Pay card

A pay card is a notation system or device used in some nightclub

Nightclub

A nightclub is a drinking, dancing and entertainment venue which does its primary business after dark. People who frequent nightclubs are known as clubbers...

s to indicate the value of the drinks or services (e.g., coat check fees) consumed by or used by a patron. Pay cards are either chipcards, hole cards, or a piece of paper card with several fields which servers mark with special pens, pencils, or clippers.

When the patron leaves the nightclub, they remit their pay card to a cashier, who decodes it, and the required payment is displayed on the checkout box.

A pay card is a notation system or device used in some nightclub

Nightclub

A nightclub is a drinking, dancing and entertainment venue which does its primary business after dark. People who frequent nightclubs are known as clubbers...

s to indicate the value of the drinks or services (e.g., coat check fees) consumed by or used by a patron. Pay cards are either chipcards, hole cards, or a piece of paper card with several fields which servers mark with special pens, pencils, or clippers.

When the patron leaves the nightclub, they remit their pay card to a cashier, who decodes it, and the required payment is displayed on the checkout box. The pay card is most often the property of the nightclub and stays in the cashbox for future use. If a patron loses or damages their paycard, they have to pay a maximum price indicated on the paycard.

Issues

Nightclubs use paycards because it facilitates payment; staff do not have to carry change, and servers do not have to walk about the restaurant with hundreds of dollars in cash. Some nightclub owners use paycard systems because they believe that patrons drink more in clubs that use paycards.

There are some disadvantages for nightclubs that use paycards. There are often long queues

Queue area

Queue areas are places in which people in line wait for goods or services. Examples include checking out groceries or other goods that have been collected in a self service shop, in a shop without self service, at an ATM, at a ticket desk, a city bus, or in a taxi stand.Queueing is a phenomenon...

 at the exit, especially when the club closes and it is crowded. Paycards can be damaged by foam parties

Foam party

A foam party is a social event in which participants dance to music on a dance floor covered in several feet of suds or bubbles dispensed from a foam machine. For safety reasons, the foam is generated from non-toxic, non-staining, hypo-allergenic solutions ....

. Some unsophisticated paycards can be manipulated by the patron.

Paycards give patrons an incentive to escape through an emergency exit, so emergency exits in such clubs may be safeguarded by alarms.