Nintendo Okie

Club Nintendo coins are familiar to anyone that buys Nintendo games. The insert comes in every first-party game, and some third-party titles. You enter the code in Club Nintendo and you earn coins that can be used to purchase rewards from an online catalog. Well, a patent that was made back in 2010 reveals Nintendo is thinking of some interesting ways to track those coins.

The little inserts that are in the cases would be removed and instead the code would be on the package itself. When the cashier at a store scans your game, the information automatically goes to Club Nintendo and the coins are added to your account. Accounts that have several duplicate registrations would be flagged and potentially removed.

The most interesting part of the patent could potentially be a way for Nintendo to discourage trade-ins and help them combat used game sales. Should you decide that you don’t like the game and you return it to the store, those coins would be removed from your account. If you decided to actually spend the coins from that purchase through Club Nintendo, you would not be allowed to return the game to the store.

Is this a way for Nintendo to combat used games and piracy? Would any of this discourage you from returning games to the store in any way?