Random: Switch Players Report Game Cards Being Swapped Out For Googly Eyes

I’m sure in no time we’ll be seeing this everywhere all at once.

Eye'll be keeping a... look out for this...

I highly doubt this is real. People on Reddit do this kind of thing to farm karma all the time. My suggestion to you is, disregard anything you see or read on Reddit.

This is the kind of scam you have to watch out for.

A visionary prank, I never saw it coming.

Clearly, Reddit folks are either bored outta their mind or have way too much time on their hands. Then again...it's pointless to expect them to do something more productive...

Man it's not even April yet and the reddit people are already pulling out the April fools day jokes .....

This scam was why Disney DVDs had the extra set of clips on them. Somehow thieves figured out how to slip the DVDs out of standard cases while leaving the shrinkwrap on.
Did someone actually figure out how to do that with Switch cards?

@KingMike I didn't know that...I've hardly ever buy Disney DVD's much even back in the day.

@pneumaticgnosis Unfortunately this is real. Maybe not the photos on Reddit, but this whole thing is. Especially if you buy the games from Walmart. People purchase a copy and then remove the game. They put this wire and a googly eye to fake the weight, rattle, and color of the cartridge of the game. Then they rewrap the copies and bring them back to Walmart in order to exchange them. Walmart puts those games back on the shelves and sells them as new, only for a customer to pick it up and purchase it.

This is why shopping at Walmart for new games isn't a great idea.

An outstanding April fools prank for Nintendo to pull would be putting googly eyes on game icons on the Switch home menu.

Googly Eye for Smash 6??

Well, that’s certainly something. Very unfortunate for these folks, especially not being able to prove you opened it and saw that.
Now everyone has to play the part of the unboxer culture and film themselves opening things so they have proof of this.
“Dad, why do you have so many unboxing videos on your phone? I didn’t know you were into that. Times must’ve been tough, financially, huh?”
“Actually yes but I sold photos of my feet, not these unboxing videos. It’s a long story.”

What's a battle

@AnonyQ

Switch cards are very well clipped inside, they don't usually rattle.
(At least none that I've noticed)

@VoidofLight If it ends up happening to me, I’ll just start buying all future physical games straight from the My Nintendo Store.

Ridiculous. All Nintendo has to do to stop this nonsense is have the label “cut out” on the front and back of the game cases to show the actual game cartridge inside, fully visible from the front and back.

These new practices pushing us to transition to digital is getting out of hand. They can't keep getting away with this!

@Chibi_Manny it's not the cartridge rattling in the case, its just the computer chip inside most cartridges that rattles

@Ulysses I think people do this not to get us to go digital, but moreso to have free physical games.

Switch 2 accepts googly eyes as gamecards. Ya'll just don't get it yet.

There you go NL, a new article!

I've bought a game at Walmart that was still shrink wrapped but missing the game inside. There were no googly eyes or wire to simulate the cartridge--just nothing. Walmart honored the return, possibly because it was 20 minutes later and the same person in the electronics department helping me who sold it initially. Also, I wanted to exchange for an actual copy of the game, not my money back. It's easy to see an added layer to the scenario where because word of googly eyes gets out, people try to do their own replacements and then return them for refunds.

Yikes. I have some switch games I bought last year and haven’t opened because I haven’t been ready to play them yet. I’d cry if they’re not even in there considering my return window is long over.

People doing this to get a free game? I can hardly believe that's the reason. Screwing with big malls, or just for the prank itself makes more sense imo. People bored out of their minds makes perfect sense XD

Also yes, why do switch game cards rattle?

Oh so this explains all the posts I saw on reddit of people saying "I bought a pack googly eyes and I got a load of Switch games".

This is some of NL's best image editing work!

That was posted on December 27th. Basically a Día de los Santos Inocentes (day of the holy innocent's day) prank (December 28th, at least in Spain and Argentina it's always been that date, not April 1st like in the USA).

Thank God I only buy games digitally now.

Have they tried googly-ing a solution?

@JohnnyMind oh weird. I didn’t know you could even get gold points from boxed games. I’m not sure I’ve ever bought any within a year of their release date until now.

I was figuring it’s better to keep them wrapped until I play them, in case I end up not actually playing them. Which would be sad, but at least then I can sell them for more than if they were opened.

Is there a QR code on the back for EyePhones?

When I got my copy of Metroid on 3ds it was shrink wrapped but the game cartridge was missing. No googly eyes involved, but I assume they used the same method in my case. It was an Amazon order and they quickly replaced it, but still an obnoxious thing to do for a "free" game.

I’ve learned not to open every new game I get as I don’t always get around to playing them all. To help hold up their value if I never do play them.

However I’ve been making sure to check as best I can that a game card is included in the case for switch games, as I see lots of Amazon reviews where people say an empty case arrived.

I shine a torch through the sides to check it’s there. I should still be ok with this trick as I check the jagged edge of the game card is present, not just a flat dark strip where the game card should be

@JohnnyMind I’m probably gonna do it. I want my gold points!! 😆 I already missed out on dragon quest monsters at least—13 months old!

appreciate the heads up!

@jesse_dylan Yup!
IIRC you highlight the game and press start and it's in one of the sub-menus.

I'm guessing the expiration date is to encourage people to buy new releases.

Banjo Kazooie Switch 2 confirmed!

@MrCarlos46 Oh I was just joking around, never mind me!

@Ulysses Ah

Those jerks should be sent to jail for this.

@JohnnyMind Yep I do this just to nab the points but for us in Europe we are given 2 years to claim the points. Not sure why though?

@MirrorFate2 If they're selling the game cards alone at inflated prices, then yes.

@JohnnyMind dang! So is this saying there are literally loads of physical games I’ve bought that I could have earned gold points on but haven’t? I never realised! Does it work for any game i.e. not just Nintendo published games? And I’m guessing one physical copy can earn multiple people gold points if it’s sold and bought second hand within 1 year of release?

@GravyThief Yep though physical copies earn less gold then digital. It is 1% of the RRP for a physical and I think 5% for digital. And no once the gold has been claimed from the cartridge then nobody else will get gold. I have confirmed this when I bought games second hand within the 2 years of the games releases and the gold had already been claimed on some of them. You can be lucky though like yourself if they never knew about it.

@SilentHunter382 yes I’ve just had that message on some of mine that I bought second hand. Wish I’d have known about this sooner though!

@JohnnyMind I’ve just been through all my games and got myself about 500 gold points, so not too shabby! I probably could have doubled that at least had I known about this when I first got my Switch in 2023, oh well.

And I probably have about another 1,000 or more gold points I could claim if I opened up all my sealed games that I’ve bought but haven’t got around to playing yet. But I think I’ll leave them sealed as I know they’re worth more sealed and chances are I won’t get around to playing some of them. Still, when I do open any I now know to claim these points.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, it’s much appreciated!

@SilentHunter382 In North America we only get 1 year from the day the game comes out.

@CaleBoi25 Evelyn Wang confirmed for Smash 6!

@inenai
Why would they post the prank on the wrong day

@HatesCheese
That's worrying, isn't it?

@pneumaticgnosis
"farm karma", I like that, never heard it before

I blame yokka replayee lol.

@Chibi_Manny ?? What. It's not the cartridge that rattles against the case... the circuit board inside the cartridge, rattles inside the cartridge case... surprised you're commenting this if you've used Switch games. If you hold a case or a cartridge and shake it, it's very obvious.