Shortly after The Guinness Book of World Records verified Michael Thomasson’s collection as the largest in the world — 11,000 video games, no less — a user under the pseudonym ‘peeps_10091970’ placed the all-important 56th bid on GameGavel to net the collection for a staggering $750,250.
The auction, which ran until June 15th, began with a humble asking price of $1, though this quickly soared exponentially once the record-breaking collection garnered the attention of the gaming community. Writing on the official auction page, Thomasson also revealed that 25% of the stockpile remain in their original wrapping.
“Approximately a quarter of the collection is new factory sealed! There are a whopping 2600+ factory shrink-wrapped titles in the collection! Over 8,300 are complete with box and manual.”
Moreover, the gargantuan collection — which encompasses ultra-rare, Japan-exclusive titles such as Casio Loopy and Colecovision — managed to attract the attention of one Palmer Lucky, co-founder of VR company Oculus; although, he withdrew from the bidding race after the asking price soared past £100,000.
Closer to the time, the auction quickly became a two horse race, with ‘peeps_10091970’ facing competition from another user, ‘catch 123’, though the latter bowed out of the public sale once the figured reached three-quarters of a million.
As for Thomasson’s reasoning for putting his impressive stash on the market, the New York resident cited personal family issues that “need to be addressed.” Nevertheless, the avid gamer and teacher remained optimistic for the future: “I’ve sold my collection many times in the past and still managed to capture Guinness’ attention, and it is entirely possible that I may again.”
