Quote:A mint-condition sealed copy of the original Super Mario Bros. sold at auction for $114,000 on July 10, setting a new record for the sale of a single collectible video game. The previous record, a private sale for $100,150 in February 2019, was another sealed copy of Super Mario Bros.

“How the heck did they come up with that number?” you may be asking. Well, several reasons. The packaging is sealed, for one, and is graded at a near-perfect 9.4, meaning it’s distinctly free of wear and tear. It’s also an early printing of the game—not as early as the one sold in 2019, but early enough to still have the cardboard hangtab on the box, which stores were supposed to punch out and use to hang NES games on pegs, like action figures. (That didn’t last long.)

Quote:A solid reminder to take care of your things and not throw out old stuff.