Here’s what it took to score a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in Dallas on Black Friday

Five strangers who had done their homework ended up having the same strategy to get home with a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X on Black Friday.

Pedro Collazo, 25, from Dallas arrived at the GameStop at Timber Creek Crossing in Dallas at 10:20 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Brandon Lopez, 21, of Irving arrived about 20 minutes later.

Three more arrived in the afternoon. Fabian Reyher, 21, of Dallas was No. 3 in line at 2 p.m. Then George Garrido, 17, of Dallas showed up at 3 p.m. followed by Clinton Mark, 24, of Dallas an hour later. to complete the group of five.

One by one, they started to think about why they were there. Two admitted to wanting the PS5; the other three were there for the Xbox. The odds were starting to look good for at least the top four and maybe also for Mark.

In addition, they had researched online sites that dedicated gamers are familiar with. They found clues and nuggets of information on how many consoles each GameStop is expected to sell once the doors open at 7 a.m.

In October, GameStop signed a multi-year agreement with Microsoft to upgrade software and hardware in retail stores. Added to that was a great deal for GameStop to offer its customers: a two-year digital subscription with Xbox consoles for free.

GameStop, as the world’s largest video game retailer, still has some leverage with Microsoft and Sony, makers of the Xbox and PlayStation series, enough that the chain has received inventory to sell in stores. Other retailers, including Walmart and Best Buy, sell the consoles online, but they are shipped to customers by manufacturers or sent to stores for curb pickup.

The five knew almost all of this, which brought them to GameStop on Thanksgiving Day.

They compared the ratings on other stores they checked out before deciding on Timber Creek. Lopez said he visited several GameStop stores in Carrollton and Irving before settling in. In one store, there were two people in the lead in a tent. He evaluated his chances and moved on to Dallas.

After they all settled in Timber Creek, Garrido said they waved people over to leave. “We told a lot of people to go to Town East.”

Thanksgiving was also Garrido’s 17th birthday.

Friends and family brought them water, two pizzas and 100 chicken nuggets. Lopez noted that this was an actual number of nuggets and not an exaggeration.

They had a “buddy system” to keep their spot online when using the Porta Potty in the parking lot. (Smart owners do this on Black Friday.)

They looked the wolf of Wall Street on a laptop and played a board game, Talisman, for five hours, all agreeing to play it again.

After 6 a.m., they returned their chairs and blankets to their cars. A few employees arrived but locked the door and lowered the metal shield behind them. The five couldn’t even peek to count the boxes on display.

The discussion turned to the merits of each console and who has “the best specs,” but quickly ended as it was obviously a well-worn topic of the night.

It was getting closer to the 7 a.m. opening.

Collazo said he couldn’t believe he had been there for 8pm.

When asked if they had ever played a video game for 20 consecutive hours, they responded in unison with “Oh, yeah, longer!”

Would they end up playing with each other online? Probably not. They agreed they probably wouldn’t go out. “I don’t think so,” Lopez said.

Reyher’s phone battery died about an hour before the store opened. Garrido still had 6% of it on his iPhone. Mark had 20%.

At 6:56 a.m., a store employee came out and announced aloud to the queue of about 50 people that the store had a limited number of consoles for sale. He was letting them know so they could leave if that’s what they were there for.

“I have two PS5s and three Xboxes,” he says. People started to come out of the line to join their cars.

The five erupted in cheers and jumped up and down like teammates on a soccer field.

“I feel like we won the World Cup,” Collazo said.

Their strategy had worked. One by one, they were admitted into the store and came out triumphant. The rest of the line would be rented two at a time for other Black Friday deals.

“It was totally worth it,” Garrido said. “It is a magical feeling when you open the box for the first time.”

Twitter: @MariaHalkias

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