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If you’re reading this and haven’t already gotten cozy with your Nintendo Switch and your copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you probably want to. The COVID-19 pandemic and its social distancing guidelines aren’t going away anytime soon. Plus, that U.S. government stimulus check isn’t going to spend itself, is it?

That’s exactly how my parents-in-law feel. They’ve already gotten their taste of Animal Crossing with Pocket Camp on their phones and they want more. The grandkids have their island ready for Nana and Papa to come down and see all the cool stuff they’ve made. After all, they can’t come by the house for a visit like they used to. Papa, a retired Air Force mechanic and Vietnam War veteran, has endstage COPD. Both he and Nana are on oxygen with compromised immune systems, which puts them in one of the highest risk categories for catching and dying from COVID-19.

Many other elderly and disabled Americans are in the same boat as them: on fixed incomes, at home self-quarantined week after week, wondering who will be delivering their food and toilet paper next. They need something to do, something that will take their minds off of the Groundhog Day-like monotony that has become their lives. And Nintendo is just the right company to give it to them.

Top of the Heap

Nintendo excels at producing titles that gamers of all skill levels can pick up, learn to play, and play again and again better than their competition, bar none. Super Mario Odyssey, Tetris 99, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Ring Fit Adventure among other IP titles engage players and keep them coming back for more. Their latest and greatest, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, is no exception. It’s become Nintendo’s Coronavirus cash cow (or raccoon, dog, hedgehog, owl, etc.) since its release on March 20. It’s perfect escapism, a second life anyone can begin and share with others when congregating is more difficult than ever.

Folks like Nana and Papa are ready to jump into New Horizons with both feet. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done right now. The recent nationwide restock of Switch units was all but empty hours after hitting the shelves. How can this be when most of the country is in a state of isolation? More than likely, the culprit is checkout bots: automated programs that scan retailers and buy up goods the moment they become available.

The Vanishing Idols

In a story broken by Motherboard, Vice.com’s tech section, an open-source tool called Bird Bot has been driving the Nintendo Switch shortage. A dedicated Discord community full of consumers and enterprising resellers share information on how to use Bird Bot in order to purchase Switches from Walmart and Best Buy stores online before anyone can apply hand sanitizer and walk in to buy one at the register.

The bot buyouts have only added to Nintendo’s wealth. For the last two weeks, American shares of Nintendo Co., Ltd. traded on the OTC Market at about $52-$55 per share, some of the highest numbers the company has seen in the last five years. Clearly, Animal Crossing had a hand (or paw) in driving sales of the Switch and Switch Lite as one of the most popular attachments. The third-party retailers have seized this golden opportunity to use their stimulus and coding skills to make a fortune online. All over Amazon, units are selling at least $100 above the $300 retail price. Even a special edition Animal Crossing Switch bundled with a physical copy of New Horizons and a bell bag recently sold on an eBay listing for about $750.

These retailers are operating under an attitude known in the economic world as laissez-faire, an expression of free enterprise. With regard to capitalism, it is the freedom to do what one pleases without government injunctions such as sanctions, regulations, or tariffs. In literal terms, it’s an attitude of, “let be,” or “hands-off.” Since Bird Bot is open-source and thus free to the public, nobody is being forced to buy from third-party retailers who use it. After all, everyone is still getting paid: Nintendo, Walmart, Best Buy, even you at home with your stimulus check (which, incidentally, includes the resellers).

Reflections

Nana and Papa don’t have the tech skills to use Bird Bot, so either they will settle on getting their Switch from Amazon or hold out for the next big restock and hope for the best placing their order online. We all agree that the markup seems unfair, but that is just the nature of the beast these days. One day they will have their Switch, and the young ’uns will finally visit their island. Maybe all they’ll do is catch fish with Papa and make cute clothes with Nana. But I’m looking forward to it. At least then the family can hang out together like we used to, kind of.

Photo by Matt L. Stepthens / The Charlotte Observer