u/sludgebeard

So, like many a nerd who grew up playing Morrowind religiously from the age of 13, during the lead-up to the midnight release of Skyrim, all my friends did was talk about Skyrim.

I worked at a pizza place called Marco's, and both my supervisors were huge Elder Scrolls fans, and we would literally talk for hours during our shifts about Skyrim in anticipation of the release.

There was a local game store in my area called "Play and Trade" that was like a GameStop but with more old-school video games (so basically, a modern GameStop). As a way to stick it to GameStop, which had already begun being memed for being overly corporatized, I decided to order my Alduin Collector's Edition version of Skyrim from Play and Trade for the Midnight release.

Now, again, I was a super fan; I wanted this freaking Alduin statue more than anything in the world: money, sex, drugs, women....men....and the Skyrim Midnight release was basically turning into Christmas morning with that big, beautiful Dragon the star atop the family tree.

So it's 11/10/11, and my friends and I have the whole night planned out. We had about half a dozen 12-packs of Mountain Dew and enough Funyuns and Cheetos to outlast a nuclear blast. We would hit the midnight release, and then head back home by around 1 AM and take turns making characters and playing through the game together.

I worked a shift until 10 PM that night, so when we arrived at Play and Trade, it was packed out already with a decent line but nothing insane, maybe like 30-40 or so people in front of us. By the time Midnight rolled around this small store had a sizeable line running around the building and we were happy just to be there and hopefully not have to wait too long.

The line moved slowly as the anticipation swelled it was already half past 12. I remember thinking how amazing that Alduin statue was going to look next to my 360 on my dresser, besides my giant CRT TV I had had for close to a decade and the massive bong I kept beside it.

"That Alduin statue is really going to tie the room together."

Those are words I uttered, true to Talos himself.

Finally, we got in the store and made it to the front desk. I was stoked; I had my receipt in hand, ready to go when the guy asked for it.

Now, mind you, I had pre-ordered this game like 6-9 months ahead of time. This was not a situation where it was a last-minute deal; I had saved that freaking receipt in my wallet for half a year, waiting for this moment.

I handed the dude the receipt, and he gave me a strange look, but I thought nothing of it as he went into the back.

As he opened the curtain to the back, I turned just as I noticed him handing a box to another employee that looked suspiciously like a collector's edition Skyrim Box as the dude walked out of the back of the store with it.

When the guy came back to the counter, he didn't have the collector's edition case, just the standard 360 case in its plastic packaging.

He put the game down and said,

"Hey, I'm really sorry. We sold out of the collector's edition already; all I have is the standard edition. You want that instead?"

I looked at my friend next to me, with all the rage of the Red Mountain inside me about to burst.

I told the dude how confused I was. I'm like, look, I have the receipt. I pre-ordered the game like half a year ago; why would you let me pre-order it if you weren't going to have enough copies for everyone?"

The dude began an obviously rehearsed response that the pre-order didn't "guarantee" a copy, just that if they were available, I could purchase one.

I was livid, so then I used the intel I had acquired to try and force his hand, a speechcraft roll for my fucking life.

"Well, what about that dude that just walked out the back with one? How did he get a copy?"

The dude face told it all; he went from shocked to pissed in the matter of a second, and I could tell he wasn't having it. Intimidation failed.

"Um, I don't know what you're talking about, but this is all we got and theres a line, so what do you want to do?"

It was already almost 1 AM at this point, but I didn't care; I wanted vengeance.

"No, I'm good actually; just give me a full refund for the pre-order, and I will get the game elsewhere."

I watched with glee as the dude had to go through the process of canceling out the pre-order and getting it back on my card, but I didn't care at that point; my Alduin was gone, and I didn't know it at the time, but it was gone forever. The hate would soon turn to sadness as my friend and I walked out empty-handed with no Alduin and no Skyrim.

We ended up driving around to every Walmart and Target we could, and everywhere was sold out of Skyrim until finally the most ghetto ass Walmart in existence in the middle of nowhere had a copy for sale.

We grabbed T-Bell on the way home. I ate the saddest lukewarm seven-layer burrito ever as I looked out the window and imagined the dragon that got away.

When we finally got back to my apartment, it was close to 3:30AM. I remember we literally made characters and got out of the first dungeon before passing out and maybe had one Dewski each. It wasn't the night I wanted it to be.

Skyrim is still my favorite game of all time but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about that Anduin statue and that dude who gave him away.

Play and Trade went out of business in January of 2018.