A mint-condition, boxed version of the original NES game "Stadium Events," has sold for an unprecedented $42,000 to a private collector. Although originally 'sold' through an Ebay auction, following a fall through of that original deal, a private collector stepped in and made this one of the most expensive game purchases ever.
Although there are a lot of rare Nintendo Entertainment System games out there, Stadium Events is one of the rarest. Originally sold under that name, before Nintendo pulled it from shelves and repackaged it as Track and Field after purchasing the rights to the Familly Fun Fitness mat technology, only 200 copies of the game were sold in its original guise.
Only around 20 mint copies are said to exist anywhere in the world and this is one of those. Rated by the Video Game Authority as 85/100, which is about as high as you're likely to get for a game that's 30+ years old.
As Kotaku reports, even just the loose cartridge for this game can sell for upwards of $10,000 and boxes and manuals more than double that. But the whole package together, still shrink wrapped from its original release, proved to be too much of a temptation for one collector, who ultimately paid $41,977 for it.
This story even has a solid ending, because despite a few set backs along the way, the payment has now been made and the game changed hands, so all parties are happy. Often making such deals can be a stressful experience because of the money involved and the potential for fraudulent attempts to acquire it or the game. But in this case, all went well.
Image source: deavile8/eBay
