.  There's no need to let the box office crisis spoil your Fringe - just book directly with the venues.  It's easy to get started.  Look up phone number and website addresses in FringeGuru's Venue Guide.