How Nintendo Made Visiting a "Boring" French Museum Incredibly Special

Or, the story of how I almost completely screwed it all up.

One of the most interesting partnerships in video games was/is a collaboration between Paris’ famous Louvre museum and Nintendo. The result was Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre, a lovingly detailed and interactive audioguide that required you to awkwardly hang a 3DS around your neck. It seemed very weird—but also very cool.

Naturally, I marked this as a must while in Paris. I told my wife about it. I told both of my kids. Everyone was hyped to awkwardly wear a 3DS in Paris! The opportunity was even more special because the Lovre was shutting down this program in September, mere weeks after we would leave. We’d be one of the last folks to try this thing out!

My nine-year-old was psyched. She asked about it constantly. We looked at pictures in advance. She wondered why we didn’t have one while waiting in line at the entrance.

Can you sense where this is going yet?

The moment we stepped into the museum, we discovered they were…sold out.

Fuck.