Unopened copy of Super Mario Bros. sells for a record $2 million

An anonymous buyer paid $2 million for a never-opened copy of Super Mario Bros., according to collectibles site Rally. First reported by the New York Times, the sale price of the 1985 game broke a record that was set less than a month ago, when a sealed copy of Super Mario 64 went for $1.56 million at auction.

Over the past year, the record for most expensive video game has been broken numerous times, as the demand for childhood collectibles remains hot. Last July, a copy of Super Mario Bros. went for $114,000 at auction. In November, a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 broke that record, selling for $156.000 at auction. Then, that record was smashed in April when a copy of Super Mario Bros. went for $660,000 at auction, followed in July by a copy of The Legend of Zelda that went for $870,000.

While most of the records were broken by vintage games that sold at auctions, the $2 million Super Mario Bros. sale went a slightly different route. Rally buys games and other collectibles like comic books, and turns them into small companies that people can purchase shares in, like an investment. If someone makes an offer to buy the collectible, those investors vote whether to sell it. Rally bought the Super Mario Bros. game for $140,000 last April, the Times reported, and shareholders approved the sale to the anonymous collector.