For those of you that follow the blog, you know I am a big proponent of Club Nintendo.  You buy great games and by simply taking the time to register them and fill out a few surveys you get coins.  These coins then allow you to purchase some really sweet, exclusive Club Nintendo gear.

However, if you hit Gold Status (300 Coins), or Platinum Status (600 Coins) in any Club Nintendo Calendar Year you receive free gifts.  Ie if you had 450 Coins you can get the Gold Gift sent to you and still have all 450 Coins.

It is basically a way for Nintendo to garner the feedback it desires from the enthusiast base while rewarding them with official ClubNintendo merchandise.

If you are not a member, I suggest you sign up and take advantage of the sweet setup:
https://club.nintendo.com/

This year the Gold and Platinum Gifts broke down as follows:

Gold Members:
-2013 Calendar

Platinum Members:
-Platinum Playing Cards
-Three Poster Set: Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Similarly, something new for this year, was the option for players to forgo the "physical" gift and pick up 1 of 4 downloadable games: Mario vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! (3DS), Metroid II: Retrun of Samus (3DS), The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Wii Virtual Console), or Super Mario Kart (Wii Virtual Console).

I was tempted by the Majora's Mask option, but I ultimately felt that I should go with a platinum gift.  I really think the calendar is cool, but again, that is like winning a year's supply of batteries and just taking half of it.  I do think the posters are very nice, but I ultimately decided the cards would take up less space and I'm banking on more people picking the posters so I hope that the cards are the more rare choice.

Only time will tell, but regardless I am very happy with these Platinum Playing Cards and the fact that they were free only makes them that much better!