Some people love going to flea markets, to check out the used game selection, in hopes of coming across buried (or should we say, unrecognized) treasure.
And guess what; you'd be surprised by the stuff one will find, though it'll be difficult to top the good fortune that recently befell a woman in North Carolina, who recently stumbled upon what is considered the "holy grail" among video game collectors.
Kotaku was the one to break this rather amazing tale: said woman discovered a copy of Stadium Events, a relatedly obscure game for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
As the name implies, it simulates various outdoor sporting events, the kind you'd find at the summer Olympic games. It's initial claim to fame is how it was one of the few games to support the ill fated Power Pad accessory, which was a direct predecessor to the Wii Balance Board.
Though these days, it's mostly know as being one of the most rarest North American NES games period. Something that the woman knew, hence whey she purchased the copy. The price she paid? $7.99.
She then went to a local game shop, to get it and various other games she had acquired appraised. Everything else was not at all noteworthy, but when the owner of the store saw what she had, he literally exclaimed "Oh my God!"
Wilder Hamm, the owner, states:
"Normally in this business, we try not to show our cards… We're not in the business of ripping people off but, you show that kind of excitement, they start expecting a mountain of money."
It's perhaps common for people to present games that are worth a lot, yet not know it, but not this time:
"She knew exactly what she had. When I asked her what she expected to get, she said she expected $7,000 to $15,000, which is on target."
According to Hamm, the game itself, along with the packaging and instruction manual are all in superb shape. It was also mentioned how a still sealed copy fetched over $41,000 on eBay.
And while the North Carolinian woman's find is not truly sealed… it would seem that the she opened it up, to verify the contents, which was both a smart and foolish move… it's still guaranteed to fetch quite the pretty penny.
