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6 of the Most Valuable Video Games Ever Made

If you think shelling out $60 for a video game is too much, take a look at how much people are willing to pay for these games.

By Jason SchwartzPublished 7 years ago 5 min read
Top Story - December 2016
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Courtesy of Videogame History Museum 

People generally don't think of video games as high value collectables. Nothing ages worse than video games, games that were revolutionary years ago look like garbage compared to what we have now. While you can buy plenty of used games for under $3, there are still a few video games out there that would cost you a small fortune if you want them.

Due to how rare some of these games are, it is a bit difficult to estimate their value, but here are some of the most valuable games ever made.

#6 Red Sea Crossing- $10,000

Courtesy of AtariAge

With the tagline "Bible Video Game Brings the Fun Home," it's not a surprise that this game is sought after. What makes this game so expensive is that is was never sold in retail stores. It was only available via order-by-phone for $34.95 from the manufacturer. When people started collecting retro Atari games, there were no copies of Red Sea Crossing to be found, which led people to believe that this game was never manufactured and that it was just a myth. That all changed in 2010 when someone found a copy of the game at a garage sale. After it was purchased at the garage sale, the buyer then posted on a message board asking for information about the game, since none were available online. Once he realized how rare it was, he posted it on eBay and started the bidding at $100. When the auction ended it was sold for over $10,000 and it's the only known copy of the game in existence.

#5 Nintendo Campus Challenge- $20,000

Courtesy of YouTube

Nintendo used to host gaming competitions, and in the early 1990s, they held them at various college campuses. The rules were simple, players had six minutes to get the highest scores in demo versions of three games: Super Mario Bros. 3, PinBot, and Dr. Mario, and whoever had the highest cumulative score at the end won.

After the tournament ended most copies of the game were destroyed. One brilliant Nintendo employee kept a copy, and in a less brilliant move sold it to a man named Rob Walters at a garage sale in 2006. Rob Walters turned around and sold the Campus Challenge cartridge for $14,000, to a man named JJ Hendricks. JJ then sold it on eBay for $20,100. It is the only known copy in existence and the value keeps going up.

#4 1990 Nintendo World Championships- Grey $20,000 Gold $25,000

Courtesy of That Damn Pixel

Much like the previously mentioned "Nintendo Campus Challenge," the 1990 World Championship was tournament that led to a very valuable game. Nintendo had a tournament that spanned 29 cities across the United States. The contestants played a special Nintendo World Championships cartridge that had a customized version of Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris. Their goal was to get the highest cumulative score across all three games, within a total time limit of 6 minutes and 21 seconds. The 90 grey custom NES cartridge that was used in the tournament was given to finalists after the championships concluded. Another twenty-six gold copies exist and they were given as prizes in a separate contest held by Nintendo Power magazine. The rarity of these cartridges makes them a collectors item, with the most recent gold cartridge selling for over $26,000.

#3 Air Raid- $33,000

Courtesy of AtariAge

Air Raid was always seen as a strange game. It was a strange blue “T-handle” shaped game. It's rumored to be the only game ever produced by a company called “Menavision." What's even stranger, since there was no title on the cartridge itself, many people were unsure of the actual name of the game, because the few copies found were just the cartridge by itself without a box. In 2010, Tanner Sandlin read about Air Raid and he recognized the strange blue T-handle case on the cartridge. He went through his old things and found his copy of Air Raid that still had the box. He sold it on eBay for $31,600. The next year a man by the name of Harv Bennett found his old copy with not only the box but the manual as well, so he was able to sell it for $33,433.

#2 Stadium Events- $41,000

Courtesy of Epicpower Gaming

Do you remember the Family Fun Fitness mat for the NES? No of course you don't, nobody does. It was the predecessor to the Power Pad, a floor mat control, similar to the type used for DDR. Stadium Events was released in 1987 and it was made for the Family Fun Fitness mat. Nintendo then bought the rights to the game and the mat in the next year and re-released the Family Fun Fitness mat as the Power Pad and re-released Stadium Events as WorldClass Track Meet. Nintendo pulled all copies of Stadium Events from shelves when they released WorldClass Track Meet, but at that point approximately 200 copies of Stadium Events had already been sold. It is believed that about 20 complete copies of the game exist today. What is unique about Stadium Events is the price of the box. Since kids tear open the box when they get new games, intact boxes of Stadium Events have sold for close to $10,000, and that's just for a box with no game! A man in Kansas sold his sealed copy of the game for $41,300.

#1 Gamma Attack - Unknown

Courtesy of AtariAge

I know making the number 1 game on this list have an unknown value is a bit of a cop-out but I think it's justified. Gamma Attack is arguably the rarest game of all time, because there is one copy known to exist. Collector Anthony DeNardo owns the only known copy of Gamma Attack. He posted the game for sale on eBay with a $500,000 Buy-It-Now price. He originally valued it around $10,000 dollars but claims he received offers significantly higher than that. With the fluctuating market for collectable video games, and the fact that this is the only copy in existence, it's nearly impossible to put a value on it. Some value it at $20,000 while some say it's worth over $50,000, which would make it one of the most valuable video games of all time.

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About the Creator

Jason Schwartz

Big nerd with passion for television, the 90s and ridiculous trivia.

Did you know America never lost a war when donkeys were used?

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