An Ultra-Rare Gold Nintendo Cartridge From 1990 Is Up for Auction

In 1990, video game giant Nintendo embarked on a multi-city promotional event dubbed the Nintendo World Championships. Players gathered and competed in timed trials for a variety of games like Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris. The company used a special game cartridge (or, in Nintendo’s parlance, game pak) for the competition with a built-in dip switch for capping gaming time. An estimated 350 were produced, with just 26 presented in gold rather than the standard gray plastic. And now one of those gold editions is up for auction.

Goldin Auctions based out of New Jersey is offering one of the gold cartridges in what they describe as one of the “rarest of offerings in the hobby.” Graded by third-party CGC at 4.0 (out of a possible 10), it’s missing the label. (It’s also missing a box, though none of the cartridges had one to begin with.) That may not matter much to collectors, however: Of the 350 gray cartridges made, only 92 have been accounted for. And of the 26 gold versions, the collectibles market has identified just 13 still in existence.

The reason for the rarity? The cartridges weren’t really meant to be preserved. They were intended for the competitions only; even the glue used to apply the label to the face wasn’t meant to last, hence the reason so many are missing.

The gold version—similar in color to the Legend of Zelda cartridges sold three years earlier—was created as a special giveaway for readers of Nintendo Power, the company’s in-house fan magazine. According to Goldin, the cartridge was awarded to Patrick King of Cheyenne, Wyoming, who apparently valued it enough to hang on to it.

In-person contestants didn’t get the gold pak, but winners were still rewarded. Each of the winners in the three age brackets (under 11, 12 to 17, and over 18) received $10,000 in savings bonds and a gold Mario trophy, among other prizes.

How much Goldin can net for the game is up in the air. One of the more recent sales of the gray competition game was a Heritage auction in July 2021. Graded 8.0 out of 10 by WATA and with the label still affixed, it brought in $180,000. In 2014, a gold edition netted $100,000 on eBay. The all-time record for any video game sale was set in 2021, when an unopened copy of Super Mario Bros. sold for $2 million.

As of this writing, bidding for the gold contest pak is at $77,000. The auction runs through August 17.

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