An extremely rare NES game sold via eBay for over $55,000 in Australia, which translates to roughly $42,000 USD. Stadium Events is an NES game that initially launched in North America in 1987. Just the used cartridge alone can sell for several thousands of dollars, but in this case, Stadium Events was still in its shrink wrap and in excellent condition. Another factory sealed copy of Stadium Events was sold in 2010 for just over $41,000 USD, so if anything, $42,000 seven years later seems like a good deal.

It's an odd story that's led to a not quite popular game like Stadium Events becoming one of the rarest and most expensive games in history. Bandai initially published Stadium Events in North America, but it has been reported that only 200 ever reached store shelves. Nintendo had issued an immediate recall of Stadium Events in order to re-brand the game as World Class Track Meet and release it as a first-party game. It was part of their push to market the Power Pad peripheral and Stadium Events gave the accessory a fitness application.

The exact reasons for 200 copies of Stadium Events managing to reach store shelves remains a gaming mystery lost to history. Either the game should have never been released, or a shipment size more typical for an NES release should have managed to get to store shelves -- something like 10,000. Yet 200 copies of the game is what arrived, and now the game is under more demand than ever. Not bad for a compilation of four different sports mini-games.

The story regarding this specific copy of Stadium Events' discovery is delightful and worth mentioning. According to a YouTube video the seller posted, the game was found by his mother at a thrift shop in Queens, New York. It was left on the seller's bed, certainly a surprise that the son never expected. Here's his description of the situation:

"Mom always buys things for me and she thought that this might be something I would like, that I would probably open it up and play it. She also knows that I like video games and I would be happy with this if it had no value. I'd say thanks Mom, but at the same time this one actually did have value so it was amazing she found it."

Hopefully now that the auction has ended and "Joe Shmoe" is getting $42,077 in payment, he shares some of the profits for the NES game Stadium Events with the mother who obviously still cares very much about her son.

Source: Joe Shmoe – YouTube