Gold in Them ‘thar Videos

This just in….

ALAMOGORDO, N.M., Nov. 17 (UPI) — A New Mexico city made $37,000 from auctioning 100 Atari games found in a landfill, with one copy of a game widely regarded as the worst ever going for $1,537.

The City of Alamogordo sold 100 of the Atari 2600 games on eBay after they were unearthed from a local landfill in a project masterminded by Joe Lewandowski, vice president of the Tularosa Basin Historical Society.

The $37,000 proceeds from the auctions will be split by the city and the historical society, officials said.
Lewandowski said the auction’s success exceeded expectations.

“It seemed like every seven to 10 minutes it went up a thousand dollars, a thousand dollars, so it was just instantaneously 24, 25, 26. It just kept on going way beyond anything we expected,” he told KRQE-TV.

The largest sum, $1,537, was paid by a Canadian buyer for a copy of “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” a movie adaptation notorious as one of the worst video games ever made. The game was still in its original box when it was removed from the landfill.

Lewandowski said about 700 remaining games will be auctioned off in the coming weeks.