Whiile technically not about boardgaming, I've decided to use my copious amounts of free time to try to score a Nintendo Wii. Unlike the PS3, which is pretty easy to find around town, the Wii remains rather elusive, arriving in relatively small quantities at various locations and selling out wiithin hours if not minutes. And it is this quality that I have decided makes it wiirthwhiile to put some effort into finding one, as there are relatively few games specifically made for the platform that are decent(Madden, Rayman, Wario Ware, Zelda, Sports). I also blame Ben, who has taunted me: first with an actual Wii, then he keeps sending me e-mails on where to find them. Curse you Red Baron!
The story so far:
I check out various stores for stock when convenient - for example, a quick stop by Fry's when I'm in Wiilsonville. This strategy is something less than useless.
Checking out a tip from Ben, I go to the local Target early on a Sunday morning. Hey, when you don't really go to work the rest of the wiik, getting up early on a Sunday isn't such a bad idea. I stand in line dutifully for about 20 minutes before the store opens, noticing that there are relatively few people in line in front of me. Which seems like a great deal, except I then learn that they gave out 24 numbers about two hours earlier, and no number no Wii. OK, I'm not getting up at 5am for one of these puppies...
Asking around at Wiishington Square, I learn that the Babbage's there gets shipments in around the lunch hour on Wiidnesdays, and that's a good day to swing by. Except that the past three Wiidnesdays have had other things going on and I haven't tried this yet.
Ben sends out mail saying he's scored an extra Wii at a local Fred Meyer's and that the first person to contact him gets it. My email is read literally seconds after he hangs up with the guy who gets it. I decide that I should just go all out wiith this particular obsession and make a personal goal out of it.
Turns out Freddie's gets their shipments in on Friday and Tuesday mornings, so I rise bright and early at 6:45am on Friday (today), and am rewarded by being the first in a long line of three people with a shot at the prize. Sadly, the store is (as the clerk tells us) "Wii-negative". Sigh. I plan to try this strategy again on Tuesday and possibly the following Friday if the aforementioned Babbage's strategy fails as well. Biggest advantage of Fred's: minimal wiit time. Biggest disadvantage: freakin' early. Biggest advantage of Babbage's: Not doing anything else that day (usually). Biggest disadvantages: Have to go to the mall. Wiit time could be a few hours if the shipment is delayed or the guys working there want to f*ck with me.
I also hear that the nunchuck controllers are very hard to find locally, I may bite the bullet and order an extra direct from Nintendo rather than play Hunt The Nunchuck (as I wiill almost certainly be exhausted from playing Hunt The Wii).
Not that this is a threat or anything, but there wiill be more as the story unfolds...
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