Today, thanks to school being out for teacher conferences and pre-holiday festivities, we took a field trip to visit a colleague of mine at Nintendo America in Redmond for Lunch and a tour. One could argue this wasn’t productive, but let‘s be real, with 12 year olds cooped up in a small space in near winter, not much was going to get done this afternoon anyway. Yesterday was a long work day. It was not an unwelcome break.
The beauty of visiting such a space like this, with or without children, is that it allows one to step back to ones own childhood for a time. We were taken almost immediately to the Nintendo museum space and it was like walking into a time warp swirled with Game Boys, Game Cubes, the 64 and prototypes I’ve never seen previously. They call to mind the hours and summers my brother and I spent at home or in the car gaming through the years. We saw a golden, life size (to scale) representation of Mario. It was surprisingly thrilling.
As we were led around the building, the boys grew more and more excited. It was clear our host was just as stoked to be there and thrilled at our excitement.
We were allowed to visit the Master Sword conference room at the height of the building- alongside the Japanese gardens , the living roof, and overlooking the Cascade mountains. The boys were allowed to sit in the big chair where the president sits and makes the big decisions.
Our guide, a member of the Treehouse Team, gave us the inside scope on the inner workings of the company and their team. Treehouse is the super-secret development team at Nintendo. He led us up to their door where only about 80 people have access out of 1500 on that campus.
He led us on a grand tour before taking us to the MARIO Cafe for lunch. We then got to visit their Nintendo store- with items that can’t be found anywhere else. But more than that, for every time we thanked him, he thanked us. He thanked us for the excitement and joy we took in the games- especially the boys- and in being there. He thanked us because it was what made the job great for him. That reciprocal gratitude is a strong sign you’re in a dream job. For our host, he is definitely in his dream job.
That feeling should always be something to strive for: to give that joy, and to experience that joy from what you do as well.
Thanks, Nintendo, for a great day and for making a couple of 12 year olds entirely mad with joy.
Share this story
