Something's wrong about the $100,000 winning bid ($99,902 to be precise) for a Nintendo World Championship game put on eBay Jan. 18 and sold a week later on Jan. 25. Muresan, the poster, originally listed it for $5,000, a reasonable price given other versions of the same game (just 90 available worldwide, handed out during the 1990 Nintendo World Championships) went for around $10,000, except those still had their labels and thus were in better condition.
Six days into the bidding process, the item began to attract national attention, not for its price (it was at around $5,500 at the time), but because of its rarity. As mentioned, just 90 editions of the game exist. A day later, the final price reached 99k.
Twenty six gold versions of the Nintendo Championship Game (which is basically an abridged three-pack of classics Super Mario Brothers, Tetris, and Rad Racer a part of the '90 competition) also exist. They were given to finalists of the championships (the gray versions currently on eBay were given out to semifinalists) and accordingly are worth more, between $15,000 and $21,000, according to a comprehensive list on the website, Racket Boy.
Also unusual (though perhaps this is the norm when it comes to coveted items) was the flurry of bidding as the item neared its expiration, as if not one but a rash of buyers were willing to pay the equivalent of a teaching salary in Long Island for a video game.
EBay isn't free. They take between a 5 and 15 percent commission, depending on the item's classification. That's a fee between $5,000 and $15,000 so if this is a scam, it'll have to be explained to eBay.
A total of 328 bids were made by no more than 20 individuals, some of whom coveted the game so greatly they were out-pricing their own bids seconds after making them.
Something's up. I'm calling hoax.
