Club Nintendo (Japanese: クラブニンテンドー) is an official Nintendo club for Japanese fans. It launched on October 31, 2003 and was the second Nintendo reward program to be set (Coming after the European Nintendo VIP 24:7 program) but was the first to be called Club Nintendo.

• Club Nintendo Downloadable Games For Kids

No longer are you left to decide between notebooks, stickers and shoelaces.

Club Nintendo, for those unfamiliar, is a rewards program set up by Nintendo to reward people for buying and playing Nintendo games. Picking up the newly released 'Fortune Street' nets you 50 coins, 'Mario Kart 7' gets you 30 and so on.

Until recently, you've only been able to trade in those coins for Nintendo swag like notebooks, tote bags and fans . To be fair, you could always get a Game & Watch or two but those aren't everyone's cup of tea.

Now Nintendo has introduced downloadable titles to the mix. Wii and 3DS games are in the mix including titles like 'Super Mario Kart,' 'Xevious,' and 'Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!' According to Nintendo, you'll get a new selection of games to choose from every month.

Club Nintendo Downloadable Games For Kids

Swing on over to Club Nintendo, register your games and grab some free downloads.

Source: Joystiq

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Nintendo will begin a staggered phase out of its customer loyalty program, Club Nintendo, worldwide this year to prepare for a new membership program, according to announcements on respective regional Nintendo websites.

Products released in North America after January 20 will not be eligible for Club Nintendo registration. March 31 will be the last day for members in the region to earn coins, register products, and sign up for new Club Nintendo membership. The Club Nintendo program shuts down in North America on June 30 at 11:59 p.m. PT and all Coins will be deleted when Club Nintendo accounts are closed on July 1, 2015.

Dozens of downloadable games and 'a limited quantity of exclusive reward items' will be added to the catalog before its termination. All Club Nintendo members in North America will receive a free download code for Flipnote Studio 3D in February 2015.

'In order to reach Elite Status, you must earn 300 Coins (for Gold Status) or 600 Coins (for Platinum Status) between July 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015,' according to the North American announcement. 'Members who reach Elite Status will be able to choose a downloadable game from a wide selection of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U titles. Your free Elite Status gift will be available between April 1 and April 30, 2015. A list of the Elite Status 2015 gifts will be posted here once announced.'

Club Nintendo’s discontinuation will begin in April 1 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand with the phase out of product registration cards and the service will finally terminate on September 30:

April 1st 2015: From this date, Nintendo will no longer include product registration cards with its packaged products, so such products cannot be registered in Club Nintendo. You may still find product registration cards in products that were in stock before this date, however.

April 20th 2015: Termination of the registration of digital products downloaded from Nintendo eShop. Digital products obtained from Nintendo eShop after this date will no longer appear in the My Registered Games & Systems page in Club Nintendo. In addition, surveys for download software titles will no longer be available.

September 30th 2015: End of Club Nintendo programme. All Club Nintendo features, such as signing up as a new member, logging in as a registered member, earning Stars, and exchanging Stars for items from the Stars Catalogue will no longer be possible from this date.

Users in these regions are encouraged to use the Stars in their accounts before the scheduled expiration on September 30, 2015. Nintendo will continue to offer exclusive items in the Stars Catalogue over the coming months before its end date. Members in Europe, Australia and New Zealand who sign up to the new program during the launch period will receive a free download code for Flipnote Studio 3D.

According to Nintendo, Club Nintendo account information will not be transferred to the new loyalty program and the company expects to share more information about the new scheme and its launch date in the near future. Users can find out additional details about the Club Nintendo phase out in FAQs available on official regional Nintendo websites, such as Australia, North America, the U.K. and Japan.Jenna Pitcher is a freelance journalist writing for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter.