Silent Bob has 40 chronicles

1. Black Friday shopping trip
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Nov 29 2008

   Anybody want to share your Black Friday bargains (or horror stories?) with the rest of us? I know Kupo and Lushkin are always on the prowl for a good game bargain and have shared many tales with us.
   
   Yes, I braved the throngs of people all climbing over each other (literally!) to get to the bargains.
   
   I, however, had a game plan. I had a time schedule of when various stores opened on Black Friday along with the bargains I found in their circulars that I thought were too good to pass up.
   
   Even the best laid plans don't always come to fruition, and I was sadly disappointed that the Imperial Star Destroyer Lego set at Target was already sold out 10 minutes after they opened. That was going to be one of my son's Christmas presents. Cool model, and lots of cool minifigs in that one. They also didn't have the 750GB Western Digital external hard drive for $88, or at least none on the shelves ten minutes into the shopping day. Grrrr!
   
   I did, however, pick up a few more copies of Call of Duty : World at War for XBox 360 (on sale for $49), another copy of Boom Blox (only $20!), and de Blob ($39 for Wii). I also found some TV-on-DVD sets on sale that I picked up for Boobacca's Christmas gift (I won't divulge them here in case he's reading ).
   
   Toys R Us was an absolute madhouse. There was really only one thing I was after, located it within 5 minutes, and then had to find my way to the back of the line to pay for it. The back of the line stretched all the way to the back of the store. The line itself wound snake-like through various aisles up to the front where I originally picked up my goodies. It took a solid hour, but I whittled away the time chatting up a mom in front of me and a mom in back of me that seemed to have endless questions about video games. The bargain I got made the wait seem worthwhile, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd probably just pay full price. The object of my attention? Wired Guitar Hero controllers for the XBox 360 for only $10 each! I don't know how many have been broken at our center from overzealous strumming, whammying, or have intermittent problems with activating Star Power or a certain colored button not responding the way it should. We've gone through at least 20 guitars since we opened, usually paying just shy of $60 each. I know everything is going wireless these days, but $10 for a wired controller of any type, guitar or not, is a steal. My only regret is I didn't get more of them than I did! People kept staring at my cart, because that's all I had in it. "You must really like Guitar Hero" or "You must have a lot of kids" or "You're one of those eBay people, aren't you?" were the most common comments.
   
   We stopped by GameStop too and picked up a few things, including more World of Warcraft Battle Chests (50% off at only $19.99) and Left 4 Dead for the XBox 360 (full price, but we've had kids clamoring for the 360 version along with the PC version we've already been running).
   
   Lastly, we stopped in at Staples to pick up a few things for the computer shop, including CD and DVD media, super cheap thumb drives, CD cases, etc. I also managed to pick up a nice Nikon digital camera (8 megapixel) for my nephew that was $30 cheaper than the next closest competitor. I was kind of surprised to see any left in stock.
   
   I managed to find some elusive Bakugan sets for my nine-year-old son (don't ask - yet another "collectible" game, this one involving little oversized marbles that morph into fighting monsters). That made me happy - got to pay shelf price, instead of the $20 premium for same item on eBay.
   
   Boobacca and I stopped into Ankeny Cafe (great food if you've never tried it) to grab a bite before we opened the game center for the day. We decided to keep the computer shop closed.
   
   Nobody trampled, shot, or passed out anywhere we went today, so that was good.

   
   

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Silent Bob has 5 comment s on this chronicle.

1. Silent Bob
   Posted On Dec 05 2008

   Biggest "I-could've-had-a-V8" moment? I come home to find a link to Circuit City selling those same wired XPlorer guitars for $9.99 with FREE SHIPPING! D'oh!

2. DeadManFloating
   Posted On Nov 30 2008

   Sounds like a long wait, but better than hearing about a Walmart employee being trampled to death when the crowd broke down the doors with their sheer weight.

3. BEN
   Posted On Nov 29 2008

   Great description Silent Bob! Sounds like you got some great deals, but Toys R Us on Black Friday?! That deserves some soft of man award
   
   I too braved the crowd and completed my HDTV mission with a few extras to bring home as the sun rose on Black Friday...I'll get my own Chronicle posted for more of my own experience

4. Boobacca
   Posted On Nov 29 2008

   Probably the only one who'll get this reference is Silent Bob, but I WILL get those Wrath of the Lich King expansions for the advertised shelf price before I die!
   
   That Toys R Us manager was a dou**e.

5. BigNeen004
   Posted On Nov 29 2008

   My GF's Sister was after the Star Destroyer too, I wonder if she succeeded....
   
   Here was my Black Friday, I sat on my behind and played Resistance (yeah, the first one) pretty much the whole day! I think I've just about completed the game, but I have a feeling there's going to be a twist to extend it a little.
   
   Glad to hear that you (and everyone else) walked away safely!