Esports team owner finds ‘Holy Grail’ Nintendo game worth $20,000 in childhood collection

OpTic co-owner Mike ‘Hastr0’ Rufail discovered one of gaming’s ‘holy grails’ in a box of games from his childhood collection and it could fetch him tens of thousands of dollars.

Stadium Events is one of the rarest video games of all time with only around 10,000 copies thought to be in existence, but that’s exactly what Hastr0 had in his collection.

While Stadium Events was released in 1987, it was quickly rereleased as World Class Track Meet and made use of the Nintendo Power Pad accessory.

So, how did such a rarity wind up in Hastr0’s collection? Well, according to the esports team owner, his cartridge appears to be a former rental game.

Hastr0 finds ultra rare Nintendo game in childhood collection

In a post on Twitter and subsequent Reddit thread, Hastr0 revealed that he was going through his childhood collection of Nintendo games when he pulled out Stadium Events.

“This is one of the rarest video game cartridges in the world. An original, 1987 NTSC copy of Stadium Events. Didn’t even realize it was in my collection. This is pretty insane,” he said.

Do you guys know what this is?

I just pulled this out of my childhood game collection. This is one of the rarest video game cartridges in the world. An original, 1987 NTSC copy of Stadium Events. Didn’t even realize it was in my collection. This is pretty insane.

$15,000+.… pic.twitter.com/xpEDdF4sPZ

— Mike Rufail (@hastr0) March 4, 2023

On Reddit, he noted that his cartridge had a ‘sports’ sticker on the back and ‘8222’ written on the front and inquired if it was a prototype, but many suspected it was from a video game rental store.

After a bit of research, Hastr0 agreed with the users in the game collecting subreddit, but still had some big decisions to make.

“I think it is safe to say that this was a rental cart and the sticker/markings were for shelf stocking and inventory tracking purposes,” he said, reaching a verdict. “Now to decide whether to remove the sticker and remove the Sharpie markings with an alcohol wipe.”

I spent a good amount of the weekend watching videos and learning about this cartridge. What a ride that was. It’s wild that I found it in one of my old boxes of carts from my childhood. Probably going to hold onto it for a while. Getting sucked back into retro collecting. pic.twitter.com/CT08DORQus

— Mike Rufail (@hastr0) March 6, 2023

In a follow-up post, Hastr0 revealed that he plans to hold onto the cart for a while and won’t be selling it just yet. According to Price Charting, the game’s loose cost is listed at $19,411.50. Some sellers have listed the game as a ‘Holy Grail’ due to its rarity.

Not bad considering it was just tucked away in an old box. It just goes to show, you never know if there’s a potential jewel hiding in your basement or attic.