If you’ve been a fan of this hobby for any good length of time, then you’ve no doubt heard at least one story about someone paying an exorbitant amount of money for the Nintendo World Championships video game cartridge for the NES, of which only a small number were made, with only 12 copies being known to exist. The last one sold managed to net $17,500 for its former owner.
But now, a new game of the sort has been unearthed, and it seems to be even rarer than rare, with only this single copy being known to still exist.
Known as “Nintendo Campus Challenge 1991,” the cartridge contains tournament versions of Super Mario Bros. 3, Pin-Bot, and Dr. Mario, and was used at competition sites “at 58 college campuses, state fairs, and spring break hot spots.” Winners from each of the 58 were then sent to Disney World in Orlando, Florida to crown a National Champion.
Unlike the Nintendo World Championships where Nintendo gave winner’s copies of the special cartridges, the Campus Challenge cartridges were supposed to be destroyed. This game was original found at a ex-Nintendo employees garage sale in 2006. It is the only copy known to exist. More details can be found on Wikipedia or watch a video about the event on VidLife
Despite seemingly being the rarer cartridge, though, Gamer Limit notes that the last time this piece was sold, to J.J. of VideoGamePriceCharts.com in July 2009 at a garage sale of all places, it went for $14,000, putting it behind the gold Nintendo World Championships cartridge. And the auction presently sits at $8,500 with a little over a day and a half left on it, as of this writing.
Can it overcome the gold NWC cartridge? Only time will tell, though I think that the Campus Challenge 1991 cart lacks the notoriety (to say nothing of fancy casing) the other game has going for it.
