Rare Nintendo game sells for just shy of $42,000

Have you ever wished when you're cleaning out a closet or someone's attic, that you'd find some old comic, trading card or video game that was so rare, that you could sell it and buy a tricked out Jeep Wrangler? No? Just me? Ok, so maybe not the Jeep Wrangler part, but I bet some of you wish your parents had a gem like that sitting around.

Someone out there, just got that lucky, as one of the rarest Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games was sold for just shy of $42,000. The game in question is a sealed, yes, still factory sealed, copy of Stadium Events, made by Bandai. The game actually sold for $41,977 dollars in a rather unconventional way.

The game was originally posted on eBay, however, the winning bidder never paid up. So, the seller was then connected with someone else, who apparently was serious, and paid the near $42K price tag.

So what makes Stadium Events so rare? Well, in 1987, the game was released as part of Bandai's Family Fun Fitness (one of, if not the first, fitness video game) games and was to be used with a mat that laid on the floor with large, oversized buttons, similar to twister. The players would then stand on the mat and basically use their feet to either hit A or B, back and forth to simulate running. Only 200 copies were sold before Nintendo placed a recall on the game. Then they re-issued it as a first party title under the new name "World Class Track Meet" and coupled it with the mat, now called the "Power Pad." The game was so popular, that they eventually packaged the game, power pad and the console together as a bundle.

I never played the Bandai version, but a friend of mine had the World Class Track Meet game and Power Pad and I still remember how we use to beat Cheetah, the fastest opponent in the game. We'd kneel on the floor, make a fist with our hands and punch the pad's circular flat buttons as fast as we could. Was it cheating? Sure, but it was the only way to win without having a heart attack at the age of eight.

The seller and buyer of the auction have not been revealed, but it makes you wonder, will the buyer open it up just to play? If he or she does, I just hope they don't have to blow out the dust for that price tag.

[Kotaku]