Extra Terrestrials might not be the cheapest game on the market, but it’s the purchase of a lifetime.

What’s very likely to be one of the rarest games in the entire world has found its way to auction website, eBay.

Extra Terrestrials might not be as well-known as the likes of Mario or Pac-Man, but its anonymity is what makes it so darn rare.

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Credit: eBay/gamewizard69

Released in 1983 for the Atari 2600, only approximately 100 copies of Extra Terrestrials were ever printed, and just four of them are thought to exist today.

Of these four, three live in video game museums, and the fourth copy has found its way to eBay.

Credit: eBay/gamewizard69

Seller gamewizard69 has listed the Atari cartridge for an eye-watering $90,000 USD – though that’s just a drop in the bucket when you consider just how rare this piece of video game history really is.

On the item listing which was found by GameByte, gamewizard69 details the history of the title, writing: “This is the first time that this game has ever been listed publicly for sale to the world and I am currently the only confirmed private owner of this game right now.”

According to the seller, Extra Terrestrials wasn’t even known to exist until 2011, despite being originally produced in 1984, leading to an unofficial title of “the long lost video game.”

The game was supposedly created to cash in on Steven Spielberg’s E.T. movie, with the listing claiming that the game “was inspired by the ‘worst video game ever made,’ the infamous E.T. for the Atari 2600.

Credit: eBay/gamewizard69

Unfortunately, a decline in the video games market meant the small team of developers were left high and dry. They decided to abandon their big plans and flog the stock they had.



“The team was in the development of finalizing the game targeting the Christmas market of 1983, however, production was delayed due to technical issues and the team lost the opportunity to make sales for Christmas,” says the eBay listing. “After finally finishing the game in 1984, the video game crash hit in which consumers weren’t interested in home gaming systems since they had expensive price tags and didn’t resemble the arcade experience.”

The developers took to distributing the game manually door-to-door in their area to sell whatever copies they could to cover their lost costs and expenses.

Detailing how he ended up owning one of the rarest piece of video game history, gamewizard69 explains: “I purchased this game from a seller who found this game in the Brantford area close to the site of production.

“I paid a premium price for it myself and it is very difficult for me to make this choice but I thought I would open the opportunity to the world to get their hands on a truly unique piece of gaming and Canadian history.

“[Owner of PC Museum Syd] Bolton regarded this discovery similar to that of finding an ancient artifact.”

Extra Terrestrials might not be the cheapest game on the market, but whoever forks out for this literally one-of-a-kind cartridge is going to own one of the rarest games in the world.

Featured Image Credit: eBay/gamewizard69