Tips and Tricks - Maximizing your Club Nintendo rewards

I recently realized that I had several years worth of games that I had not entered into Club Nintendo, so I collected all of the "Join the club" and "Subscribe to Nintendo Power and get a free gift" inserts from the various first-party Nintendo DS and Wii games we've accumulated and went to work.

Along the way, I noticed a few things that may be helpful if you're new to Club Nintendo.

First, let's call it what it is. Club Nintendo is a rewards program. It's also a marketing program. You register at club.nintendo.com and then enter codes from the inserts you get with selected games to accumulate points. You have to take a survey for each one, so if you let these pile up (as I did) it can become quite a chore. Fortunately, there are rewards that entice you to complete these.

For instance, there's a "Club Nintendo exclusive" Wii game called Grill-Off with Ultra Hand! that only costs 80 points (basically, what you'd get from three DS games or two Wii games). It's not a very deep game (yeah, I nabbed it). You basically grab barbecue'd items off the grill using a set of extender tongs and if you drop one or let it burn, it's game over. Not bad for the "price" - but you may want to bank your points for real-world items such as posters, cards, DS and Wii accessories or the DS Game & Watch Collections (basically, simplified games from old LCD watches on a DS cartridge - which are also beginning to appear for purchase as DSiWare).

Here's where things get a little weird. Nintendo has a bonus reward program for those who register 300 or 600 points in a given calendar year (ending June 30). If you hit 600 points for the year, you attain Platinum status and are eligible for some unspecified but no doubt nifty cool reward. In what can only be dubbed a short-sighted marketing trick, points above what's required for Platinum status do NOT roll over to the next year - so your best bet is to STOP ENTERING CODES when you hit 600. This delays Nintendo getting your precious marketing data for some game purchases, but it ensures you can maximize your rewards. Just set a reminder for July 1 and continue entering then...