Nintendo Switch users are reporting that some recently acquired Switch games have arrived with the game cartridge absent from the center of the packaging. Strangely, the cartridges seem to have been replaced with… googly eyes.
During the holiday season, discussions about this bizarre occurrence began surfacing on social media. Several gamers shared photos of newly unwrapped Switch game cases displaying a solitary googly eye in the space where the game was supposed to be.
“The Grinch got us this year,” stated one Reddit post featuring an image of a Super Mario Party game case with a lone googly eye in the area designated for the game cartridge.
It is unclear how widespread the issue is, nor is it known who is responsible. Some players speculate that warehouse employees along the supply chain might be taking the cartridges (presumably with the intent to resell them) and swapping them with a googly eye to disguise the weight of the missing cartridge or to ensure the box sounds like it contains a game when shaken.
Although the exact origin of the missing game cartridges remains uncertain, multiple comments and posts indicate purchasing a Switch game from Walmart and finding only a googly eye inside, hinting that one of the retail giant’s warehouses may be at fault for this situation.
One Reddit user claims to have fallen victim to the googly eye switch multiple times.
“Purchased Tears of the Kingdom at a Walmart in Arizona, and this happened to me,” they recounted. “Walmart refused to refund/replace, putting the blame on Nintendo. I had to pressure them a bit,”