At the time of their 2013 appraisal, Guinness World Records counted 10,607 individual video game titles in Michael Thomasson's personal collection. By the time you read this post, the Buffalo, NY-based independent game store owner and operator will be closer to 12,000.By the numbers: over 8,300 games come in their original boxes, complete with manuals. 2,600 haven't ever been opened. He's got Game Boy knockoffs. He's got every game for the Neo-Geo Pocket Color and the Atari 7800. Casio Loopy, the failed game console geared towards girls? Check. He's got a veritable archive and compendium of video gaming history in his own house, created on a meager (by today's gamers' standards) budget of $3000 a year to spend on games. And that isn't even the craziest part…This past Wednesday evening, Michael Thomasson put his entire collection up for auction, starting with an initial bid of $1. At the time of writing, the most recent bid for Thomasson's collection was for a cool $50,500— a number quite shy of the $700,000-$800,000 the amateur game designer, archivist, educator, and gaming historian estimates his collection is worth. For that price, it's a steal, the kind over which savvy collectors, including Oculus Rift founder, Palmer Luckey, may have taken note. Below, Thomasson's spread in the Guinness Book Of World Records:So why would Thomasson ever sell a collection like this? According to Ars Technica, Thomasson claims, "responsibilities that I have made to others." Don't count this collector down and out, though— while his current collection took him 25 years to curate, this isn't his first rodeo:"I've sold my collection many times in the past and still managed to capture Guinness' attention, and it is entirely possible that I may again," he claims.Below, a quick GIF tour of Thomasson's personal collection. To explore more, check out this excellent behind-the-scenes video.To learn more about Thomasson's world-record video game collection, visit Thomasson's Good Deal Games website, and visit Game Gavel to get in on the bidding action. h/t Ars TechnicaRelated:"Obscure Video Games" Is An Insane Gaming GraveyardLowbrow Indie Gaming Meets Highbrow Art With Jim MunroeI Played The World's Largest Tetris Game
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