The $17,500 Nintendo Video Game

I don’t know whether this story translates into an extreme love for a game or sheer insanity but a man recently bought the Nintendo World Championships Gold for $17,500.  Yes, $17,500.  You could buy a minivan with that amount of money or pay off student loans but, in this depressing economy, one person chose to blow almost $20,000 on a video game.

The details of how the transaction went down are over on the Video Game Price Charts website if you want to know how this could possibly happen.  Of course, it’s a steal compared to the original asking price, which was $25,000.

So, I’m sure you are wondering why someone would pay such a huge sum for a 29 year old game for the original NES.  If that wasn’t enough, there are just 6 minutes and 21 seconds of actual games made up of segments from Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer and my personal favorite, Tetris.

Here’s the thing – it’s rare (just 26 were made) so that makes it cool.  It’s gold-colored unlike it’s grey counterpart. Finally, it was designed for a Nintendo gaming contest.

Okay gamers, I’ve got to ask – would you pay a large sum of money for something like this?  I originally thought that this was just some young guy who lived in his parents’ basement with money to spare but, in his article, he mentions having a seven-week old baby.

So let me rephrase the question – in a time of great economic turmoil would you spend almost $20,000 on a video game if you had a new baby?  I’m pretty sure you can guess what my answer would be.

image: Video Game Price Charts