PHILADELPHIA — When Travis Kerestesy received a box containing an Atari 2600 game system and 20 games from a friend, he had no idea the kind of windfall he'd find enclosed.

It took him a few days to realize it, too.

The bundle containing examples of video gaming’s infancy was on sale at Medium Bob’s Curiosity Shop, which is owned by Kerestesy and his friend Roey Levkowitz, for $50.

“Luckily they were slow days,” Kerestesy said.

As the collection stood on display for a couple days, nobody realized that included in the collection was the Holy Grail of Atari game cartridges. It was a game that was not even believed to have existed until recently.

Found mingled with the other games was Red Sea Crossing.

Red Sea Crossing is a religion-themed game involving Moses traversing the Red Sea and dodging obstacles along the way.

Designed by Steve Stax, the game was not sold in stores and was only advertised once in a 1983 issue of Christianity Today.

The advertisement listed the price of Red Sea Crossing as $34.95. Now, because of its incredibly rare status, it can fetch almost 300 times more at auction.

The first reported copy of the game existing was found at a garage sale in 2007 and ended its auction on Sept. 9 at $10,400, according to the website GameGavel.

Kerestesy was researching his bundle of Atari games when he stumbled upon a message board about Red Sea Crossing.

“I thought, best-case scenario, we would be able to get $20 for a game,” Kerestesy said.

“As soon as I found out about (Red Sea Crossing) I put it in a safety deposit box,” he continued.

Acquiring the proverbial “golden ticket,” Kerestesy started getting private offers for the game cartridge.

But, honestly, how does one put a price on something that is priceless?

With private offers in mind, Kerestesy put the game to auction on Ebay.

The auction closes on Sept. 11 and, as of Monday afternoon, the highest bid is currently at $8,777.77.

Out of the 39 bids, the reserve put on the game has yet to be met.

Kerestesy and Levkowitz even uploaded a YouTube video of Red Sea Crossing in all of its gaming glory to prove its authenticity.

“I was in such panic and euphoria when the game started,” Kerestesy said.

There are only the two known copies of Red Sea Crossing out of the few hundred manufactured by game publisher Inspirational Video Concepts.

“I think it’s cool that we’re only one of two people that played it,” Kerestesy said.

While the owners of Medium Bob’s Curiosity Shop currently have their hands on a legendary and rare Atari game, the shop itself is not dedicated to video games.

“I’m not really an Atari fan; I have a good Nintendo collection, though,” Kerestesy said.

The two Vineland natives opened up Medium Bob’s on Mifflin Street in Philadelphia because of their hoarding ways.

A copious amount of items had been accumulated by Kerestesy and Levkowitz through thrifting, flea markets and from relatives. In July 2011 they decided to open up a store full of their eclectic collection of items.

“We figured we have all this junk so we might as well sell it before our parents sell it out of the garage,” Kerestesy said.

If it wasn’t for that shop, though, they may never have stumbled upon a video game that was once long forgotten by even Atari aficionados.

And as for the friend that gave away the second reported copy of Red Sea Crossing in existence, Kerestesy promises that he won’t be forgotten.

“He’s going to get taken care of,” Kerestesy said.

Contact Don E. Woods at 856-451-1000, ext. 518 or dwoods@southjerseymedia.com