The Really, Really Expensive Moral of This Story: Check Before Donating Stuff 

Yep. It’s happened again. Someone lost a bunch of money by not researching before donating an item to a thrift store. The original Nintendo Entertainment System popular game The Legend of Zelda was introduced in 1986. It sold for $49.99, which for casual gamers who bought it and never opened it, is turning out to be quite the investment. A Goodwill store in Connecticut just made $411,278 selling a donated, unopened 1986 NES The Legend of Zelda game on its website. The good news is that Goodwill is going to use the money to open a career center in Stamford, Connecticut.

Vintage video games (along with sneakers; check here for our story on that buying/selling trend) are getting astounding prices at auction. Recently, a sealed, collector-graded copy of the original Super Mario Bros. sold for $660,000 at auction. Other jaw-dropping sales include a rare early version of The Legend of Zelda earned $870,000. A sealed copy of Super Mario 64 broke records with a $1.56 million sale.

Want to avoid losing out on a great item that has been sitting in your attic or a closet for decades? Check out our downsizing tips here.

 

 

 

Popular “Legend of Zelda” Video Game Sells for Record-Smashing Price

Put down that game controller and listen up, gamers: A sealed, perfect-condition version of the video game “The Legend of Zelda” sold for record-smashing $870,000 last week in a Heritage auction. We couldn’t believe the price as some of our staff’s children played with this game! “The Legend of Zelda” was released for NES (Nintendo Entertainment Systems) in 1986 and introduced the characters of  Link, Zelda and Ganon in the sprawling land of Hyrule. “Zelda” remains one of the best-known video game franchises with more than two dozen games.