Lawrence Ingraham’s Blog

It almost didn’t happen, and probably shouldn’t have happened, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Nintendo Wii the day it came out. There were a very limited quantity shipped to the US, eBay auctions are currently at $500+ for these $250 consoles, so you can see the demand is high.

I planned on getting up early and waiting in line at my local Target. I read that they would be getting 50 or so units and that would probably be enough for the first rush. If not Target, there’s a Best Buy on the way that will probably have even more available. I remember getting in line for the original Xbox and the Gamecube back in 2001. I got there a few hours before the store opened and having no problem getting one, so this shouldn’t be much different.

With that in mind, I set my Nintendo DS to wake me at 5:30 so I could get there at 6:00. Unfortunately, I forgot to change the time on my DS when it changed last month, so 5:30 turned into 4:30. Of course I didn’t realize this until that morning, so I figured it’s best I just start lining up early rather than trying to go back to sleep. I’m so glad I did.

Drove past the Best Buy around 4:45 and there was a good line or 40 or so people and a few tents near the front. I expected that, Best Buy is more of a specialized store and probably will have more units available. Pulled up to the Target and I see a similar scene, 40 or so people as well as few tents. I wasn’t expecting that many people here. Best Buy is looking more attractive, so I head back.

Arrived at Best Buy at 5:00 on the dot. The guy in front of me had been there since 4:30 and said he was the 38th in line. Someone in the front of the line had started a list to avoid people sneaking in and taking people’s spots. Was a great idea considering the debacle that was the PS3 launch. I put my name on the list and it turns out I’m number 44, there were some people who were missed on the original list. No problem though, if Target is getting 50+, I should have no problem at a Best Buy, right?

People kept trickling in all morning and we got to meet our neighbors in line. Standing in line in the cold fog before dawn brings out some random conversations. We talked about everything from finance to college, even some gaming, imagine that. Around 6:00 we made a Starbucks run and kept our spaces in line for multiple bathroom trips to the Safeway across the street. That was a fun experience. It really helped to have people to talk with when the fog rolled in and made things extra cold.

The line in front of the store at 6am

The line on the side where I was standing

The rumor was that Best Buy was getting at least 70 consoles. This came from a guy behind us who called the day before and spoke with an employee, pretty realistic I’d think. We wouldn’t know until 8:00 though when they handed out numbered vouchers which guaranteed you would get one at 9:00 when they opened. I had actually thought they were opening at 8:00, so another lucky messup on my part.

So 7:45 rolled around and the line got condenced. Tents were removed and chairs were put in cars. The moment we were waiting for has almost arrived. There were a good 100+ people in line by now, some of which will be going home empty handed. But they’ve got to have more than Target right?

Here’s the front of the building at 7:45

The line behind me at 7:30. None of these people got one but nobody knew that at this time.

At 8:00 a Best Buy representative came out with team to announce the tickets would be issued. There were only 45 consoles, 45!! Seeing that I was 44th in line, and had no visibility to the front of the store and any “inflation” that might have happened to the list, things weren’t looking good for me. Things definitely weren’t looking good for the people behind me.

As the tickets were being handed out, we walked toward the front of the line in anticipation. Trying to count the number of tickets in hand as they were distributed one by one. Please, I hope I didn’t stand outside a Best Buy for 3 hours at 5am for nothing.

I got lucky. I was ticket number 43. I guess someone dropped out or maybe the list was wrong. My whole group got ours, all the way up to the guy who said there would be 70. Finally I can go to the car and warm up, get some breakfast, and relax. the wait was over.

These happy people were the lucky 45 to get a Wii

These unhappy people didn’t

They let us into the store at 9:00 and had an area set up for us to pick up accessories and our console. While this was a bit of a cluster, I got everything I came for; the console, a second controller and a copy of Zelda. I’ll still need the component cable to hook it up to my plasma, but I knew that wasn’t available at launch.

I stumbled home at 9:40 and dropped off everything in the living room. I heard my wife say “What the hell happened to you” from the bedroom and proceded to give her to full rundown from DS alarm mishap to number 43. We had breakfast then set up the system, and proceeded to have a blast playing it. Well worth the adventure it took.

My Wii Ticket, number 43 of 45

The distribution of the 45 Wiis

Update: Went by Target today and found that they received 51 consoles. Who would have thought Target would get more than Best Buy?

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