How Dave, Holly, Cristi and myself got one PS3 each.
Very long story.
So we are all going to go head out to Best Buy in Federal Way to line up for the PS3. Luckily, nobody is allowed to line up until midnight. Problem is, everywhere else has lines already, sow hen people see that BB has no lines, they stay. After about an hour of being there, 10 o clock rolls around and Dave and Crist show up. We hang out and talk with the workers a bit.
11 o clock comes. About 120 people are lined up across from the main doors of BB. We are told to stay behind the line. There are only 26 systems, 20 premium and 6 core, and there are way more people than that. We start discussing ways of doing this fairly. Some people were there on monday and asked to leave, so they thought that they should have priority. Long story short, the end answer wasn't pretty.
At the stroke of 12:01, midnight, all 120+ people would run to the wall. The first 26 would get in. Even if one of us made it, the chances of all four of us making it was very very slim, impossible even. We were told to stay in our cars and run from there to the wall, but we were later told that BB can't force us to do that. See, the police were here to monitor everything and at first it was just one car. There must have been 10 by the end of the night.
The police lined us up and told us that if anyone starts or is involved in any violence, they would be taken and charged with inciting a riot, so nobody wanted to fight. People were angry, anxious and all around in a bad mood. There were many false starts, many new twists and turns and such that I won't detail here.
12:01 comes and everyone runs to the wall. We don't get in. All 4 of us go to the end of the line. There are about 60 people crammed in a 20 foot space. The police tell them that they need to move. Nobody moves. After 5 attempts at getting them to move, with none of them agreeing, the police tell everyone to go home. We can't sit around and ask questions or else we will be charged with refusing to disperse. We get in our cars and leave. They say come back the next day in the morning...when exactly?
We head to Safeway to discuss. I say that we need to stick around until we are certain that we have failed. Cristi needs to switch spots with a coworker so Cristi can go home and go to school. Something we need to keep in mind.
We decide to keep trying. We drive past BB a few times. Cops are still there. We hide in a parking lot far away enough as to not be noticed. Cars start to move after a while, cars that are doing the same thing we are doing, but they are close. An officer talks with them. We kind of overhear. The idea is that he can't deal with a riot crowd like that. People need to get their stuff together and he has more important things to do. He needs to talk to his supervisor before we can line up at BB again.
I say that we should go and mingle with these fellows, about 13 of them. We head out, freezing, windy air cutting through all of us. We start talking and realize that if we want a chance, we will have to wait in this adjacent business complex until morning. We decide we will.
People are all over the sidewalk and in driveways. I suggest that we all form a line to show the officers, when they come back, that we are under control and can govern ourselves. Everyone agrees and we form a line. Eventually the police show up again and they appreciate our line, but have no idea what is going to happen. They leave and we stay in our line. Blankets and chairs. We can't set up our tent.
About an hour passes and start to count the people in line...26. 26?! That's perfect! If we could all go over there, this group would fit!!! We need markers! Numbers for everyone. I mention this and people think it's a great idea. We would use the numbers to delegate where we are in line and to show newcomers from the riot that the spots are all filled. We need to make 26 markers somehow.
One kid suggests that we go to Kinko's. He drives and I ride with him. Kinko's is closed. Think...think...Top Food, they are open. We head there, get markers and use their copy machine. While there, I buy a tub of licorice for everyone in line. We make copies and assign numbers to these sheets that say what number a person is in line. We head back and give everyone their numbers. We needed to act fast. If new people showed up, they would be out of luck.
Everyone has their numbers. The police show up after another hour. Some people in the front explain their situation. The police ask who's idea the number system was. Everyone points at me. They ask to speak with me across the street.
Basically, they had a similar idea, put numbers on Federal Way Police business cards and hand them out. There problem was that they didn't know what to do if someone left or if there were more spots to fill. I said that people should have their spot lost if they leave for hours at a time. If someone new shows up, we will tell them what's up and let them in. The officers talked this over and liked the idea. They then called the first 5 people over.
People were thrilled! This was the new line! All of us who didn't leave after the crowd, including us 4, a feat that would have been impossible otherwise. The police keep me there so that I can validate all of the slips I made and so that they can give the campers their new cards. These cards are only for tonight, this has nothing to do with Best Buy.
Everyone gets over and I am one of the last people there. As I am approaching, I get this huge round of applause from everyone for getting them in a line and giving them numbers. Every day since then, I was called mayor, hero and leader. It was cool.
Speaking of cool, it was freezing! So windy and cold! To make matters worse, we weren't allowed to set up our tents! NOOOS!
We get set up and for the next day and a half, are the envy of passerby's asking what was going on. We slept on the ground, in chairs and under blankets. We were dirty, tired and uncomfortable. It sucked. Hard. Sunrise was beautiful though. And it didn't rain!! What luck! We were very fortunate.
This morning, we get up and Fox news is there. They are doing their reports about the launch. Apparently Target made people run across the parking lot to get a PS3 and Wal-Mart didn't allow ANYTHING to be with campers. They couldn't even sit down! Raffles were given out in some places and even bigger riots occurred everywhere else. It was bad.
We get in, buy our systems and games and head out. What a vicious 2 days! The Wii is out on sunday, While there camping for the PS3, they put out Wii controllers for sale! I have one and told Dave to get another. He got the last one. Within the time I got mine and when he got his, minutes, 5 Wii controllers were sold. I played with it and hyped up the Wii like crazy. People dug it.
Now it's time to sell. I may wait a bit. PS3's are going for about $3000 now, with some as high as $9000. We'll see what happens.
So we are all going to go head out to Best Buy in Federal Way to line up for the PS3. Luckily, nobody is allowed to line up until midnight. Problem is, everywhere else has lines already, sow hen people see that BB has no lines, they stay. After about an hour of being there, 10 o clock rolls around and Dave and Crist show up. We hang out and talk with the workers a bit.
11 o clock comes. About 120 people are lined up across from the main doors of BB. We are told to stay behind the line. There are only 26 systems, 20 premium and 6 core, and there are way more people than that. We start discussing ways of doing this fairly. Some people were there on monday and asked to leave, so they thought that they should have priority. Long story short, the end answer wasn't pretty.
At the stroke of 12:01, midnight, all 120+ people would run to the wall. The first 26 would get in. Even if one of us made it, the chances of all four of us making it was very very slim, impossible even. We were told to stay in our cars and run from there to the wall, but we were later told that BB can't force us to do that. See, the police were here to monitor everything and at first it was just one car. There must have been 10 by the end of the night.
The police lined us up and told us that if anyone starts or is involved in any violence, they would be taken and charged with inciting a riot, so nobody wanted to fight. People were angry, anxious and all around in a bad mood. There were many false starts, many new twists and turns and such that I won't detail here.
12:01 comes and everyone runs to the wall. We don't get in. All 4 of us go to the end of the line. There are about 60 people crammed in a 20 foot space. The police tell them that they need to move. Nobody moves. After 5 attempts at getting them to move, with none of them agreeing, the police tell everyone to go home. We can't sit around and ask questions or else we will be charged with refusing to disperse. We get in our cars and leave. They say come back the next day in the morning...when exactly?
We head to Safeway to discuss. I say that we need to stick around until we are certain that we have failed. Cristi needs to switch spots with a coworker so Cristi can go home and go to school. Something we need to keep in mind.
We decide to keep trying. We drive past BB a few times. Cops are still there. We hide in a parking lot far away enough as to not be noticed. Cars start to move after a while, cars that are doing the same thing we are doing, but they are close. An officer talks with them. We kind of overhear. The idea is that he can't deal with a riot crowd like that. People need to get their stuff together and he has more important things to do. He needs to talk to his supervisor before we can line up at BB again.
I say that we should go and mingle with these fellows, about 13 of them. We head out, freezing, windy air cutting through all of us. We start talking and realize that if we want a chance, we will have to wait in this adjacent business complex until morning. We decide we will.
People are all over the sidewalk and in driveways. I suggest that we all form a line to show the officers, when they come back, that we are under control and can govern ourselves. Everyone agrees and we form a line. Eventually the police show up again and they appreciate our line, but have no idea what is going to happen. They leave and we stay in our line. Blankets and chairs. We can't set up our tent.
About an hour passes and start to count the people in line...26. 26?! That's perfect! If we could all go over there, this group would fit!!! We need markers! Numbers for everyone. I mention this and people think it's a great idea. We would use the numbers to delegate where we are in line and to show newcomers from the riot that the spots are all filled. We need to make 26 markers somehow.
One kid suggests that we go to Kinko's. He drives and I ride with him. Kinko's is closed. Think...think...Top Food, they are open. We head there, get markers and use their copy machine. While there, I buy a tub of licorice for everyone in line. We make copies and assign numbers to these sheets that say what number a person is in line. We head back and give everyone their numbers. We needed to act fast. If new people showed up, they would be out of luck.
Everyone has their numbers. The police show up after another hour. Some people in the front explain their situation. The police ask who's idea the number system was. Everyone points at me. They ask to speak with me across the street.
Basically, they had a similar idea, put numbers on Federal Way Police business cards and hand them out. There problem was that they didn't know what to do if someone left or if there were more spots to fill. I said that people should have their spot lost if they leave for hours at a time. If someone new shows up, we will tell them what's up and let them in. The officers talked this over and liked the idea. They then called the first 5 people over.
People were thrilled! This was the new line! All of us who didn't leave after the crowd, including us 4, a feat that would have been impossible otherwise. The police keep me there so that I can validate all of the slips I made and so that they can give the campers their new cards. These cards are only for tonight, this has nothing to do with Best Buy.
Everyone gets over and I am one of the last people there. As I am approaching, I get this huge round of applause from everyone for getting them in a line and giving them numbers. Every day since then, I was called mayor, hero and leader. It was cool.
Speaking of cool, it was freezing! So windy and cold! To make matters worse, we weren't allowed to set up our tents! NOOOS!
We get set up and for the next day and a half, are the envy of passerby's asking what was going on. We slept on the ground, in chairs and under blankets. We were dirty, tired and uncomfortable. It sucked. Hard. Sunrise was beautiful though. And it didn't rain!! What luck! We were very fortunate.
This morning, we get up and Fox news is there. They are doing their reports about the launch. Apparently Target made people run across the parking lot to get a PS3 and Wal-Mart didn't allow ANYTHING to be with campers. They couldn't even sit down! Raffles were given out in some places and even bigger riots occurred everywhere else. It was bad.
We get in, buy our systems and games and head out. What a vicious 2 days! The Wii is out on sunday, While there camping for the PS3, they put out Wii controllers for sale! I have one and told Dave to get another. He got the last one. Within the time I got mine and when he got his, minutes, 5 Wii controllers were sold. I played with it and hyped up the Wii like crazy. People dug it.
Now it's time to sell. I may wait a bit. PS3's are going for about $3000 now, with some as high as $9000. We'll see what happens.