Roseville residents roused themselves from their post-turkey slumber early Friday in pursuit of the season’s fleeting prize:

The limited-time doorbuster.

Thousands hit the city’s substantial assortment of big-box stores for early-bird sales on everything from big-screens to bikes. And that was before 7 a.m.

Melissa Bradway, 17, woke up at the ungodly hour of 3 a.m. Friday. The mission: Wal-Mart. Laptop. Cheap.

“It’s only four-hundred-something dollars, and it’s usually, like, a million,” she said while standing in a line hundreds deep minutes before the store opened at 5 a.m.

Friend Danielle Biesanz, 16, was dragged along to keep her company.

“I thought we were going to be the only crazy ones,” the first-time Black Friday shopper said.

But some were even crazier, arriving Thursday or earlier and camping out in front of retailers like Fry’s and Best Buy in small to elaborate pup tents.

“It’s like a big party all night long,” said Rebecca Kautney, a Black Friday veteran who was first in line at the Best Buy on Galleria Boulevard – a feat that required her to arrive Tuesday afternoon.

“We don’t really need anything this year, but we can’t help ourselves because it’s what we do,” Kautney said, comfortably seated in a folding camping chair, blanket wrapped snugly around her, at about 4:30 a.m.

Behind her were fellow camper Julie Young and a group of friends. They ordered a pizza Wednesday night, then had other friends bring fixings for a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

“It’s the adrenaline rush, the thrill of the hunt,” Young said.

Rocklin resident Jamie Finley considers herself an expert of Black Friday shopping, named for the day retailers traditionally go into the black.

Rules apply, she said.

“What is really angering is when people cut in line,” said Finley, who was in line for J.C. Penney at 3:30 a.m., and planned to hit maybe 10 stores before 10 a.m.

Also: no fighting dirty when the inventory gets low.

“One year, my sister was going for the last of whatever the item was, and her hands got hit by somebody with a cane,” she said. “A cane!”

The National Retail Federation predicted 128 million U.S. shoppers would hit stores this weekend. Experts are predicting a painful holiday season as the economy contracts and consumers pull back on spending.

There was little sign of that at the Fry’s on North Sunrise Avenue in Roseville, where a massive line wrapped around the store by 5 a.m.

“When I saw this, I said, ‘I guess the economy isn’t that bad,’” said Chris Cintean, who had been waiting in line with friend Sorin Ojod for about an hour before the store opened.

But shoppers say Black Friday is less about conspicuous consumption than finding great deals – a winner in any economy.

And then there’s that special bond that comes with being part of the club.

“It’s kind of that community feel,” said Finley. “You chat the people up and ask what you’re going for.”