Never-opened tournament game cartridge is expected to fetch tens of thousands of dollars

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, February 21, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- 1990 Nintendo World Championship memorabilia hits auction market Feb. 20

Never-opened tournament game cartridge is expected to fetch tens of thousands of dollars.

The youngest gamer in the inaugural Nintendo World Championships (NWC) in 1990 is lucky that his dad doesn’t throw stuff away.

When he was 7 ½, Nick Membrez-Weiler, of Norman, Oklahoma, competed in nine NWC city tournaments across the country. Having won the 11-and-under age group in the Seattle tournament, he was among 90 players invited to the finals at Universal Studios in Hollywood.

He and his family gathered a lot of memorabilia along the way, including the Nintendo World Championships 1990 game cartridge, which was used throughout the competition. It is among 23 items from Membrez-Weiler’s extensive collection going up for online auction Feb. 20-March 14 at ComicConnect.com, the leading auction website for video games, comics and other pop culture collectibles.

Vincent Zurzolo, president of ComicConnect, estimates that the game cartridge alone will fetch as much as $70,000.

“I love the idea of a 7-year-old kid being part of the first Nintendo World Championships and then having the sense to hold onto all the memorabilia and keepsakes including his trophy, VIP passes, tickets, stickers, baseball caps, and of course the incredibly rare Nintendo World Championship Cartridge,” Zurzolo said.

“This collection is a like a time capsule. I know fans, collectors and investors from around the world will want to own a piece of video game competition history. Bidding confidently on authentic items is a must in today’s collectible world. We chose to send the collection to CGC Video Games and their authentication company CAG. They did a great job and the collection is now ready for auction.”

Membrez-Weiler said he thought most of his collection, including the cartridge, had been lost. “But fortunately, my Dad never throws much away and it was discovered a couple of years ago in a storage unit,” he said.

The story of the collection is the story of the Membrez-Weiler family, their love of video games and their support of their son, Nick.

The first major eSports event in the United States, the tournament stopped in 30 cities and culminated in the world championship held at Universal Studios Hollywood. Half a million people participated.

“My family first discovered the Nintendo World Championships in 1990 when we were visiting family in Minneapolis,” Membrez-Weiler said. “We had a great time, so we decided to go to the next city on the tour, in Seattle. There I won the 11-and-under title at only 7 years old -- the youngest winner for an individual city.”

Membrez-Weiler was the youngest finalist to reach the world championship.

Most of the items in the collection are unique to him and his family. They include:

• Membrez-Weiler’s Seattle Champion 11 & Under trophy
• His Youth Participant Shirt, which he wore while he competed in Seattle and which features a picture of the trophy that he painted on the back
• Membrez-Weiler’s personalized finalist plaque from the Seattle tournament
• Nintendo Power #18, a magazine featuring Membrez-Weiler as the youngest finalist
• NWC hat and duffle bag from the finals at University Studios
• Passes, tickets, stickers and instruction sheets for competitors in the finals

Still a gamer at age 40, Membrez-Weiler said, “These days I play a handful of games here and there but mostly stick to World of Warcraft where I can still exercise my competitive spirit.”

He now teaches sociology at the University of Oklahoma while he completes his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. He and his partner, Laura, are ready to buy a house, so the auction comes at a good time.

At the beginning of a new semester, he said, he likes to have students share something interesting about themselves while he shares something about himself.

“They are amazed to hear about my 1990 Nintendo World Championships experience,” he said.

Contact: Lekas & Levine PR, JoannePR@aol.com, 847.327.9530

Joanne Levine
Lekas & Levine PR
+1 847-327-9530
email us here