Rare gold Nintendo cartridge expected to fetch a fortune at auction

You wouldn't happen to have a 1990 NES limited-edition competition cartridge titled Nintendo Gold World Championships, manufactured in gold plastic but without a label, would you? At $57,000 to start, one just like it is expected to be among the most expensive cartridges ever auctioned.

The significance of this rare piece of video game history cannot be denied or ignored, as this is amongst the rarest of offerings in the hobby: A Gold Nintendo World Championships 1990 cartridge, one of only 26 given out by Nintendo Power as prizes in their Players' Poll Contest Sweepstakes, held in 1990.

As far as we know, and until as recently as a few months ago, of the 26 copies of this gold game, which carries a resemblance to the famed The Legend of Zelda gold cartridge, there are only 13 copies extant, making this highly coveted piece of video game history akin to the great T206 Honus Wagner in esteem and rarity. The condition sensitivity of these gold cartridges is due to a lack of packaging, and the label applied to this specimen is missing. The dip switch, allowing adjustment for time, is still present.

This particular cartridge, which came from Patrick King of Cheyenne, Wyoming, with his name appearing in the Nintendo Power #18, published with a cover date of November-December 1990, which can be found here.

The 1990 Nintendo World Championships visited 29 cities from March 8th, 1990, to December 9th, 1990, with many considering the event the grandfather of E-Sports. The cartridge contains Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris games that served as the focal point of the competition. The contestants had six minutes and twenty-one seconds to play each, but a dip switch on the game allowed the time to be adjusted.

And here's the reverse: