BALL: almost as much fun as a real ball.

Now is the time of year when Nintendo announces whatever treasures it’s decided to produce as a reward for its most loyal, “Platinum” patrons. For Club Nintendo members who’ve amassed 400 points in the previous 12 months, NCL has a perfect reproduction of the first-ever Game & Watch machine – a simple classic from 1980: a game called BALL. You’ll have to wait until April for it to bounce through your letterbox, but it will be worth the wait – and it won’t be delayed, because the Japanese postal service is an honourable institution whose workers have never even thought of striking.

Howver, if you’ve managed to earn only somewhere between 200 and 399 points – which means you’re a “Gold” member – all you’ll get is this slightly crap Nintendo calendar:

Actual value 0.0000000000000001 pence.

Ha!

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