'Exclusive pre-order event'

[Update: you can grab the 3-pack online now at GameStop's website in the US. My guess is this is leftover pre-orders from the event, and will shut down once the allotment is out.]

[Update: Here's a link to pre-order the pack in Canada from EB games. Thanks, Sunnyleafs!]

In my earlier amiibo hunting career, I would have gotten up hours before GameStop's 9AM 3-pack event, and waited in line to ensure that I could secure a pre-order for Duck Hunt, Game & Watch, and R.O.B. But those days are over. Instead, I drove across the street five minutes before time, and took my chances. To my surprise, it was the polar opposite to the nightmare experience of Wave 4 pre-ordering. I walked up into a line of 20 people, and was granted a ticket (above), which ensured that I had a piece of allotted stock.

While they weren't telling customers exact numbers, my source informed me that the store had 80 pre-orders to take in total for the $34.99 pack (I'm hearing 30-50 from other sources) -- so if you feel like rolling out of bed to call and check after opening to see how many allotments they have, you can probably do that. This goes double for the folks out there in the Central or Pacific time zones. Thankfully, it was done by way of in-house pre-orders, so based on my knowledge, the system wasn't crashing or slugging nationally like Wave 4, which were web-in-store (they learned their lesson I think).

Still, this doesn't change the fact that this whole situation really sucks. Firstly, if you want these amiibo without paying a premium or scavenging for it later on, you'll need to pre-order it at GameStop on location -- so it's a "retailer exclusive pre-order event," but instead of just housing Ness, it's three characters. The other sleazy part is that Nintendo has noted that you can't get these individually, so if you only want Game & Watch (probably five people in line at my store), tough.

There are still other unknown factors afoot, like whether or not Game & Watch will include all his customizable pieces, if the 3-pack will ever be broken up down the line, or what the stock situation will be like at other retailers across the country when they release later this month. But regardless of how many backend anti-consumer deals Nintendo has engaged in, GameStop themselves deserve some credit for handling it well.

If you don't care about this whole situation and want to have a bit of fun, /r/amiibo and /r/GameStop are currently trading experiences from both the consumer and retail side in these threads.