Short answers, pulled from the story.
Club Nintendo was a free-to-join customer loyalty program run by Nintendo. Members earned credits called Coins (in North America) or Stars (in Europe and Australia) by submitting codes found on Nintendo products, registering purchases, completing surveys, or visiting the Club Nintendo website. These points could be exchanged for exclusive rewards including physical items, downloadable games, and collectibles.
Club Nintendo launched in North America on the 15th of December 2008. The launch was followed by technical problems due to high traffic, causing the site to go offline on the 24th of December 2008 and reopen on the 30th of December 2008 with infrastructure improvements.
Nintendo discontinued Club Nintendo to replace it with a new cross-platform loyalty program called My Nintendo. The discontinuation was announced on the 20th of January 2015. My Nintendo launched in Japan on the 17th of March 2016 alongside Nintendo's first mobile app, Miitomo.
Notable exclusive rewards included Doc Louis's Punch-Out!!, a standalone WiiWare game available only to Club Nintendo members, and a plastic statuette of Mario franchise characters. The Japanese Club Nintendo also offered exclusive unreleased games such as Tingle's Balloon Fight DS and Exclamation Warriors Sakeburein, as well as soundtrack CDs and a Super Famicom style Classic Controller for the Wii.
The final day to earn Coins, register products, or sign up for Club Nintendo in North America was the 31st of March 2015. In Europe, the final day was the 1st of October 2015. Products registered after the 20th of January 2015 were ineligible for points.
Club Nintendo was associated with magazines in several regions. In Europe, a Club Nintendo magazine launched in 1989 and was published in numerous languages across countries including Germany, Spain, Italy, and France. In Latin America, the Club Nintendo magazine was founded in Mexico in December 1991 by José Sierra and Gustavo Rodríguez, running until December 2019. In Australia, a Club Nintendo magazine launched in 1991 and was published by Catalyst Publishing in Melbourne.