A one-of-a-kind, first-production Gloss Sticker sealed copy of the 1986 NES video game “Donkey Kong” sold for a shocking $370,880 at Goldin Auctions on Saturday night, crushing the previous record sale for the title of $72,000.
Donkey Kong is among the original NES games produced by Nintendo, along with its groundbreaking console in 1986, known by video game collectors as “Black Box” games. This series, which includes the original “Super Mario Bros.,” is the most collectible and valuable in the entire hobby.
Graded WATA 9.6 A++, the copy that sold Saturday sat untouched for nearly 40 years, until it was traded in, along with a copy of “Donkey Kong Jr.,” to a video game shop owner in the last few months. According to GetTheGregGames, a popular video game content creator, the store owner sent photos in his Discord chat and was met with questions over its veracity by the community.
“Skepticism was still super high that they were actually going to end up being legit, factory sealed first prints.”
The owner submitted the games to video game grader WATA, which confirmed their authenticity. The first-print Donkey Kong became the sole such example graded by the company. The Gloss Sticker seal likely only remained intact due to an outer shrink wrap around the game.
It’s uncommon for the original seal method to remain intact, creating incredible scarcity around early print variants in sealed condition.
In a market which has seen a precarious descent since pandemic mania drove prices into the millions, the result is among the best in recent years, and the highest price paid for any video game in 2025.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.