Wii availability at Roseville CA (Sacramento) EB Games this Sunday 12/17  

This morning my son and I showed up at the main front entrance to the Galleria Mall about 4:50 AM. There was no one at the door waiting, which we would later learn was called 'Entrance 5'. Then suddenly about 8 people were escorted out of the mall by the security guard, right to the main entrance where my son and I were. This group of 8 or so were let in by mistake by the night janitor (he thought they were mall employees), but the mall is closed to the public until 6:00 AM. A security guard told them that the mall would open in about an hour and they had to wait outside and would be the first to be let in.

Meanwhile, another line formed at an entrance at the other side of the mall -- 'Entrance 4'. But not to worry, or so we thought, because we were told that we were at the door that would be opened first. Unfortunately, the security guards did not communicate with each other and one of them opened 'Entrance 4' first, so about 150 people were let in ahead of us, and they raced upstairs.

When the 'Entrance 5' group arrived upstairs at the EB games store (my son and I included) , it appeared too late -- about 150 people were already in line waiting for 30 Wiis But, one of our group decided that we should form our own line. So we did. This person, who's name I don't remember, was an absolute genius and became the defacto 'leader' of our group from Entrance 5.

The security guards told us to merge the two lines into a single line but that didn't happen. So we waited for the EB Games store manager to show up and decide what to do with the 2 lines.

When he arrived, the store manager seemed quite indecisive about what to do. He went back and forth between telling us that we 1) should do a lottery, or 2) our line was 'not valid', or 3) that the first people at HIS STORE DOOR, not the mall door, were the winners. After 2 hours of each group arguing the merits of their case for being the 'official' line, a decision was reached -- but not before many tempers flared from the 'Entrance 4' group and the security guard escorted one person out screaming. At one point a security guard threatened to take anyone who got out of hand to jail. It was ugly.

Fortunately, our group from 'Entrance 5' kept calmly and persistantly negotiating with the store manager and a decision was reached -- 10 Wiis would be allocated to the first 10 people in each line. Then the remaining 10 Wiis would be decided by a lottery system.

My son and I were #10 and #11 in the line from Entrance 5, so we got to buy one Wii.

I think the lessons learned are as follows:
1) If multiple lines develop, forming an 'alliance' with fellow line members, planning a strategy, remaining orderly and calmly negotiating with management paid off.
2) In the future, don't wait outside a mall where there are multiple entrances -- find a non-mall store and arrive early.
3) Never, ever, lose your temper. Remember, its the Christmas season.
4) My son and I were very, very lucky.

Boy, if I was a sociology student looking for a thesis topic, I would be studying these game console crowd dynamics. :)


Mitch

Lol.

i gotta say if youre one of the unlucky people that doesnt get one after standing in line, like there was 24 and you were number 25... DONT LEAVE! I have seen with my own eyes occasions where store managers have come back out to hand out more tickets OR someones credit card was declined while trying to make the purchase... especially at best buy the manager at the store i waited at on sunday told me not to go anywhere they have had atleast 1 declined credit card each time they have done this... at that point they take the next person in line... so just a thought if youre still out there looking

It certainly was wild. I wish I had a video of the whole thing. You should have heard the guy scream when he was forced out of the mall by the guards. I felt sorry for him that he waited for nothing, but I didn't see whatever he did to deserve it.

The security guard was humbled by our second line from Entrance 5, especially when he asked us to all to get in the other line. "Everyone make one single line", he said, but we just stood there, like in a 60s anti-war protest. He knew he in was over his head, so he gave up and said he'd let the store manager deal with it.

Did you get one at Target on Sunday? It was one the coldest nights of the year here in the Roseville area. In the future I hope the next-gen platforms are released in the summer months!

Good point -- someone could have forgotten their card or been over their credit limit, especially near the end of the Christmas buying season.

I think there were one or two people in front of us that gave up too early and went home. If not for that we wouldn't have gotten one. As it was, it was close since my son was the last successful person in our line.

No probs whatsoever at my local mall and this mall is within 1/2 mile of a Super Target, Best Buy, Circuit City and TRU...all that had lines of 75 - 200+ people at them. The key here was the Gamestop did not tell people they had any units...they told people to "check back with them on Sunday" Mall opens at 9am and the GS at 10am, I got there 7:45ish (after striking out everywhere else), went into the entrance the employees use (wife used to work there) and there was one other person waiting in line in front of GS. We talked cordially as people slowly filtered in, the line got to about 40 by 9:30am. Manager showed up and said he had 9 units and plenty of wiimotes/nunchucks. Scored a wii and 4 full controllers plus Zelda and golf, GS manager threw in a free Zelda guide. Very pleasant and calm experience.




ash =o)

Congratulations on making the right educated guess. You're lucky because the Nunchuks are sold out practically everywhere (at least in California).

On Saturday the EB Games store had a sign in the front window that read "Wii forecast -- 30 units Sunday".

How does one know which Sunday that stores like Target, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Circuit City will have stock? Sometimes I have seen Sunday newspaper ads that say something like "Minimum 15 units per store". But by the time you get the paper they're all gone.

Is there a way to view the major store's Sunday newspaper ads ahead of time on Saturday night?

The internet won't help with most of the chains as they don't post their circulars for the new week until early Sunday morning. I've looked well after midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning and none of the major chains have their new circulars up yet. Maybe the West coast has a slight advantage on that issue.

However, many Sunday newspaper subscribers get their coupon/circular pack with their Saturday paper, if they get everyday delivery. We used to when we got the paper everyday, but unfortunately, now we only take Sunday delivery. So, yes, you can see the circulars in advance, but it costs money and putting up with a lot of paper to recycle to do so.

I tried searching the retailer's websites as late as 1-2 AM Sunday morning, and they still had the previous week's ads/coupons. Is there a secret site? (I guess if you told me it wouldn't be secret anymore.) ;)

Exactly my experience too, even here on the left coast.

Now I'm having trouble locating a second set of controllers.

Yeah, they put up a sign outside the store. I bet they'll never do that again!
I got a Wiimote at EB Games Tuesday. No big hurry on the Nunchuk.

BTW: There are a lot of people selling off bundled games (from package deals) on eBay. Seems like a buyer's market for games now -- no need to pay full retail at the stores unless you must have it before Christmas.