I'll charge you thousands of dollars to collect 50 coins in SMB3, too

As a retro game fan, if I had a ton of money to blow I'd probably point my browser over to this eBay auction for a Nintendo Campus Challenge cart and lay down the law. $8,500 of your American currency? Pfft, tis child's play.

Forged by Nintendo's blacksmiths back in 1991, the carts were to be used in 58 tournaments across the US and then destroyed so as not to let its secrets into the wild, lest they fall into the wrong hands. Alas, one sneaky employee tasked with destroying their copy disobeyed and clung to what has now become the only known surviving copy. Then they sold it at a garage sale in 2006 after leaving the company and are probably eating their very own hands as they see how high the so-far 38 bidders are going.

On the cart are special versions of Super Mario Bros. 3, Pin-Bot and Dr. Mario. Contestants have 6 minutes and 21 seconds to play through the challenges and snag as many points as possible by first collecting 50 coins in SMB3, then 100,000 points in Pin-Bot and finishing off with Dr. Mario until the timer dings.

Not counting the initial garage sale, the cart has been sold once before — for $17,500. We'll see in two days whether the seller breaks even.

[source cgi.ebay.com]