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Happy gamers went Wii, Wii, Wii -- all the way home Sunday.

They snatched up Nintendo's hot new video game console minutes after doors opened at Chicago area stores. Some camped outside stores in sleeping bags. Some tried bribing clerks.

Stupendous Nintendo business occurred at Orland Park's Toys R Us, the only store in Illinois to open at 12:01 a.m. Sunday to sell Wii.

Some customers wanted to put it under the Christmas tree for their kids, but, "We don't know how many are going to be 'flipped,'" a store employee said.

Flippers filled eBay on Sunday with offers of marked-up consoles. In stores, they cost about $249. But one eBay offering bundled a Wii and a next-generation Sony PlayStation 3 for a Buy-It-Now price of $8,000.

Then there were the disappointed ones.

"Do you have Wii?" Web developer Didier Lafforgue asked clerks Sunday at the Best Buy at 1000 W. North Ave. They let him down easy, telling him to call and check for future shipments.

How will the 27-year-old feel if he gets it? "Like a kid.''

"It seems like a lot of fun,'' said his wife, Estelle, 24, who works at UIC's Chicago Technology Park. "It's kind of addictive.''

The couple recently moved from France to Chicago.

"We know the weather is colder than France,'' Estelle said. "It is something to do when it gets cold.''

Speaking of the cold, three men camped out at the North Avenue Best Buy to wait for a Wii. They arrived Friday with sleeping bags, a TV and chairs, said Johnny Ornelas, store manager. By Sunday morning, the line had grown to about 50.

Lafforgue said he wanted to try the vaunted motion-sensitive Wii remote, which lets players play tennis, golf or baseball by using the hand motions of those sports. They can pantomime sewing to stitch up patients in the game Trauma Center, or pretend they are flying on a dragon whose movements they control with a flick of the wrist.

Nostalgic 30-somethings associate Nintendo with favorite games like Zelda, Super Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong. "Nintendo being around for 20-plus years, they have a big cult following,'' said Ross Read, manager of Elmwood Park's Circuit City, where the Wii was a big hit. "We opened the doors at 10, and they were gone by 10:15.''

Video game fever also broke out last Friday, when Sony launched the PlayStation 3. The Wii and PS3 have made some customers desperate enough to resort -- unsuccessfully -- to bribery.

"We would have customers coming in a couple of weeks before both launches of PS3 and the Wii," Read recounted, "saying, 'How much is it going to take for you to put it aside for me?' "

modonnell@suntimes.com