Million Dollar Tetris Cartridge Goes Up for Auction

Posted 07/27/2011 at 5:44am | by Paul Lilly

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What's the most you ever paid for a videogame? We're willing to gamble it's considerably less than what eBay user "shinsnk" is asking for an ultra rare copy of Tetris for the Sega Mega Drive (Japan's equivalent to the Sega Genesis console). If you read the title, you know this guy's asking for cool $1 million, but how exactly can he justify such an exorbitant price tag?

Simply put, the seller claims it's the only copy of Tetris in the world to be signed by the game's creator, Alekséi Pázhitnov. The seller says he paid €11,000 (around US$16,000) for the game four years ago, and if he ends up getting his asking price (unlikely), he'll have turned a profit of about $984,000, minus any applicable fees.

"This is truly a rare, exclusive, elusive, obscure and desirable centerpiece grial for any collection, it has all: great franchise (Tetris), great history (Sega vs Nintendo, you can Google that), scarcity (very few copies) and exclusivity (signed by Alekséi). You can expect no more," the auction description reads.

In all fairness, the absurd price tag might simply be a ploy to attract attention (it's working!) to a rare game that might be worth several thousand dollars, and among the comments are offers of up to £30,000 (a little over US$49,000).

Image Credit: eBay user shinsnk