Serious shoppers, get your game face on. Black Friday is just around the corner.

The first ads for day-after-Thanksgiving sales have appeared on the Web. ACE hardware's circular, advertising sales November 23-25, was posted last week -- 10 weeks until Thanksgiving -- at several of the Black Friday sale sites.

"Black Friday," the Friday after Thanksgiving, is traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Retailers load up on early-bird sales, open doors at 5 a.m. or earlier, and take advantage of a hype that's been fueled in recent years by the Internet. To their credit, shoppers have played right along, enjoying rock-bottom prices on DVD players and television sets.

Back in the 20th century, the nature of these sales wouldn't become public until days before "Black Friday." Stores loaded up the Wednesday and Thursday newspapers with circulars showcasing the deals offered.

But in recent years, Internet sites have fueled the thirst for this once-a-year shopping adventure, often to the chagrin to retailers. Sites like gottadeal.com have posted copies of stores' circulars weeks before the big day. Databases now make every deal searchable so shoppers can plan their "Black Friday" with strategy.