Dynamic Discount vs Mystery Product: Which Play & Win Reward Model Fits Your Business

This qr code reward model comparison covers the only two reward types Play & Win actually ships with: Dynamic Discount and Mystery Product. Every QR is configured with exactly one — there's no mixing the two on a single code, and no third option. Both compute the actual reward server-side the moment a session completes, so nothing about the outcome is decided or visible on the player's device beforehand. Neither model is a wallet, a points balance, or something that accumulates over repeat visits — every play is a single, self-contained session: play once, win once, claim once.

You set a minimum and maximum ₹ amount and pick a weight tier — Low, Medium, or High — that controls where within that range payouts tend to land. Medium is unbiased: draws spread evenly across the whole range, so a ₹190 outcome is exactly as likely as a ₹60 one on a ₹50–₹200 range. Low skews toward the bottom of the range — about 63% of plays land in the lower half. High mirrors that toward the top — about 63% of plays land in the upper half. Whatever the raw draw comes out to, it's always rounded to the nearest ₹5 before being shown to the player.

Concretely, on a ₹50–₹200 range (midpoint ₹125):

If you don't want any variance at all, set the minimum equal to the maximum — for example, min ₹100 and max ₹100. Every play then computes to exactly ₹100, regardless of which weight tier is selected, since there's no range left to skew across. This is a legitimate way to run Play & Win as a straightforward flat-discount mechanic while still keeping the game and the reward-reveal moment.

Mystery Product works differently — instead of a ₹ range, you upload a list of named products, each with a photo. When a session completes, SMLLR picks one product at equal odds across every currently active product — there's no per-product weighting, so a ₹20 item and a ₹500 item you've listed have exactly the same chance of being picked. You can pause any product at any time without deleting it — useful the moment something runs out mid-shift — and paused products are excluded from the draw entirely while they're off.

Mystery Product does not track stock or inventory levels for you. SMLLR shows this exact reminder in the setup screen: "Smllr doesn't track stock — only list items you can reliably provide throughout your operating hours. You can pause an item anytime without deleting it." In practice this means the list you upload is a promise, not a live inventory feed — if you're not confident you can honor every item on the list at any hour you're open, either shrink the list to items you always have, or pause items proactively during hours you know you're likely to run short.

Say you've listed 5 products for a Mystery Product QR — each active product currently has a 1-in-5 (20%) chance of being drawn on any completed play. If you pause one item because it's sold out for the day, the draw is now across the remaining 4 active products, so each of those jumps to a 1-in-4 (25%) chance until you unpause the fifth one. The odds always redistribute automatically across whatever's currently active — you don't need to manually rebalance anything.

The weight-tier effect holds the same way on a tighter range, which is closer to what many small businesses actually run. On a ₹100–₹150 range (midpoint ₹125), Low weight puts roughly 63% of plays between ₹100 and ₹125, with the rest landing ₹125–₹150; High weight flips that, putting roughly 63% between ₹125 and ₹150; Medium spreads evenly across the full ₹100–₹150 band. The narrower the range, the smaller the practical difference between weight tiers feels to any one customer, since even the "low" end and "high" end are only ₹50 apart — weight tiers matter more, and are worth tuning more carefully, on wider ranges.

Whichever reward model you pick, everything else about the flow works exactly the same. The optional lead-capture gate, the 3-hour claim validity window, the "Claim now" early-exit link, and the fact that redemption happens off-platform at the counter — none of that changes based on Dynamic Discount versus Mystery Product. The only thing the reward model decides is what shows up on the win-reveal and claim screen: a ₹ amount for Dynamic Discount, or a specific named product with its photo for Mystery Product. That means switching reward models later, if your business needs change, doesn't touch any other part of your Play & Win setup.

A practical way to decide: if you're a café, restaurant, or retail counter with real physical stock, Mystery Product tends to fit better — it turns the reward itself into a small piece of marketing for specific items (a free samosa, a free coffee, a specific accessory), and pausing items keeps you from ever promising something you can't deliver that day. If you'd rather not manage a product list at all and just want simple, predictable-ish discount economics, Dynamic Discount is the more hands-off choice — set a range once, pick a weight tier that matches how generous you want to be, and it runs itself. Plenty of businesses that don't carry giveable stock — service centers, clinics, coworking spaces — lean toward Dynamic Discount for exactly this reason.

Whichever model you pick, the reward amount or item is a random draw computed at the moment a session completes — it isn't tied to how well someone actually played the game. A player who barely survives Endless Dash for fifteen seconds has exactly the same odds as one who racks up a huge score. Score exists purely as engagement flavor; it never influences the reward calculation on either model. If you're still deciding which game to pair with whichever reward model you choose, the game-by-game picker guide covers how each one actually feels to play, and the full setup walkthrough shows exactly where this choice sits in the wizard.

Both reward models are set up in the same step of the Play & Win wizard — pick whichever fits your business from this comparison, then follow the full setup walkthrough to configure it and go live. Play & Win ships on SMLLR's Pro plan (₹4,999/month) and Premium plan (₹14,999/month); start here if you're not on SMLLR yet.