NES Classic Edition Lottery Is The Latest Way To Score Elusive Retro Console

by Brandon Hill — Tuesday, December 13, 2016, 12:14 PM EDT

We’re less than two weeks away from Christmas, and despite assurances from Nintendo that there would be plenty NES Classic Edition stock available for customers, supplies remain tight. As recently as last week, Nintendo of America chief operating officer Reggie Fils-Aime said, “Our biggest challenge is making sure that we’re constantly replenishing it to the marketplace. So, as we sit here today, two weeks before Christmas, I think consumers are going to be able to get their hands on it.”

Given the instant sell-out status at places like Amazon, Walmart, Toys R Us and Urban Outfitters, we’re having a hard time believing Fils-Aime. With that being said, at least one online retailer, ThinkGeek, is taking a wildly different approach to distributing its meager stock of NES Classic Edition consoles. Rather than forcing people to sit around refreshing their browsers at odd hours of the day and night, eventually leading to crashed servers and crushed dreams, ThinkGeek is holding a lottery.

The retailer writes:

Here's the deal: more of you want NES Classics than we have to sell. We want to do right by you, so we're going to make this as fair as we can. We were thinking some sort of Hunger-Games-style showdown

Getting your name in the pot is pretty simple. You have to sign-up for a free ThinkGeek account, add the NES Classic Edition to your Wishlist, and then sit back and wait. Your name is put into a lottery, and if your name is drawn, you’ll be notified by ThinkGeek and will have 24 hours to purchase the item. If you foolishly don’t claim your code within 24 hours, the console goes back into the pool for the next drawing.

The first drawing occurred Monday at 10AM EST, while the second occurred today at 10AM EST. The drawings will continue in this manner until ThinkGeek has exhausted its stock.

This method of selling NES Classic Edition consoles is definitely not a plus for ravenous resellers, but for Regular Joes hoping to score a console with minimal effort, it’s better than nothing.

Tags: Nintendo, ThinkGeek, nes classic edition, nes classic

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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