Tetris Cartridge for Sega's Mega Drive Costs $1M
It's reportedly the only signed copy of Tetris in existence, and it's costing a potential eBay buyer $1M USD.
Got a spare $1 Million USD burning a hole in your pocket? No? Then turn yourself away from one very overpriced eBay auction featuring an extremely rare copy of Tetris for the Sega Mega Drive console (aka Genesis here in North America). Sure, we like playing Tetris, but not enough to shell out a Ben Franklin even if the cartridge was made of pure gold and massaged our feet.
"If you are a hardcore videogame collector you know what this is: simply a rare if not THE RAREST videogame on earth," reads the description written by seller shinsnk. "A lot has been said about the numbers but is rumored only 3-8 copies exist worldwide. Personally I know only three: mine, the one exposed not for sale in Mandarake (Japan), and another in the hands of a collector friend of mine."
Ok, so this copy of Tetris is rare. We get that. But does it justify the hefty $1M price tag? According to the description, it's the only one signed by the creator of Tetris, Alekséi Pázhitnov. Shinsnk originally bought the autographed cartridge for 11.000 € (around $16,000 USD) four years ago – meaning he expects to make a profit of around $984,000 before any applicable fees.
Good luck with that.
"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 Alexei). You can expect no more."
Is the $1M price tag just a ploy to drive traffic to his auction. Probably, as he even links to a Google search of the news surrounding the auction. Nothing wrong with free advertisement, right?
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Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then, he’s loved all things PC-related and cool gadgets ranging from the New Nintendo 3DS to Android tablets. He is currently a contributor at Digital Trends, writing about everything from computers to how-to content on Windows and Macs to reviews of the latest laptops from HP, Dell, Lenovo, and more.