An unopened copy of the oldest sealed hangtab Super Mario Bros. smashed the previous record (a pathetic $114,000) for the most ever paid for a video game when it sold at auction last Friday for $660,000.

The classic Nintendo video game was purchased in late 1986 as a Christmas gift, but ended up being placed inside a desk drawer, where it remained untouched for 35 years, before being discovered earlier this year.

“It stayed in the bottom of my office desk this whole time since the day I bought it,” said the seller, who asked not to be identified. “I never thought anything about it.”

The story is fine and all, but my favorite part is how The New York Times covered it and their attempts to explain Super Mario Bros.:

It features two brothers, Mario and Luigi, who live in the Mushroom Kingdom and are charged with rescuing Princess Toadstool, who has been kidnapped by Bowser, the king of the Koopa.

In the game, players guide Mario on a quest to free the princess and save the kingdom of the Mushroom People. He navigates eight levels filled with giant mushrooms, menacing turtles and other strange obstacles.

The sad thing is I’m not sure if the people at The New York Times are insane or if I’m just so old that I can’t comprehend that people exist who don’t know what Super Mario Bros. is.

Source: Geekologie – Unopened Super Mario Bros. sells for 0,000 at auction and sets new world record