Woman Hits Jackpot, Sells NES and 5 Games for $13,000 on eBay
By Benjamin Opal
Isn’t this how all rare collectible stories go? A woman in Haw River, N.C., dug out the old Nintendo Entertainment System and five games from her closet for sale on eBay. As she put it:
I HAVE HAD THIS STORED IN THE CLOSET FOR YEARS FOR MY KIDS TO PLAY BUT THE WAY THAT ELECTRONICS COME & GO AND CHANGE FROM ONE YEAR TO THE NEXT THEY WANTED ALL OF THE NEW HOT ITEMS OF THEIR OWN NOW AND NOW IT’S TIME TO GET RID OF THINGS THAT ARE NO LONGER BEING USED OR WANTED.
Turns out, one of those games was Stadium Events, whose American NTSC version is one of the rarest NES games in existence. That the auction included the box and manual seriously sweetened the deal, as one BoingBoing commenter pegged the box at $9,000, the manual at $1,500 and the game for $2,000. Bidding closed at $13,105.
As a game, Stadium Events is nothing special, a set of track and field events using Bandai’s Family Fun Fitness Pad. Nintendo wanted to license the game and sell it as World Class Track Meet, bundled with the iconic Power Pad. However, due to a miscommunication, Bandai sold the game for a brief period in a Woolworth’s department store before Nintendo secured the rights and recalled Stadium Events. It’s said that collectors own less than 10 copies. Guess the seller’s kids can get all the hot new items now. [eBay via BoingBoing]
Thursday, February 11, 2010 9:42PM
awesome, i still have my NES
Friday, February 12, 2010 4:12AM
u can tell by the pixels
Friday, February 12, 2010 5:29PM
I still have my NES with Stadium Events and the pad, i'll have to look for the box..
Saturday, February 13, 2010 12:42AM
i still have mine too w/ the power pad and the original mario/duckhunt/stadium events? game. it's an all in one cartridge. don't have the box though
Saturday, February 13, 2010 12:46AM
Sam — You're probably thinking of World Class Track Meet and the Nintendo Power Pad. They are essentially the same game, but WCTM was and still is easy to find. Hardly any copies of Stadium Events exist.
Saturday, February 13, 2010 1:14AM
This *isn't* the way most collectibles stories go… how the story really goes is:
My brother saw this totally rare game at a garage sale once, so he put it in a box with a plush toy and an old lamp and offered the lady $10 for the lot. She talked up him to $15, thought she was getting a great deal, then he sold the game on ebay for $13,000.
Saturday, February 13, 2010 1:25AM
True story? What game?
-J
PS Your Web site is far out.
Saturday, February 13, 2010 1:25AM
True story? What game?
-J
PS Your Web site is far out.
Saturday, February 13, 2010 12:35PM
Last week on Ebay the consoles for NES were going for $20 to $30 bucks and this week they are going for high dollar. I am trying to win one and every time I bid someone else bids me up. I know its the game but the consoles are timeless and very reliable
Saturday, February 13, 2010 9:55PM
shit, is this for real, i have have stadium events and my nes everything still works along with another 10+ games. theres no boxes for anything tho, if you know your stuff how much would that go for. i don't believe the other games will have any special value
Sunday, February 14, 2010 12:03AM
I just saw a photo on StumbleUpon of a red ringed xbox 360 sitting next to NES that still works perfectly. my atari 7800 prosystem still works perfectly and lets me play frogs and flies from grandma's boy and E.T. the worst game ever made. i love that i still have my copy.
Saturday, February 13, 2010 6:50PM
OMG, I just bought this old house and up in the attic there is a big box with 40 copies of Stadium Events along with 3 nintendo's! !! I will sell them one at a time until they aren't worth anything.
Sunday, February 14, 2010 7:22AM
Heh, the true story is very similar, but with various other collectibles and slightly lower prices on ebay. Di-cast cars and porcelain figurines being the most common.
Monday, February 15, 2010 1:19AM
OMG bull
Monday, February 15, 2010 3:33PM
this is such a horrible comparison it isn't even funny.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 10:02PM
OMG! i just shit out a copy of Stadium Events in the box with the pad! i just took a 13000 dollar shit, but i accidentaly flushed it… FML
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 1:45AM
The couch in the background is the same one as at my house…
Thursday, February 25, 2010 7:33AM
OMG! True story. I was on a business trip and for the in-flight meal they offered Stadium Events! Then I got to my hotel and guess what there was instead of a Bible in the drawer? That's right– Stadium Events! Finally, that night I met a really great woman. Imagine my surprise when it turned out that she wasn't a woman at all but another copy of Stadium Events!!!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 1:51AM
Holy crap! That is amazing, I am going to go garage selling!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 4:19PM
That's because you sold that stuff because your kids weren't using it, remember? I would spend some of that $13k on some memory training.
Thursday, March 17, 2011 12:45AM
i still have mine too w/ the power pad and the original mario/duckhunt/stadium events? game. it's an all in one cartridge. don't have the box though
Thursday, April 7, 2011 8:02PM
I will sell them one at a time until they aren’t worth anything.