Standing in line is a pain. At the post office. At the box office. At a restaurant.

But on Black Friday, it’s an experience.

The first spot outside some Best Buy stores is usually claimed weeks in advance, often by a person in a tent. Shoppers at Walmart will print out maps of the store, with circles around their primary targets. Someone, somewhere, will try to cut in line at a Target, arousing the wrath of the cold, cranky people who played it fair.

At stake are both bargains and bragging rights, turning what would otherwise be a miserable experience into an adventure.

“These queues are quite different than the usual annoying ones we encounter day to day at the A.T.M. or in the subway,” said Richard Larson, a professor at M.I.T. who has spent years studying line behavior.