Rare Nintendo cartridge found at New York garage sale later sold for $20,100
A rare Nintendo Campus Challenge cartridge, originally used for a 1991 gaming competition, was discovered at a garage sale and later sold for $20,100. The cartridge is considered one of the rarest gaming items in existence as most were destroyed by Nintendo after the event.
Why it matters
This story illustrates the high value of gaming memorabilia and the historical significance of early competitive e-sports events.
It looked like an odd old Nintendo cartridge sitting among boxes of gaming memorabilia. But when video-game collector Rob Walters came across it at a New York garage sale in 2006, he had stumbled upon something that Nintendo had never intended to become a collector's treasure.The cartridge was made specifically for Nintendo's 1991 Campus Challenge, a nationwide gaming competition that took place at around 60 US college campuses and other locations. It combined three Nintendo games into a single custom cartridge: Super Mario Bros. 3, PinBot and Dr. Mario.Guinness World Records now lists the cartridge as the rarest Super Mario videogame, recording its 2009 sale for $20,100.
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