In this era of price guides and readily viewable eBay listings, it's rare to walk out of a retro store with even a small deal on a classic game. But one father-and-son collecting team managed the impossible by grabbing a $1,000 Nintendo cartridge for $12 after it sat unnoticed in a retro shop for months. The best part? The store's owners found out about the slip-up and are congratulating the collectors on the find.
"It happened, I am now the proud owner of the RAREST FAMICOM CARTRIDGE* (that was commercially released in Japan)," collector Brenden Spaulding says in a Bluesky post. "I cannot put into words how happy I am, especially with the added bonus of that price tag no less!"
That price tag is precisely $11.99, and the game in question is Igo Meikan. Originally released in 1990 for Famicom, the Japanese equivalent of the NES, Igo Meikan isn't the type of game that would normally garner much interest from English-speaking players, as it's essentially a collection of replays of championship Go games, letting you review every move of the winning strategy.
Yes, it's more a piece of software for hardcore Go enthusiasts than a proper game, but it's nonetheless part of the retail Famicom library, and thus a big roadblock for collectors aiming to build a complete set. The Famidaily video below, which offers a broad overview of Igo Meikan, mentions paying a few hundred dollars for it, but a recent eBay listing sold for a full $1,000. Sales of this game are rare enough that it's tough to pin down a market rate, but it's clear that some folks are willing to plop down four figures for it.
It's certainly worth more than $12, but that's the price it bore at the recently opened Las Vegas branch of Pink Gorilla Games, a Seattle-based chain of retro game stores. Brenden's father Gene, himself a retro collector, grabbed this copy of Igo Meikan after facetiming his son from the store. "He's the real hero in this particular story," as Brenden says in another Bluesky post.
I'd argue that there are a couple of more heroes in this story: the co-owners of Pink Gorilla. "score! our fuck up their gain," as Kelsey Lewin, one of the owners, former co-director of the Video Game History Foundation, and regular MinnMax contributor says on Bluesky. "What's funny is we probably paid $3 in a random lot of Famicom games."
"I'm so tickled by this story," Lewin adds in another post. "We confirmed this game has been hanging in the store at $12 since MAY, and that it came from a random Famicom lot from Japan, meaning we paid no more than $3-4 for it. Happy this is going to a good home! Proof that sometimes you can still get one over on the pros!"
I’m so tickled by this story. We confirmed this game has been hanging in the store at $12 since MAY, and that it came from a random Famicom lot from Japan, meaning we paid no more than $3-4 for it. Happy this is going to a good home! Proof that sometimes you can still get one over on the pros!
— @kelslewin.bsky.social (@kelslewin.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-09-02T20:40:28.278Z
"Congrats on the find," fellow owner Cody Spencer says in response to a Reddit post from Brenden. "This one was my personal slip up. Originally came from a lot of mixed Famicom games from a shop in Japan that we ordered years ago. Glad the find is going to a good home."
Spencer adds that this copy of Igo Meikan had actually been available for sale since Twitch Con Las Vegas in 2023, where it was part of Pink Gorilla's convention inventory. It toured several conventions in Nevada and California, but never sold, and eventually became part of the Las Vegas store's inventory when it opened on May 1.
"For a Dad..I couldn't put a price tag on the smile and joy it put on Brenden's face to own this game for his collection," Gene says in a Bluesky post to Lewin. "He loves Famicom. We just talked about this game a month ago and what the chances of owning it. He's at over 500 games towards the full library. Thanks Kelsey and Pink Gorilla."
Despite what the headlines about game collecting might lead you to believe, many of the best NES games of all time are still relatively reasonably priced.
