As the clock struck midnight Monday, Video Games Etc! of Coralville let anywhere from 50 to 60 people waiting outside in to purchase NCAA Football 10 and grab some slices of pizza.

The store’s promotions department came up with the idea since games that come out annually are considered to be shoo-ins and do really well when sold at the earliest possible moment.

Whitney Green, the Video Games Etc! manager, likes the midnight sales.

“The point of the midnight sale really is to get people the ability to be on Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network as soon as they want to be,” Green said. “It’s also really to benefit the customer and to get the merchandise out as quickly as possible.”

NCAA Football 10 on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network allows one to go online and play against other people and communicate with them while playing.

In the more recent NCAA titles, gamemakers have added an online dynasty, which is essentially where a person builds up a team and keeps playing season after season. When a person does it online, he or she has other people in that same dynasty. So they fight each other for top-notch recruits.

The online dynasty gives people the ability to play against friends, family, and coworkers.

UI student Karl Kofmehl, who was in line for the midnight sale of the game, is excited about the online dynasty.

“Me and a couple work buddies are going to start an online dynasty,” he said. “We will play online; it’s going to be really exciting, so that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Green said there were consequences if games are sold before midnight.

“You get a pretty substantial fine,” Green said. “I believe you can actually lose the ability to sell that particular title again in the future, in the most extreme circumstances.”

One of the big problems last year was the Iowa uniforms. Instead of black with white numerals, they were black with gold numerals. Some people weren’t too happy about that.

Of the many in line late Monday evening complaining about the Hawkeye jerseys, the most vocal was Dakota Flory, the first person in line.

“The Hawkeye jerseys — they messed them up last year,” he said. “If they get Florida schools right, then they should get all the schools right.”

While the jerseys have been corrected, another part of Iowa’s equipment was the center of controversy this year — the face masks.

“If they can’t get something simple like that right, it’s kind of dumb,” Hawkeye fan Joerge Baack said.

The majority of the people in the line, if not all, planned on taking the game back home and playing it into the early hours.

Gabe Medd gave a simple reason for why he was at the midnight sale.

“Basically it’s … Monday night, and I have nothing better to do than come out here and buy the game, but it will be a fun night’s activity,” he said, grinning.

UI student Chris Artman was also at the midnight sale.

“I want to play right now,” he said. “I can’t wait; it’s going to be sweet.”