A "Super Mario Bros." cartridge forgotten in a desk drawer for almost 35 years sold for $660,000 at a recent auction.
A sealed copy of the Nintendo video game Super Mario Bros. smashed the previous record for the most ever paid for a video game when it sold Friday for a whopping $660,000, according to Heritage Auctions.
The classic video game was purchased in late 1986 as a Christmas gift, but ended up being placed inside a desk drawer, where it remained untouched for 35 years before being discovered earlier this year, CNN reported.
"As soon as this copy of Super Mario Bros. arrived at Heritage, we knew the market would find it just as sensational as we did," Heritage Auctions Video Games Director Valarie McLeckie said.
The unopened shrink-wrapped game was professionally graded by WataGames and had a score of 9.6/A+, according to the news release.
"It stayed in the bottom of my office desk this whole time since the day I bought it," said the seller, who asked not to be identified. "I never thought anything about it."
This popular game first went on sale nationwide in 1986. However, Nintendo changed the packaging in early 1987 hence the small number sold.
"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 akin to looking for a single drop of water in an ocean," McLeckie said.
The previous world record for a copy of Super Mario Bros. was $114,000, which was set in July 2020 by Heritage Auctions.
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