My most expensive game yet (122.50 USD)

[carlsson]

For a while, I've been looking to obtain the cartridge game Quarth for MSX2. It is not particularly rare, appearing on eBay complete in box at least once every 2-3 months. It was a game only sold in Japan, so the sellers either are Japanese or people who import from Japan.

A few years ago, the market price was around $70 for a boxed game, but recently the price has increased quite a lot. It is not uncommon to see this game sell for $125-150, and anything below $100 would be a bargain.

Actually I could settle for a loose cartridge which goes for 1/3 of the money, but I figured since I'm going to put out relatively much money, I went for a complete, boxed game. On the night to Sunday I finally won an auction at 122.50 USD + shipping, which is a fair price. Now I just have to wait for the game to arrive and hopefully not get taxed in the customs... that would be just my luck, paying another $34 in import VAT. *holding thumbs*

Needless to say, this is my most expensive purchase of a single game so far. I doubt I will come close in foreseeable future. Even though there are some rare VIC-20 games, I'm not the kind of collector who normally spends $100+ on a single game, unless it has great playability value and contains extra hardware so I couldn't .. hm, play a backup copy. This is true in the case of Quarth, because it has an additional sound chip.

[pitcalco]

I wonder if the jump in prices for such things is a function of the falling US dollar. A few years ago, 70 dollars was equal to what 125 dollars is today.

Enjoy the game.