Forgotten Copy of Super Mario Bros. Sets Record at Auction

An unopened copy of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. that had been bought in 1986 as a Christmas gift but sat forgotten in a desk drawer until recently was sold on Friday for $660,000, according to an auction house in Dallas.

The price was a record for a video game, the auction house, Heritage Auctions, said in a statement. That distinction was previously held by another copy of the same game, which sold for $114,000 in July.

The game that sold on Friday was purchased as a Christmas gift in 1986 but it had been placed in a desk drawer, where it remained undisturbed for 35 years, the statement said.

“It stayed in the bottom of my office desk this whole time since the day I bought it,” the seller, who asked not to be identified, told Heritage Auctions. “I never thought anything about it.”