The futility of Wii stalking

All right, you Wii making bastards, I give up. Eventually, Will and I will get one; but it’s going to be based on luck/chance and that’s it. Here’s why:

On Thursday, I dropped off Will at his day camp and then went over to the Food (W)Hole to have some coffee and a bagel and to check my email and browse blogs. There’s a GameStop store in this strip mall complex, and I’ve gotten into the habit of poking my head into the store when I’m around and asking if they have any Wiis. The answer is always no. But on Thursday, when I was there when the store opened, the dude at the counter said “no, but I think there might be some coming in on today’s UPS delivery,” which was going to come in some time between 11 am and noon.

So I went next door to the Panera, got some coffee, and set myself and my laptop out front. I was able to get some work done from Panera’s wifi connection and enjoy the lovely day while waiting for the UPS truck to bring the Wii that would soon be mine. Life was good.

Around 11:30 or so, the big brown truck arrived. I packed my stuff up, feeling very clever at my Wii stalking and very confident that I too would soon be playing virtual tennis and boxing and bowling. But when I walked in the store, I saw a small group of geeky guys hanging around. It turns out they were in line, and, as one of the geeky ones informed me, if you weren’t in the store, you weren’t in line. Two of these guys had been there since the store opened– that is, they were standing around inside a game store for 90 minutes waiting for a Wii. In other words, while I was hanging around outside and actually enjoying some fresh air, these guys were hardcore stalking.

Well, since I was sixth in line, I thought it was worth hanging around. So me and my five fellow geeky Wii stalkers waited anxiously as the UPS guy disappeared into the back of the store followed by the game store dude. Oh, the anticipation! Would there be six games? Would there be only two? But a few minutes later, the game store dude came back out and said “Sorry folks, no Wiis today.” Jeez. He might as well have said “Sorry folks, Christmas is canceled this year.”

Bastards.

So that’s it for me. As far as I can tell, the only way to buy a Wii console nowadays is by spending way too much money or by pure chance. One of my former students bought a Wii this way, and this seems like my best bet.

By the way, if anyone out there want to buy me a Wii, let me know.

3 thoughts on “The futility of Wii stalking”

  1. Most people I know who got Wii’s didn’t get lucky at places that specialize in just video games, like Gamestop. Seems like you’re more likely to find one at, believe it or not, WalMart or KMart! Anyway, that’s where I and most of my friends got ours.
    Anyway, good luck.

  2. Confessions of a geek… Got mine at the game store in Briarwood by dumb luck. Take comfort in the fact that, though fun, the Wii is way overated.

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