
0700: Chris passes by Future Shop on his way to work and sees that there is already someone outside in a tent. There’s just one tent, and this person is obviously crazy, so he doesn’t worry.
0930: Chris calls me at work and tells me about tent guy, and I start to get worried.
1030-1130: Chris and I talk back and forth at work about how many each store is getting, what time we’re going to get there, how many will be left, etc. I get even more worried. Things are not looking good.
1200: I decide to leave work early to get ready so that as soon as Chris gets home, we can just leave.
1230: Chris calls me while I’m on the bus, and tells me he has gotten off work and is on his way home, but there are around 15 people outside Future Shop now. My dad also calls me to say there are a bunch of people outside Future Shop. I am glad Chris is off early, but I start bracing for disappointment.
1245: I meet Chris at Blair and we swing by future shop to see how many people are there. There are only 8, and they are getting at least 10 systems. Things are looking up!
1300: We get home and change, pack our stuff, throw everything in the car, and head out while planning our attack strategy.
1330: We swing by Best Buy, and they have a sign out front saying they have 26 consoles, and there are only 6 tents in line. Hurray! We go to the back of the line and are told that all of the consoles are spoken for. Apparently there are a lot of people inside those tents. Oh no! On to Future Shop
1340: Future Shop line still looks small, but number twelve in line points us to the sign on the door saying they are only getting 12 consoles. Bust.
1350: We head over to Zellers, and they are are sold out already, because they pre-booked all of their consoles. We quickly jet over to Super Loblaws, and are told they are getting 4. There are 4 people in line already.
1400: Time to hit the mall. Toys R Us is accepting pre-orders for March. Please! I am much more hardcore than that. The Sony Store is getting 1. Not good. Every dead end leaves us more and more sure we’re not getting one, but we’re not giving up hope yet.
1415: Back to Orleans. Our inside connection at Wal-Mart has told us they’re getting 4. There are more people than that in line. On to EB (even though they are the source of all the evil in the world). Theirs are all gone on pre-orders, and even some of those people won’t be getting one. Sucks to be them.
1420: This was the biggest disappointment of the day. Brace yourself. We head over to the superstore where there are 3 kids in line. We run in, ask how many they are getting, they say 4, and run back out. Too late. Another kid walked out while we were inside for 20 seconds and took our spot. We are about ready to call it quits at this point (I was anyways, Chris was more optimistic), but thought we’d try a few more places.
1430: Try the regular Loblaws by Place d’Orleans. They don’t even have an electronics department. We’re wasting time! Blockbuster isn’t getting any, and if they were, they have a waiting list a thousand miles long.
1440: Back on the highway, heading west, with no idea where to go. We’re torn between the west end Best Buy, and the South Keys Future Shop. I say take whichever is faster, because the kids are getting out of school, and then it’s game over. Chris decides the west end is fastest, then changes his mind at the last second and heads south via Riverside.
1455: Future Shop line-up is 12 people long, and they are getting 12 consoles. One lady in line says she thinks they have space at Wal-Mart still. We run over, and not wanting to repeat our superstore mistake, immediately stand in line while we ask the campers what’s going on. There’s 7 of them, and they seem pretty cool. They tell us that the store is getting 10 consoles, and there’s 3 spots in line left, but only for the 20GB console. We debate the issue for a few minutes, then decide it’s worth staying. Out come camping chairs. We are ready.
1500: Our true camp-out begins. Chris goes inside the store to look at the games, and talk to the staff. They tell him that they are only getting 6, not 10. He comes out of the store worried, but the guys in line assure us that the manager told them he had 10 locked up in his office. We decide to trust the hardcore asian gamers instead of stupid Wal-Mart employees who know nothing.
1530-1600: We get to know the other people in line with us: I’ll give you a quick rundown:
#1. Grandpa buying a PS3 for his grandson for Christmas
#2. Weird guy who drove down from North Bay, wearing a hat that says North Bay Ontario. Talks with a lisp, and hates Nintendo. Ew.
#3. Mom waiting in line to buy a PS3 for her son.
#4,#5,#6. Cool asian guys who are from Vancouver, go to Waterloo, and are doing co-op in Ottawa. They are pretty much the only ones we talk to.
#7. Guy who is there to buy one to sell, or maybe play, he hasn’t decided. He wasn’t actually even there for the first hour or so we were there, just his chair was.
#8. Chris
#9. Me
* with the exception of guy number 7, all these people got there Wednesday night. I admit that I am crazy, but these people are INSANE. **Chris’s note: “That means that numbers 1,2, and 3 spent 38 hours waiting, and numbers 4,5, and 6 spent 34 hours waiting. By comparison, we spent 16 hardcore hours in line.”**
The entire time we’re sitting out there, people are coming out of the store and telling us there are only 6 consoles, and we’re wasting our time. We don’t believe them.
1630: Guy #10 shows up, after many other potential #10s left because they thought there were only 6 consoles, even though we told them there were 10. He is young, most likely in High School, and he has no chair, no warm clothes, and isn’t even sure he wants to stay in line until he hears they sell on eBay for $2000. His dad is there and is falling victim to the evil propoganda by the Wal-Mart employees saying there are only 6. Eventually the kid complains enough, his dad buys him a chair and he ends up staying. **Chris’s note: “The dad held #10’s spot in line while he went home to change into warmer clothes.”**
1700: Chris runs into W-M and buys us both a pair of gloves. We forgot to bring some, and our hands are very cold.
1710-1830: We sit around and basically do nothing. People keep asking us what we’re doing, and lots of people come and ask us how many consoles the store is getting, and how many people we are. Wal-Mart employees keep coming out to smoke and to tell us there are only 6 consoles. **Chris’s note: “The questions about how many systems there are continue all night, even while we were sleeping.”**
1830: Some guy in the bathroom asks North Bay guy if any of the people in line have weapons, and if he saw any of us counting cash. North Bay guy, being the weirdo that he is, follows this guy out to his car, and asks what he’s bringing to this fight. The guy flashes him something mildly gun shaped and then drives away. As North Bay guy re-tells this story, the maybe-gun shaped object becomes pretty sure a gun, then a big gun, then a 9mm.. Grandpa guy gets freaked out and calls the police. This inspires a very intesting conversation about 50 cent, and how many times he has been shot, how many of those times have been in the face, and his various musical and theatrical efforts.
1900: The cops show up, question North Bay guy for awhile, and that’s the end of that story, except now everyone is kind of afraid of getting mugged later. The cops promise to come back occasionally. Hopefully when we’re getting shot.
1930: Our hero, Assistant Manager Frank, comes out to assure us that there are indeed 10 consoles, and his employees are retarded. We rejoice.
2000: We buy some McDonald’s, as everyone else is eating it, and it’s right inside the W-M. I have a McChicken. Delicious.
2130: I go inside to buy some new socks, and a pair of slippers, because my feet are soaked from walking around in the rain all afternoon looking for a place to camp out, and this is starting to get uncomfortable.
2200: Wal-Mart is closing, and Assistant Manager Frank brings us all a hot chocolate, and asks if we want to use their bathroom before they close, which is very considerate.
2200-2330: People continue to come by and ask about the line, and people drive by in cars yelling at us for some reason that obviously makes no sense. At one point a car drives by multiple times and takes pictures of us. Again, this is obviously to no sensical purpose.
2330: Guy #11 shows up. He is stylishly dressed and has no chair or anything, and we tell him there are no more consoles, but he heard they were getting another shipment during the night, and wants to stick it out just in case. Chris and I give him a stool that we brought but are not using, because he seems pretty nice. He spends a lot of time on the phone with his girlfriend. At about the same time guy #12 shows up. He is just wearing a sweatshirt, and says he has to go somewhere to get his wallet, will we hold his place? We agree, since he is not getting a console anyways.
0015: Guy #12 comes back. He brought a laptop so we can watch movies. Most of us are sleeping, but guy #10 thinks it would be hilarious to watch Steve-o, beacuse he just smoked a joint.
At this point, things get kind of hazy for me, because I was getting tired, but basically, people kept showing up to either mock us or question us, and #10 continued to watch stupid movies too loudly on #12’s laptop, while #12 talked too much and too loudly about nothing at all interesting. He also started acting like he owned the place, i.e., declaring that he would hold the place of anyone who went to get him a coffee, after being there for less than an hour. He also re-arranged someone’s chair and belongings while they went to get food. He put his backpack on top of their bag, on the ground, because “mine has books in it”. In general, he was very annoying, but Chris got more of that than me, so I’ll let him fill this part in later (he is currently sleeping). **Chris’s Note: “I’m awake now. #12 talked about being more important than he actually was, in my ear, while I was trying to sleep for an hour at 0200 in the morning. He also made up in his own mind that there were 12 systems in the Wal-Mart. No one from the store had ever said the number 12. He was a real douchebag.”** Also interesting, #13 shows up in here somewhere. He flew here from Ireland just to get a PS3, because Europe doesn’t get them until March. If the rest of these people are insane, this guy is completely unhinged. But he is very nice, so we don’t mind.
0300: A manager comes out with a piece of paper to confirm with us that there are 10 consoles, and BONUS! there are 8 60GB consoles instead of 6, which means that we get one! yay! this was the high point of the evening. There was lots of high-fiving, let me tell you. He then explains to us that at 6am they will let us into the building and give us tickets for the 10 consoles. #12 starts questioning him about how many the other Wal-Marts are getting, and why aren’t they distributed equally, and how does he know there aren’t more, etc, etc. He even goes so far as to ask the guy to call the Barrhaven store for him. Then, after the guy goes back inside he continues to tap on the window to ask more questions. What a jerk. He ends up leaving for the Barrhaven W-M, taking Irish guy with him, because he thinks they’ll get 10 too. They didin’t. Feel bad for #13, not for #12. **Chris’s note: “#11 would not give up and stayed until the tickets were handed out. He then left for Future Shop opening, to try his luck there.”**
0530: The manager comes out to give us our tickets, and lets us take all our chairs and stuff into the inside part of the store where it’s warm to wait for 7am when we can officially buy the consoles. He gives us bottles of water, and opens the doors so it doesn’t get too hot with the overhead heat lamps. **Chris’s Note:”The Store Manager’s name is Jonathan, and he is super cool.”**
0630: They let us into the actual store where they pen us into this line “for our own safety”. Lots of people were coming in at this point looking to buy, and apparently people were having fights and stuff at other stores.
0700: Purchase made, and on our way home. Yay! **Chris’s Note:”Sweet.”**
And there you go. Hope you had as much fun reading this as I did staying awake for 30+ hours.

This has got to be the best story of purchasing anything ever! I love it! I can’t wait to read the PS4 one in a couple years!
You should post a follow up article about your harrowing 27 hour wait in line a mere six weeks later when the first game for PS3 came out.