Anyone know a good strategy for scoring a Wii? (1 Viewer)

[Dave_Brown]

Waiting a month before Christmas is probably not the best time to be out looking, but they can be found. I walked into a BB not to long ago with no intention of buying a Wii. I have a PS3 which is more than enough for me. But we were having dinner the night before with some friends and the conversation turned to them playing a Wii and how much fun everyone had.

So I'm there in BB and see the last one on the shelf. Figured I'm here, it's the last one, they are hard to find, might as well pick it up. As I'm paying for it the clerk said "guess you got the last golden ticket on this shipment of 'em." So I guess it is just being in the right place at the right time. Oh, and my friends were right, it is a lot of fun for entertaining. This past weekend we played Tiger Woods for the first time and turned it into a full on golf outing. Even had our wives playing the role of beer cart girls.

 

[Lucia Duran]

I have the good fortune of working at Costco, so when we got some Wii's in, I snagged one up immediately (last April). We sell the bundles (2 controllers, 2 games).

The unfortunate thing about Costco's policy ( I don't how other stores work), we do not hold items for people. So don't bother calling ahead to hold one. I do recommend calling ahead to see if we have a new shipment and then hauling butt over to the store to get one.

 

[Bryan X]

Well, over a year after release and there is still a 'hot' buzz about the console.

The Wii might not be that hot of a product had they met demand months ago. We bought one a year ago before Christmas. Yeah, it's fun. But I tell you what, our 360 gets about 99% of the playing time and the Wii only gets used about 1% of the time. It's interface makes it a unique system, and fun when a group of people want to play. But if I could only keep one, it would be the 360 without hesitation. Overall a better gaming experience for my son and I.

 

[Michael D. Bunting]

I just got 3 off amazon the other night (don't hate on me!)

I had one personally after it was released and I ended up selling it off because I hardly used it

Out of these 3 I'm getting now...2 of them are for you know where and one of them is a gift to a family member for X-mas...

 

[Patrick Sun]

Also, sign up at Wiialert and get notified when Wii consoles come up for sale.

 

[James_S]

I was lucky, I walk into my Target this past Sunday to get my son a DS Game and they had some Wiis on the shelf so I grabbed one for the family.

The people at Target told me to call the stores, every night right before they close and first thing when they open. They will know if some are coming in from freight that night and they will be on the shelves in the morning, if your lucky and they are close to you, you can snag one that night, before the rush in the morning. I would assume this would work for all the B&M stores.

Good Luck!

 

[Patrick Sun]

Finding a Wii is becoming a full-time job...

 

[Greg_S_H]

Previous work experience:

Hunted for a Wii 2006-2007

 

[Matt Stryker]

I second wiialerts, and you can also sign up for topic alerts on sites like slickdeals/fatwallet - the only thing better than scoring a wii is scoring a wii tax-free with free shipping.

Mine is still sealed sitting in the box waiting for me when I get back to the US, and after seeing recent fleabay prices I'm definitely tempted to sell it, but its so fun and so worth it.

 

[Patrick Sun]

FYI - a couple of stores (CC and BB) will be offering Wii consoles for sale this coming Sunday, so get there early enough to get a ticket/voucher and bring Wii home.

 

[Eric_L]

Heh - I was going to suggest you simply ask the forum here to snag one for you if they see it. I had a chance this weekend. But then it occurred to me that you could end up with a dozen or so Wii...

 

[Jon_Are]

Well...I called Toys R Us last night (Saturday) and they said they're getting 40 in this morning.

Woke up at 0500, stopped by 7-11 to snag me a coffee, then drove to TRU. Arrived there around 0515. Lots of people in line (including 4 tents), but my chances seemed good.

Stood in the 33-degree temp and occasional light rain bundled up, drinking coffee, chatting with linemates. One of my comments: "You watch, the guy in front of me will get the last ticket; that's how my luck runs."

Around 0710, a TRU employee comes out and starts handing out line tickets. As he approaches me, I notice that he seems to have a fair amount left.

He hands one to the guy directly in front of me. As I start to put my hand out to receive mine, he says, "that's it, sorry folks."

So there you have it. I came within an inch of grabbing a Wii. Lost out because I stopped for a coffee.

Next week, I arrive at 0300.

Jon

 

[Patrick Sun]

I swung by TRU this morning just to go for the Super Mario Galaxy (2nd Wii 50% off) deal, and one manager said the first guy who showed up to wait was around 2 a.m. this morning. They got in 36. Sadly, TRU didn't have a 2nd Wii title I wanted as their selection wasn't well stocked, so I left empty-handed.

My nearby Best Buy got in over 70 Wii's. I heard my nearby Circuit City got less then 20.

 

[TravisR]

I think that's the 'beauty' of going to a mall with an Electronics Boutique or Game Stop. There can't be a line outside the store. There may be people waiting outside the mall doors but as soon as the doors open, it's every man for himself and in my experience, there's less people waiting outside the mall than Toys R Us or Best Buy, etc.

Good luck!

 

[John_Bonner]

Here's my Wii adventure:

I got up at 4:00am, looked out the window and saw snow coming down...heavy.
After driving slow to Toys R Us, I pull in the parking lot to see cars, lots of cars.
There was a line of about 35 or so people.
The ones in front were in sleeping bags, in the driving snow, 19 degrees and dark outside.
Got on the end of line and just hoped they would have enough to make me glad I did this.
Luckily around 5:00 one of the night crew people opened the front door and let everyone line up in the heated vestibule.
It was funny to see how protective everyone was of their "spot" in line.
If any newcomers came along, there was a chorus of "the end of the line is back there!"
Some of these diehards had camped out since midnight.
Around 5:30 a woman from the store came out to tell people to not block the door and mentioned that they had about 75 Wii consoles available.
All of a sudden everyone is doing headcounts to figure out where in line they stood.
I figured I was in the late 30's, hopefully that was good enough.
At about 6:00 the manager shows up with this "Whoah!" look on his face.
He told the crowd that they would count the boxes and give out numbers.
15 minutes later said manager comes out and starts handing out the inventory tickets.
My number...41 (Woohoo)
They even opened the store an hour early and let people in 3 at a time to buy the consoles.
By 7:45 I was brushing the snow off my car, happy as a clam.
I even treated myself to a buttered bagel and coffee for the trip home.
Can't wait for Christmas, this thing looks like fun!

 

[Jon_Are]

Wow, that was my number as well. As you know from my post, though, they only had 40 units.

No Woohoo for me.

No buttered bagel, either (though I did toss a honeybun -squeezed into a ball - out the window in disgust on the way home).

No kidding.

Jon

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

My local Best Buy had 41 units available when they opened at 10:00 this morning. Ticket number 41 was handed out at 6:45.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I'm still a bit gob smacked that Andrew got one for free.

 

[andrew markworthy]

I've stopped mentioning this to anyone for fear of getting lynched. From being easy to get hold of in the UK they've become rarer than rocking horse droppings.

Ours is now wrapped up awaiting Christmas morning (that's the Wii, not rocking horse droppings).

A game that's really hard to get over here in the UK is Khet. I despaired of finding a copy and eventually had to buy one from a store in New York via ebay. Ironically, given the current exchange rate, it was cheaper even including mailing charges than it was in the UK.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> Because Nintendo is very carefully limiting supply to just not quite meet demand.

They're not doing a very good job of it, because since the Wii came out I've seen the console in stock one time, and I've been in the video game depts of many stores over the past year, even in other states.

I got mine at a Target in a small city on a Sunday night when their Sunday ad mentioned them. They had 4 or 5 left by then, and I imagine by Monday night that store was sold out. This was several weeks ago, before the Christmas shopping season.

It makes no economic sense to have the consoles that hard to find for this long. Who is supposed to buy the games if they can't get a console? Imagine if nobody had DVD players, just the movies.