The noise of the cash registers sounding everywhere. A distinct sound every time an item was swiped. Large lines all over, and people swarming for deals. Mobs were rushing to certain items before they sell it. It was the Friday after thanksgiving, and the stores were insane. At 2 Am there was a line at Best Buy that was 200 people in length. I was glad I had gotten my Nintendo Wii a week prior to this mess, or I might not have gotten it at all.
It was one week ago, and I found myself waiting in line since 2 Am with a group of fellow gamers. I was the 16th person in a line that kept growing and growing. There were 5 kids in line that I talked to while waiting. Three out of the five had actually graduated from the same school as I did. Those same three kids also intended to sell their acquired Wii on eBay, as did I if the price was right. I figured I could always pick up another one a few weeks later. One of the kids had a foot ball, so we started tossing it around at around 3:30. I learned quite fast that cold hands on a cold night while trying to catch a football is not the best thing to do. Eventually our fun ran out; the foot ball landed on the roof. All hope was not lost however. Someone had a glow in the dark Frisbee! At this point two other kids from the line joined it. Unlike the lines for the PS3, Wii fans weren’t being assholes about getting out of line. When we were done playing Frisbee, it was around 4:00. Only three more hours till we got our hands on the most wanted Nintendo console of the year!
We were back to sitting, with nothing to do. It was starting to get colder and colder, with a very, very light snow. So small that it could hardly be seen in the parking lot lights. More people were relaxing in their cars warming up, more and more often. Eventually the inevitable then happened; it started to snow harder, with big thick flakes. At first nobody thought it would amount to much, as it wasn’t sticking on the grass or the ground. Then slowly it started to stick on the grass, and everyone that was sitting down. The temperature combined with the wetness of the snow made for miserable conditions. We continued to joke and laugh despite the bad conditions. I joked that if I had Denny’s phone number, I’d call and ask them to make me some food. Someone called me on that, and randomly had Denny’s phone number in their cell phone. I called and ordered a grand slam, and they said it would be ready in 10 minutes. I quickly ran over there, asking others to save my spot in line. When I got back I gobbled the food up as if I hadn’t eaten for a day. The warm syrup tasted delicious on such a cold night. Combined with the running and the heat of Denny’s, I was warm, and ready for the Wii. There was only 1 hour and 30 minutes until we could get our hands on it.
Slowly people started picking up their lawn chairs, and folding them up. Shortly after that, the tents started to get disassembled, and the laptops put away. Everyone was now standing there anxiously awaiting the clocks to strike 7 AM. Employees were now starting to trickle in one by one. For some reason the line kept getting smaller; meaning everyone was getting closer to each other as if this would make the wait slower. At 6:30 an employee came out and we thought they were going to let us in early. However he just handed out tickets, which told us our line number. 15 minutes later the doors opened, and we all started to rush in to the warmth, but that didn’t last long. An employee made us all go back outside. Apparently Wal-mart doesn’t care about people waiting in line to buy their merchandise. At 7:00 we all started to get really antsy, and excited. We wondered why they hadn’t opened the doors yet, and if something was wrong. Two minutes later the door opened, and we were all led to the cash register and given a Wii one by one. We were allowed to opt in for games, controllers, batteries, and anything else we might need. Most chose Zelda as it was the most popular game. This is where the kid in front of me had a terrible experience. He swiped his credit card, and it came back declined! He swiped it again, starting to panic, but it had the same results. He remembered he had his debit card, but the account balance wasn’t high enough. He said he’d just overdraft the total, and eat the fees. That didn’t work either as it came back declined. Eventually the cashier gave him one hour to come back with cash. Lucky for him I guess. Eventually I got my Wii, and exited the store while laughing at all the people lined up at Best Buy which didn’t open until 9. I never did find out if the other kid in front of me managed to come back in time.
As the Wal-mart cashier checked me out, I couldn’t help looking back on this day and thinking it might have been a waste of time. Nintendo was really on top of the Wii launch, and there were many more each week. I guess it’s just important for a gamer to have his console on launch day. Heading back to my car, I looked at the empty sidewalk, and thought of all the fun I was having a few weeks ago at this very spot.
