A Game Counselor was an employee of Nintendo of America who was responsible for taking phone calls from customers who had trouble with certain games. This hotline lasted from 1987 to 2005. The Game Counselor line was a toll hotline, and came with a warning that if one needed to either be the payer of the phone bill or secure permission from whomever pays the bill each time before calling. However, the rates were only slightly higher than a standard long distance call to the Cascade region, dependent on one's geographic area.