We were hosted by Nintendo to attend dinner and a Play Nintendo Tour 2016 experience event. Opinions of the night’s activities are 100% our own.

Tonight we had a very special evening. I was invited, along with the whole family, to the South Shore Plaza where the Play Nintendo Tour 2016 has made a stop. There are stations set up all over with Nintendo 3DS XL, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 2DS portable game systems. The Play Nintendo Tour 2016 will be at the South Shore Plaza all weekend so head over to play with the newest Nintendo 3DS games, win prizes and have a lot of fun!

We got there early and walked around Target for a bit, then we went up into the mall. We spent some time in the LEGO store because, well, it is the LEGO store and there are cool things to see. We wandered further along and ran into fellow blogger, Aaron Gouveia of The Daddy Files and he let us know that the Nintendo area was just a little ways further into the Mall. We were still early for Dinner so we headed there to check things out. It was intense. There were dozens of game systems and a bunch of games, fun photo op areas and there was a card that you get and then go from station to station to play each game and get stickers. Then, when the card is filled up you brought it to someone working the booth and they would give you a coin for a chance at playing the claw game. You get a second one for going to play.nintendo.com on your mobile device. Andrew did this first and he didn’t get anything on his two tries. He’s also 4 so he had a very tough time not winning anything. He had a meltdown. The poor kid was so overtired. I got down with him and explained that we were there as special VIP folks and that we were getting a gift bag at the end and it would have goodies in it that no one else here would have. There is no use crying over the game, it is a game of chance and we can’t win everything. I was observed talking with Andrew and the woman whispered, “Good job dad.” Thanks, sometimes I can actually get things to turn around with the kids. I’m getting ahead of myself, however.

Before we went to the Nintendo area as one of the VIPS we had a special dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. I will say though, that before dinner I ran into one of my blogging inspirations, Chris Brogan and his son, Harold. Chris and Harold are big time video game fans and they came down to check out the event for the heck of it. It was very cool to run into Chris. It has been years since we’ve been face to face. So nice to see him.

Dinner was excellent. I tried a pizza with a salad on top and it was very tasty. We were greeted by Caitlin and Sheila from 360PR. I’ve worked with each of them before and they are awesome people! They gave each of the kids a special Nintendo drawstring backpack. Inside were Nintendo 3DS XLs for them to play with during dinner as well as 3 games in each of the backpacks. The kids were so excited to play that they just kept eating pizza and playing, completely zoned out. Eva was playing Yokia Watch and Andrew went from Pokemon to Donkey Kong.

There were people there direct from Nintendo and they were really nice. They came to our table and talked with the kids. Andrew really liked one of the women’s shirts that had a bunch of Super Mario Bros. characters on it, old school pixel stuff, too. I’m thinking that Andrew and I should get some more Qixels and make some Nintendo stuff. That reminded me of my first computer where I used to make images and animations of the characters from Kung Fu.

After dinner we went back to the Nintendo area and played a ton of games, took many photos and played the claw game. I spent most of my time with Andrew and Allison with Eva. So, we know that Andrew didn’t win but Eva won a stuffed Bullet Bill on her first try. This prompted Andrew to cry once more. Eva, ever the compassionate one, gave it to him. He was thrilled. She is so sweet and kind, especially to her brother. And I fully expect that Andrew would have been wiling to do the same thing if the tables were reversed.

There were sections for Donkey Kong Country Returns, Super Mario Bros.2, Mario Kart 7, Kirby Planet Robobot, Yoshi’s New Island, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, and Yokia Watch. I may have missed something because there were so many things.

They even had the NES Classic Edition. That is something I want for Christmas. It has all the old games that I loved playing as a kid. And speaking of classic NES there were articles of clothing on display including an awesome pair of sneakers with NES controllers all over them. I was drooling over them.

Both Andrew and Eva enjoyed playing the games. Eva was so focused on her games. She did everything that she needed to do to get her stickers from each of the stations. She was so intense while playing. I have a feeling that I’ll be taking out the 3DS so that she can play our existing games. I also think that Andrew is going to want to play as well. I’m thinking that we might get him a 2DS. Those are only $79.99 and they come with Mario Kart 7, which is a $30 game. Again a great deal and it can connect to a bunch of apps like Netflix, Amazon and YouTube. Not that he should be using it all the time but he can once in a while.

When we left I got back my ID, I had to hand it over to get the 3DS XLs for the kids. Nobody was gonna be walking off with one of those. The gift bags were cute. Both kids received a stuffed Kirby, a donkey Kong pencil, some Nintendo shoelaces, a pin and a coupon to download Super Mario Bros. Deluxe game on the Nintendo 3DS.

I won some Nintendo Shoelaces as well, for posting this image.