Scored a Wii

So, after a week of trying since it's launch, I was finally successful in obtaining a Nintendo Wii. I have to say, after some of the horror stories online, I was wary about waiting in line for one of these.

I got a tip last night that Best Buy (in Texas) would be running an Ad in Sunday's paper where they would guarantee a minimum of 12 per store. I left the house at 6:30am to go grab a paper to see if this was real, and it was, so I decided to drive by the nearest store to see how bad the line was. There were already 8 people in line, so I chose to stick around just in case 12 was going to be the max number (and perhaps some people could have been holding spots for others). I called my sweet wife to let her know she didn't have to get up, as she was willing to drive to another store to see if there was a better line. By now it was about a quarter until 7am. The line filled up to 12 by 7. Someone drove by and dropped off a couple of newspapers for everyone waiting to read.

Steve, the manager, came out to check on us, and let everyone know that there were enough units for each person in line at that time. He politely told us that he was not allowed to say how many they had, but would let us know when the line size grew past that number. My wife dropped by at 8am with Starbucks, and kept me going. I had already read the paper, so I passed it off to her (although there were no coupons in this issue). Steve came out a couple of times more, and a little before 9am let the people in the line over number 27 know that there were not enough units for people past that point, unless someone in front dropped out.

Just before 10am, Steve came by one final time and started passing out tickets, and explaining to everyone how the process would work. He took the people at the back of the line, and anyone else who wasn't purchasing a Wii and moved them to the front, so they could enter the store uninhibited. We all walked in line and picked up any games that we wanted, and proceeded to Customer Service to trade in our ticket for a Wii.

Overall, it was a very pleasant and orderly process. Thanks, Steve!

I'll update later, but the system is already a hit with Alexis -- Wii Sports is cool, and so is Excite Truck.