It's true ... Nintendo Switches are the go-to video game carrier right now during the outbreak, and it seems like folks who figured that out too late are now having to pony up and pay a premium price if they wanna get their hands on one. We're talking $200-$300 markups, maybe more.

We've spoken to big box and electronic retailers like Best Buy and Target out here in the L.A. area, as well as some locations in NYC ... they all tell us the same thing -- they're completely out of Switches. No locations within 250 miles of L.A. are shipping them either.

That's not to say you can't still get a hold of one -- we've heard of some lucky gamers in L.A. snagging one off of GameStop about a week ago out of sheer luck ... it just got delivered this weekend. GameStop's site says they're out and on backorder 'til April 30, but we know one person who recently checked and found they had a few in stock online for a brief time, and they jumped on it at the regular $299 price, too. That's a steal these days.

Fact is ... if you head on over to Amazon right now, you'll see they still have them available for purchase. You'll just have to pay upwards of $400 to $500 or more to get one, which is overpriced ... but also how the market works. Supply and demand, baby!

While tons of people who have a Nintendo Switch right now are resorting to classic Mario games -- like Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Mario Party, etc. -- and playing online with their friends ... the true hot ticket Switch item at the moment in Animal Crossing, which just came out with a new edition, "New Horizons," this past week to incredibly high fanfare.

We've heard of lines out the door -- even with quarantine regulations and social distancing in place -- over the past few days at places like Walmart, Best Buy and others, so people could pick up their pre-ordered copy. It's a simulation-type video game ... escapism at its finest.