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Tech

Is the $99,850 NES Game for Real?

It wouldn't be the most insane purchase in retro-game fanaticism.
​Image: eBay

​The artifact in question is a factory-sealed copy of Stadium Events, a third-party Nintendo Entertainment System sports title intended for use with a peripheral called the Family Fun Fitness pad. Seller ​menaceone claims their listing is one of the few complete, near-mint copies of the game to have been sent to the Video Games Authority in Georgia for inspection and grading. An eBay auction for the game is now up to $99,850.

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Figure it would have gone for a typical $49.99 in the actual NES era.

Stadium Events' allure can be attributed to the fact it was recalled shortly after its release. It is widely believed that only 2,000 cartridges ever entered distribution. Some claim the quantity is even smaller than that, hovering closer to 200 units. According to retro console site RacketBoy, Stadium Events is ordinarily valued between $1,800 and $8,800. The highest amount for which a copy has been sold is $22,800.

As noted by Wired, it's possible that the astronomical numbers seen in the latest Stadium Events auction might simply be a byproduct of Internet chicanery. Writer Chris Kohler reported on a similar case early last year, when news about a $99,000 bid on a Nintendo World Championship cartridge spread through the internet. The eventual auction winner refused to provide payment, claiming the win as an error catalyzed by an interloping toddler.

But outrageous as such numbers might seem, such high-profile purchases aren't unheard of. In 2005, a man named Jon Jacobs mortgaged his real-life home in order to purchase a $100,000 virtual space resort in a massively multiplayer online game called Entropia Universe. Then, in 2010, player Erik Novak purchased the Crystal Palace Space Station for $330,000, before his record was broken by John Foma Kalun who paid $335,000 for a fragment of Jacobs' Entropia property.

Similar stories have arose in other popular games. In 2013, for example, someone paid $38,000 for a Dota 2 courier, an in-game vanity item used to transport cargo within Valve's competitive multiplayer title. The highest amount paid for a World of Warcraft account was reportedly $9,000, though usage of it was quickly removed by Blizzard.

Whether driven by business savvy, vanity, or incendiary passion, many have spent thousands on video game-related collectibles. Such expenditures might seem ludicrous at first, but it could argued that they're not dissimilar from the acquisition of old paintings or even rare cars. Who knows if the Nintendo cartridges of today might be the knock-off Van Goghs of tomorrow?