The owner of the world's largest video collection, as recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records in the now available 2014 edition, sold his first, modest-sized collection so he could buy the latest console in 1989, Sega Genesis, Tech Spot reported. Nearly ten years later in 1998, Michael Thomasson sold either most or all of a presumably impressive collection to help pay for his wedding. If you're thinking his wife-to-be possibly influenced Thomason into a mutually beneficial decision (clearing out the games and making money in the process), you're most likely wrong.

"I was heavy into collecting when we married so she knew what she was getting into," Thomasson told the Associated Press.

Even if Jo Ann Thomasson had some deep-rooted issue with her husband's collection, it wouldn't have made sense for her to separate Michael from the gaming world, for that's also how he makes his livelihood. Thomasson, 43, designs games and teaches the subject at Canisius College in Buffalo, the AP reported. He also occasionally contributes articles to gaming magazines and newspapers.

After his winning (and hopefully after the honey moon, too), Thomasson rebuilt his collection by averaging about two game purchases per day on a "strict" $3,000 annual budget, according to the AP. His official Guinness total was 10,607, but that number has climbed beyond 11,000 since. He values his collection somewhere between $700,000 and $800,000.

"I have games on cartridge, laser disc. I have VHS-based games, cassette-based games," Thomasson said.

From the AP's picture, Thomasson stores his collection in the basement of his Buffalo home. Given his busy schedule and 5-year old daughter, he only gets to play about three hours per week, and hasn't actually played all the games in his set.

His most appreciated specimen, however, isn't a game but a console: the Colecovision. The 1980's system was a fast seller when it debuted and Thomasson didn't actually receive one until sometime after its release, according to the AP.

The previous record holder had around 8,000 games.