[News] This 1986 Super Mario Bros. Game Just Broke The Record For Most Expensive Ever Sold

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The record-setting sealed copy was given a 9.6/A+ grade by the video game grading company Wata, making it the "finest copy known to have been professionally graded for auction," according to Heritage. It is also a modified version of the game, which had a limited print run, adding to its scarcity and value. The seller, who chose to remain anonymous, told the auction house the game was bought as a Christmas gift in the mid-80s, placed inside a desk drawer that winter, and wasn't moved or touched until being rediscovered earlier this year.

Friday's transaction more than quadruples the previous mark for the most expensive video game sold—a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 that went for $156,000 in November. The previous record for an original Super Mario Bros. game was $114,000, set last July.

"It stayed in the bottom of my office desk this whole time since the day I bought it," the seller told Heritage Auctions. "I never thought anything about it."

The market for alternative assets such as trading cards and various forms of sports and entertainment memorabilia has skyrocketed over the past year. In December, an O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie was purchased for $1.29 million, setting the record for a hockey card sale. The following month, a scarce 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card sold for $5.2 million—the highest recorded card sale of all time. In February, eBay announced that the trading card category on its platform grew by 142% in 2020, with over 4 million more cards sold compared to the prior year. A 1993 Magic The Gathering MTG Alpha Black Lotus sold for $511,100 on the site in January. Last month, an autographed Luka Doncic rookie card went for $4.6 million. During the Heritage auction that closed Friday, two other sealed video games (Megaman and Mike Tyson's Punchout) sold for north of $100,000.

Heritage's Comics & Comic Art Auction continues throughout the weekend and includes an internet session for comic books on Saturday and another video game session Sunday.