An original copy of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. from 1986 can be yours—if you have at least $320,000 to spare.
Heritage Auctions is taking bids for the still-sealed copy of the game, which is poised to break a record for the highest amount paid for a single video game at the auction house.
More than 40 million copies of Super Mario Bros. have been sold worldwide, making it one of the most popular video games of all time. So what makes this copy so special? Amazingly, it’s still contained inside the original plastic shrink wrap, and its condition has been rated at a near-perfect 9.6 out of 10.
“This particular copy was produced in late 1986, which means it was one of the earliest copies produced that had plastic shrink wrap, rather than sticker seal, and a perforated cardboard hangtab,” Valarie McLeckie, Heritage Auctions video games director, said in a statement.
“Since the production window for this copy and others like it was so short, finding another copy from this same production run in similar condition would be as hard as looking for a single drop of water in an ocean. Never say never, but there’s a good chance it can’t be done,” she added.
The high bid currently stands at $310,000, and you’ll need to bid at least $320,000 to get in the running. The auction, which includes other coveted, retro games, runs until April 4.
Ironically, the game was priced at a mere $25 back in 1985 when it first went on sale in the US. How this particular copy survived so long without being opened remains unclear. We’ve reached out to Heritage Auctions for comment, and we’ll update the story if we hear back.
The current record holder for games sales at Heritage Auctions is an original copy of Super Mario Bros. 3, which fetched $156,000 last November. It too was an unopened copy that had apparently been languishing in someone’s closet.
Last year, a separate, unsealed Super Mario Bros. game was also auctioned off, but only for $114,000. That particularly copy had a slightly lower quality rating at 9.4 out 10, and was manufactured during a different production run.
