Some people out there are just hardcore.  Someone just spent $20,000 to buy a rare NES Game, I have to say that’s pretty crazy.  The cartridge sold was from the NES Campus Championships in 1991.  Similar to the Nintendo World Championship cartridges from that same time, the cartridge held 3 games, Super Mario Bros 3, Pin-Bot, and Dr Mario and kept score for all the players in all three games.

The ebay listing gave some info about the cartridge and its origins

In 1991 Nintendo held a nationwide video game tournament at 58 college campuses, state fairs, and spring break hot spots. Like the Nintendo World Championships in 1990, a special cartridge was created just for this event that had Super Mario Bros 3, Pin-Bot, and Dr. Mario on it and would give you one score for playing all three games. Winners from each of the 58 locations were sent to Orlando Florida to crown the National Champion at Disney World.  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

For those of you who don’t know what the World Championship cartridges look like, here is one from 1990.

That looks nice right?  Those have sold for up to $17,000.  Now, this is what the person just spent $20,000 on.

I can understand wanting to own one of the gold ones,  but $20,000 on the not so nice looking one?  Hey, to each his own.  I guess I just think of what you could buy with that kind of money.  That’s a car or a deposit and rent for a year on a small apartment somewhere.  The person who bought this must REALLY want that cartridge.  Maybe someone from Nintendo bough it back to be destroyed finally?

This makes me curious though, I know I’ve spent $150 on a game once(Shining Force CD for Sega CD), but what was the most YOU have ever paid for a game and what is the most you would ever spend on one?

Nintendo Campus Challenge 1991 NES World Championships [eBay Via Kotaku]