Man buys 'holy grail' copy of iconic 1987 video game for $90,000: "It's the first game my mom bought me"

An original 1987 NES sealed copy of Castlevania sold for $90,100 following an intense bidding war on eBay. The bidder who lost out estimated that the "Holy Grail", an original shrinkwrap copy of the video game, could flip for up to $250,000. However, the winner who goes by Tom Curtin (minus_worlds on Instagram), may not sell the sealed copy forward as he has been on the hunt for the game for over 23 years. He shared an emotional post on Instagram with a picture of the game describing its true value. 

A rare item

The seller on eBay described the copy as a "high-grade grail" in brand new condition from the first production run, as per GameRadar. The copy came with the original price tag of $27.84 and a Nintendo Gold certification. This 1987 version was listed as "raw" as it wasn't graded by a professional appraiser, which could boost its value further. 

While the source of the game is unknown, Digital Eclipse's Chris Kohler noted on Twitter that the rare game is believed to have come from an estate sale in Texas.

What makes this copy of Castlevania so special?

While the copy was objectively valuable, the game held a special significance for the winning bidder. Tom Curtin explained in his Instagram post why he and his childhood friend paid $90,100 for the game.

"The search is over after 23 years. I resigned to never being able to add this grail after years of searching," Curtin wrote in the post. He further explained that it was the very first game that his mother had bought for him, thus, it is a core memory for him. 

A fierce bidding war

The auction for the rare item kicked up some dust in the collector community, receiving over 130 bids. It came down to the wire with an intense battle between Curtin and another bidder, Frank Giaramita, or "Grailmonster", TechSpot reported. The auction ultimately wrapped up with Curtin beating Giaramita's $90,000 bid by just $100. It is believed to be one of the highest bids for a video game on eBay. 

After Curtin won the auction, the losing bidder also shared a post on Instagram writing, "Win some, lose some." Bowing out of the bid, the user admitted that the Curtin was the deserving one.

He also estimated that the copy could be an easy $250,000 flip and it may be the most "raw game sold for." However, Curtin didn't comment on his future plans with the prize. Techspot reported that he already owns at least five copies of Castlevania in different conditions.

Precious games worth a fortune

This seems to be a big year for video game collectors with some record-breaking auctions. Earlier in April, a 22-year-old man from California sold a sealed copy of the 1987′s video game “The Legend of Zelda” for a whopping $288,000. The copy was originally expected to go for up to $700,000 according to CNBC Make It. 

Initially, the owner named Kiro, had mistakenly listed the game for a mere $17,000. However, he realized the true value of the copy and got help to conduct an auction via the renowned Heritage Auctions.