stadium-events
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Stadium Events auction hits an unbelievable $800K
[VGMuseum] First, a mom hit the jackpot when one of the random games she was selling with an old NES turned out to be Bandai's super-rare Stadium Events, which went on eBay for $13.105. Following the excitement about that auction, someone else sold their sealed copy of the NES exercise game (which you've most likely played under its other name, World Class Track Meet) for a staggering $41,300. And then it got ridiculous. Seller acuraboi12's sealed Stadium Events reached a high bid of $800,200. Unfortunately for acuraboi12, we doubt that's anything but a joke bid. We may be in the midst of an odd Stadium Events gold rush, but that is beyond excessive, considering that the previous $41,300 was the highest known price commanded by an NES game to date. Not even Bubble Bath Babes could command $800k, and it's got nudity. [Thanks, NiteOwl]
Stadium Events sells for $41,300, becomes most expensive NES game ever
We're not sure which element of this story is the most newsworthy, so we'll lead with this: Some person, somewhere in the world, recently spent $41,300 on an extremely rare NES game. Someone was perusing the eBay auction block, saw Stadium Events (which Nintendo bought the rights to and retitled World Class Track Meet), and said, "you know what? That looks like the kind of thing I'd like to spend an American's median annual income on." According to Video Game Price Charts, that auction has turned Stadium Events into the most expensive NES game ever sold. There are around 200 copies of the game still floating around out there -- which should be enough to send most of you rushing to your local pawn shop in a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory-esque tizzy. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Buy an actual stadium instead
We're no strangers to collectable NES junk and completely bonkers auctions, but learning about this piece of Nintendo history makes us glance, ever-so-slightly, to our own boxes of dusty cartridges in the hopes that we might one day become millionaires after a forgotten NES relic turns out to be a gold mine.Stadium Events is apparently the single rarest "officially released" NES cartridge in history. Why? Well, it was first introduced to the USA by Bandai, and the game made use of the Power Pad (formerly known as Family Fun Fitness). Nintendo subsequently purchased the rights to the Power Pad, wanting a piece of the hot sporting action. After the purchase, Nintendo renamed the actual game itself to World Class Track Meet, and copies of Stadium Events were pulled from the shelves. Hence, they are now rarer than a lion's steak dinner.While the history of such a probably awful game is mind-numbingly complex, Stadium Events goes on existing as a rare collectible. And guess what? You can bid on it here, costing you only a couple ... thousand dollars. Not to worry, the seller is offering a discount on the $7.95 shipping cost if you buy multiple rare games from his collection. Thrifty buyers take note of this saving.For reference, a sealed copy of the game sold in 2006 for this much.
Eight-bit collectors are ob-NES-sed
When most gamers talk about rounding out their collections this holiday season, they're probably thinking of about picking up some bargain priced PS2 or Xbox games. For an elite group of obsessive NES collectors, though, it's all about finding decades-old 8-bit games that are not always so bargain-priced.MTV's Stephen Totillo profiles some of the people who have made it their goal to collect all 700+ NES games in their original boxes. Between them they've sold everything from PS3's to T-shirts to fund a quest that can easily run into the thousands of dollars. Rare games like Stadium Events or a gold Nintendo World Championship cartridge can demand hundreds or even thousands of dollars by themselves.The most interesting part of the story is what these collectors do with the games once they have them. Collector Jason Smith has played all of his 700+ games for at least 15 minutes, while Omegathon winner Luke Armstrong only tried a few dozen of his carts before giving up. That might seem like a colossal waste, but as Totillo correctly points out, "if one amasses the world's greatest stamp collection, one doesn't then mail a bunch of letters."
