Would you spend $17,500 on a video game? An old video game? This guy did. He bought a gold (painted) Nintendo World Championships cartridge. It is considered “The Holy Grail of Gaming” to collectors of video games.

JJ Hendricks bought the thing on eBay. It was listed for $25,000 so it seems he got a good deal. He considers it a piece of history, and, as such, is worth the price.

The Nintendo World Championships cartridge is from 1990. Here's the Wikipedia link. The NWC gold is supposed to be comparable to the Inverted Jenny postage stamp (a.k.a. the American stamp with the mistakenly printed upside down airplane, an error now worth millions of dollars) and the Action Comics #1 comic, which contains the first appearance of Superman.

(By the way, if you're out here in LA, and can get to the Skirball Cultural Center before August 9, you can see a copy of Action Comics #1 up close. They have a copy on loan from an anonymous collector. Here's my review of the exhibit.)

Anyway, I'm not sure why the NWC Gold is so collectible. Because it's rare? Because it's gold? Was the game that good? I get the Inverted Jenny. I get the Action Comics #1. But the Nintendo game? Not so much.

If anyone can tell me why, I'd love to hear it.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.