One of the rarest NES games of all time goes up for auction today
Starting tonight, Goldin will be auctioning off one of the rarest Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges of all time. Nintendo originally created only 26 of these gold cartridges as prizes for Nintendo Power magazine readers in 1990. They’re so hard to come by that a decade ago one sold on eBay for $100,088.
Hundreds of cartridges were created for the 1990 Nintendo World Championships, an event that toured the United States trying to find the country’s best gamers. Players competed for high scores in timed versions of Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and Rad Racer, which were all bundled onto special cartridges featuring physical switches allowing the games’ time limits to be modified.
Most of these cartridges featured standard gray NES shells, but 26 of them were upgraded with a shiny gold housing and given away to winners of Nintendo Power magazine’s Players’ Poll Contest that same year.
These games were never sold in packaging which partly explains why this particular cartridge, which appears worn and missing its label, was given just a 4.0 grade by CGC Grading. (A grading of 10 would indicate mint condition.)
Despite the cartridge’s rough shape, bidding tonight will start at $10,000. According to the FAQ on the auction house’s website, at that level potential buyers will be pre-screened to ensure they can pay up. That will help protect the cartridge’s unknown seller, but what about buyers?
Faking a rare cartridge like this and fooling CGC Grading would be a huge but a profitable undertaking given the demand for rare retro games and hardware now. The easiest way to confirm that this one is legit is to win the auction and plug the cartridge into an actual NES, but that could end up being a budget-busting approach best left to deep-pocketed collectors.
Starting tonight, Goldin will be auctioning off one of the rarest Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges of all time. Nintendo originally created only 26 of these gold cartridges as prizes for Nintendo Power magazine readers in 1990. They’re so hard to come by that a decade ago one sold on eBay…
Recent Posts
- The Dyson HushJet Mini Cool is the powerful personal fan you won’t want to live without this summer — and it’s surprisingly reasonably priced, too
- Gone in 60 minutes
- GroWell Cap Review: I Have Hair for the First Time in 15 Years
- The Sonos Era 100 speaker is down to its lowest price in months
- Google shuts down the AI image app Pixel Studio
Archives
- June 2026
- May 2026
- April 2026
- March 2026
- February 2026
- January 2026
- December 2025
- November 2025
- October 2025
- September 2025
- August 2025
- July 2025
- June 2025
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023