Nintendo Switch subreddit is the console’s most supportive lost-and-found

Losing my Nintendo Switch is one of my biggest nightmares: I can’t afford another one, let alone replace all of my games or save files (thanks again for that one, Nintendo). This is a fear shared by many Switch owners, which is why it’s great that the system’s biggest community has gathered to help reunite lost Switch consoles with their homes.

The Nintendo Switch subreddit has become a haven for anyone who has left their Switch on a plane, a cab or elsewhere. Since the community helped one member recover their misplaced console late last month, numerous others have tapped the fervent fanbase for support in their quests to find their lost Switch systems.

Most recently, a user named HalpTheFan proved that the subreddit’s members run the internet’s most sympathetic lost-and-found. A few weeks back, HalpTheFan posted that, while abroad for the holidays, they left their Switch behind in a cab.

“It’s just a real bummer. I tried calling the cab company but they’re off (completely understandably) for the next two weeks,” they wrote.

Without much else they could do, HalpTheFan turned to the Switch subreddit — not for their explicit help, but just to vent to likeminded fans. Some offered their condolences; others were incredulous that HalpTheFan wouldn’t be able to contact the cab company for weeks. One sympathetic user even volunteered to send them $20 as kind gesture. For the most part, though, players shared their own stories of losing precious devices in solidarity.

We received a a touching update from HalpTheFan today, 18 days after they lost their Switch. Just before they were about to fly out of the country and return home, they asked the airport whether anyone had brought a console to the lost-and-found.

Now, this is my favourite part of the story. Right before I flew out, my partner and I stuck stickers all over my case just so it’d stand out and I’d “not leave it behind” - Ironic, right? So I tell them all the stickers that are on there, the two games that would be in the case AND the game that would be in the console. Mid-way through the explanation, he puts his hand up and says “We definitely have it, sir. You have 20 minutes to collect it.” I freak out, like “20 minutes, what happens after 20 minutes?” and then he points out of the window as my flight rolls up against the gate.

So began a mad dash to the counter to get the untouched Switch, in perfect condition, just as HalpTheFan left it. It’s a touching tale of victory, and it’s just one of many like it on the subreddit.

Numerous users not only post about their own misplaced Switch consoles, but they use the group to alert members to any systems they’ve found on their own. Members in places like Vietnam, Mexico, Germany and throughout the U.S. are using the Reddit like a lost-and-found poster board with more and more frequency and success.

It’s a lovely use of one of the most active Nintendo fan forums out there, and it’s nice to know that, should I ever lose my Switch, I have a sympathetic place to turn to. As one user who enlisted the subreddit’s guidance to bring a Switch back to its rightful owner put it, “It’s surreal to see Reddit magic at work, and be part of it for once. Really grateful for all the positivity.”