Some of you may be aware that an auction on eBay several weeks ago saw an old NES bundled with some random games sell for a staggering $13,105 USD (approx. £8,744 GBP). That's because one of the games was a copy of Stadium Events; a track and field sports title from Bandai.
What's so special about Stadium Events, you may ask? Released across Japan, North America, and Europe between 1986 and 1988 it was one of the first titles that utilised The Family Fun Fitness mat as the primary control method. Production copies were limited before Nintendo stepped in and bought the American rights, renaming it World Class Track Meet and bundling it with the Power Pad, which makes the pre-rebranded game one of the rarest across all platforms.
A few days ago, a new listing has sold for over three times the amount compared to the previous auction. Yep, it was Stadium Events again. The auction only lasted 10 days but that was more than enough to gather the attention of collectors. The seller had listed the item with a start price of $0.99 USD but amazingly, it took just twenty three minutes for the bids to reach four-figure numbers. Eight hours into the auction and the bids had reached five-figure numbers. When the auction ended last week, the bid that won the item was a massive $41,300 USD (approx. £27,545 GBP). What makes this an even bigger seller than the console bundle has undoubtedly got to be the fact that it's still factory-sealed and relatively "new".
So what's the lesson here? Do a quick search on the Internet before selling off old video game junk. You might be in possession of a game that people are willing for pay crazy money for.
[source reghardware.co.uk]
Comments 37
This kind of thing makes me feel much better about my paying so much for Cave shooter arcade board kits.
Thats... crazy. it's wired BTW that I can find rare japanese games on ebay for 10 dollars
its staggering how rich some people are. spending dozens of thousands of dollars for a 20 year old plastic cartridge
the real question is: is it any fun? Is there a working mat out there for it?
Weird... I hope he got his moneys worth.
EDIT: It says at the top that it sold for $41,300 but in the article it says $13,105. Is this an error?
Some people in the video game world are insane. This only proves it.
@pie4prez
It sold as part of the bundle for $13K, but was resold for $41K. Not a bad profit if you had $13,000 burning a hole in your trouser pocket in the first place. XD
You can get 826 Wii games for that much.
Ridiculous...Over $4000?
The World's gone mad I tell you!
Talk about a super serious balls to the walls hardcore Collector.
@ 10: Well, yeah, last time I checked, 41,300 was more than 4,000. Even more than ten times.
Wait, is this a separate copy? Or the same one resold? Little confused here. :/
This ultra-rare NES game isn't seeming so ultra-rare recently, huh?
I just heard this story last night on the news!
Holy Crap
The game is the same as World Class Track Meet and works with the Power Pad. The reason this is so rare is that Nintendo purchased the company who made it pretty quick and re-named the game. I believe the first one was boxed but this one is sealed hence the increase in value.
this is pennies compared to this Stadium Events:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Stadium-Events-Nes-game_W0QQitemZ110499541029QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Vintage_Video_Games?hash=item19ba493025
$800,000 and rising!
@ #7. sorry your wrong, a Stadium Events by a female seller sold for $13K (not sealed), and a week later a guy who had it when it first came out sold it for $41,300. The stories can be found at nintendage. The guy purchased the game when it came out not realizing you needed a mat to play, he was going to return it but forgot, so it sat in the attic for 20 some years.
@ 16. The story goes like this. Bandai made 2000 copies of the game as an experiment, within one month of being on the market Nintendo bought everything related to Stadium Events. After they purchased the rights to SE and the mat, they destroyed all remaining SE carts (1800 to be exact) and resold them as World Class Track Meet with a new styled mat. So only 200 were sold, and as of now, only one is sealed. Hence why its so rare.
Collapses
Haha, I guess that's where they got the idea for Wii Fit.
@Gmls719" it's wired BTW that I can find rare japanese games on ebay for 10 dollars"
I'd say that's simply because the games aren't as rare as you were told they were
Holy hell Zimm! That asshat's game is up over 800K and he's still charging six dollars shipping! My whole family is either getting their hours cut or have been laid off and there's people out there shelling out that kind of cash for a video game they will never play. Does this sicken anyone else?
@Wardy - it is over! after 52 bids the winning bid was $800,200!!!!
yeah, it makes me pretty sick, plus where are they getting this kind of cash? I am a collector, but I am a player first. I will never pay more than $50 for a retro game. even $50 is pushing it.
some believe that this game is a fake. stock photos, etc. so, someone might be getting ripped off. but, if it is a fake, with that kind of money I am sure there will be jail time.
NL should really make this into the news story. this one blows the $41,000 out of the water!!
Well as of right now, when this first hit ebay there was speculation it was a real SE however, it was questioned whether or not it was infact a SEALED copy. If you look closley at one of the pictures showing the back of the game, you will see a ripple like spot. If it was infact sealed, it would be tight against the box. So this seller could be in for a major hurting if he/she is lying.
Nintendolife should do a review of the game
@26 they would have to do a fundraiser just so they can get their hands on a legal copy of the game because I can bet they would never use anything that can possibly be illegal
|sf>Wow, I never realized that Stadium Events was that rare. IMO it's the least memorable game out of the titles made for the pad. It was advertised on the back of the Family Fun Fitness mat, so I figured that most people with that version would buy the second game. I always assumed that Street Cop was the hard-to-find one.
@Quickfingers, no, they wouldn't need a fundraiser. Someone earlier said that it's the same content as World Class Track Meet.
OMG I HAVE THIS GAME!
@ spriteking
If you have yet to read the above article I will give you $50 for it...
@Adamant. Ah yes, the fact everything on eBay is R@RE and L00K.
Supply and demand gone a tad mad but this happens all the time (look into the book "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds). Still I find is strange how one-of-a-kind prototypes go for well less...then again you need Stadium Events otherwise your complete sealed/boxed/unboxed retail NES collection will be incomplete.
Edit: The Red highlighting was not intended but I guess it usually appears like that in listings.
$800,200.00 for an crappy NES game! Somebody's getting an early retirement My "Holey Grail" of the NES was/is Tengen Tetris. It's my favorite beloved black NES cart, it's awesomely fun to play, and its got a history rife with controversy and lawsuits. I stumbled into GameXChange one fateful day in 2004, and my jaw dropped to the floor when I found it in the discount bin amongst the common scurvy like a diamond in the rough, albeit with a premium $40 price tag.
Why it wasn't sitting beneath the glass counter with all the other rares, I have no idea, but it's been mine ever since. I checked out, pulled the cheap reshrink off the dusty cartridge, kissed the worn label (seriously people, don't ever do that; you don't know where its been ), took it home, crammed it in my NES, yanked it back out, blowed on the connectors, crammed it back in, and played the crap out of it.
Yes, that's the way games were meant to be enjoyed, actually played, not sitting unopened inside some rich collector's trophy case
that is some serious cash!
I've never bought the 2000 made, 200 left rumour at all. I'm pretty sure there are more of them out there than that. Mind you, it's still silly bidding for a sealed game regardless of how many exist!
Any one on her actually have this game?
@StarDust Um, weren't the black (and baby-blue) carts unlicensed games? But anyway, I should take a look around at some swap meets and flea markets for some rare games. You never know what you'll find.
So is this Blade Braxton's copy? He's the one that found it cleaning out his moms house. (He's the co-host of Wrestlecrap Radio and co-author of their book Wrestlecrap's Book of Lists).
If he got 41 grand for it that's awesome. His mom died not too long ago leaving a lot of bills and was going to have to sell the house and everything else just to pay them off. So that right there was a gift from whatever cosmic force you believe in.
I have this same game and mat! Wonder how much I can get for mine!
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...