Since there are about 4-5 different threads about the current NWC auctions, and threads discussing value, etc., I thought I'd make an easy to find thread that we can use to post whatever info we have. I won't repost some of the fine figures and charts made by others, but please feel free to repost them here.

Back in 2005 Rob Budrick did some research into the subject, and wrote an article about an interview with Ben Smith, who was one of the MC's or NGC's on the tour. It is a very entertaining read: http://www.neswarpzone.com/bensmith.html

Some quick highlights:

RB: The 90 finalists in the competition each received a copy of the NWC cartridge used in the competition. These are considered highly valuable among collectors, with the grey carts given out at the competition fetching an average of $1500 or so nowadays. The 26 or so gold cartridges given out in Nintendo Power magazine in a contest I've seen fetch from $3000 to near $5000. The grey carts were individually numbered and some were labeled much higher than 90, even over 800. Although only these 116 total NWC carts were ever known to make it into the public's hands through the contests, many have wondered just how many of these carts were actually manufactured (grey and gold). Any idea how many of these carts were made? If more than the 116, what happened to the rest of them?

BS: This seems to be the million dollar question. To be honest, I don't have any idea how many carts were made. I never gave it any thought and it was before I was receiving and burning games. Sorry to disappoint you. However, there's a very good chance that many of the carts that were made for the competition were recycled into testing carts for other games after the NWC. I honestly don't know. I remember the EEPROMS and other components for the carts were expensive at the time (a lot of memory chip shortages going on then) although I don't recall a specific dollar value.

(ed: Note that the reference to a cart over 800 was really a cart starting with a 00 and not a 08)

RB: It is said by some finalists that the grey carts were not going to be distributed at all to the finalists until some pleading from some of the finalists took place. As the story goes, Howard Lincoln, NOA's President at the time did not want to give these out to the finalists (I believe) since there weren't many to go around. I don't believe actual cost was mentioned, though it was indicated they were also too expensive to give away. It is said that a finalist brought up to him in rebuttal that a bunch were being given away in a Nintendo Power Magazine contest, and Mr. Lincoln considered this and generously agreed later that day to hand these out to the finalists. I was hoping I might hear someone from Nintendo's side of this story, since it is such an interesting tale. Did you hear anything about this?

BS: There was so much going on at that time. I remember hearing some talk of it and I remember thinking they all deserved to have one. I don't remember the rational for the decision. Howard Lincoln is a good guy. I have a lot of respect for him.

I would seriously recommend reading the article. It gives a very good background of the entire competition and has additional links worth reading.

Here is some additional information from a post on Digital Press, from 2005 (I'm not sure if I am allowed to link to a forum on that site but I can provide the link by request):

118th and 119th NWC carts discovered

I have been trying to contact Rob Budrick to get updates on his research. If anyone else has more info that they would like to add to this thread, please do so.

Update: From this thread (http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=3&... ) we get some additional opinion on the number of existing carts from Howard Phillips:

As I recall, there was not a large stash of "extras" of the NWC - just those used for the contest plus a few back-ups. Cart numbering aside, I believe a total number of less than 150 to be a reasonable assumption...

Current Owners:
http://nes.wikia.com/wiki/Nintendo_World_Championships_1990_...
http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&...

Gold Cart Owners and potential cart names:
http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&...

Additional cart ownership info:
From Rob Budrick: A few tidbits from my notes over the last ten years: THis is my list of the original cart owners of every cart I've seen pop up online. If you know of others I missed, please let me know, especially if you have pics. Let me know of any further info you need, as each line is often the Cliff's Notes version of what I researched on the particular cart. The golds are my own numbering system, btw, based on the "finger print" I've determined for each gold.

Gold Cart Info (formatted by keithdigital):

 

#	Original Owner	Original Location	Current Owner	Notes
1	Aaron Collins	Oklahoma City, OK	BunnyBoy
2	Adam DeAngeli	Rockville, MD
3	Antonio DeMasi	Meriden, CT		Lost in a house fire, but may also be in a box in an attic
4	Charles Nowak	Florissant, MO
5	Corey Hept	Vandalia, OH
6	Daniel Conley	Buffalo, NY		Sold at a garage sale in Fort Wayne, IN. A woman bought it and sold on eBay for $5,100 in 2009
7	David Bailey	Hidalgo, IL
8	Diano Dornfield	Renton, WA
9	Isaac Staley	Altadena, CA
10	Jason Mussay	Mount Prospect, IL
11	Joe Alles	Beaverton, OR
12	John Ossenfort	Spring, TX	Trey Harrison	Sold to Trey Harrison for $50 in 1994 or 1995
13	Kim Gee	San Jose, CA
14	Kirk Evans	Corington, LA
15	Lawrence Venzor	San Diego, CA
16	Lionel Worman	Woodbury Heights, NH		Given away to Goodwill
17	Maryann Purple	Claremont, NH
18	Mere Napper	Pittsburgh, PA
19	Micael Pollinger	West Seneca, NY
20	Michael Headly	Ashburn, VA	Pat the NES Punk	Purchased directly from owner by Pat Contri (Pat the NES Punk)
21	Nicole Babcowsky	Addison, IL
22	Patrick King	Cheyenne, WY	Glenn Worley	Glenn (mtnlife on eBay) Missing the sticker - Was bid up to $100,088 on eBay
23	Peter Wilkes	Red Bank, NJ
24	Raini Hudson	Sunrise, FL
25	Seth Leonard	Northport, AL
26	Spencer Han	Marysville, MI
Possible Current Owners - Unknown Cart Origin:
DreamTR
SystemFreak
thomaser
youtube - thkgeek
ballhoward100 on ebay
EarlyWorm, gamesafe on eBay (VGA 85 Graded)
JJ Hendricks
James Baker

Grey Cart Info (formatted by keithdigital):

#	Origin	Original Owner	Current Owner	Notes
0	U		muresan	Label Torn Off. Found by Scott Nowack in a pawn shop in Waterloo, Ontario. "Mario" written on label.
0	F	Steve Factor		Label Torn Off. Originally owned by Steve Factor.
20	U		viaton	Located in Finland now.
55	F	Randy Napier	Randy Napier
57	U		rareusgold	Original owner auctioned on ebay July 29th, 2017 for 15,000.00 winning bid.
60	U		MrPopo	Showed up in an Arstechnica article on 9/13/2011.
61	F	Colleen Cardas	Colleen Cardas
66	F	Bob Bender	lukiegames	Has the number "002" written on the label. Father and Son were each finalists (66 & 88) and the cart numbers could have been swapped.
81	F	Heather Martin	SystemFreak (Steven Lin)
83	U		Nick Morgan (thevgdb)
87	F	Mike Iarossi	darkknight109
88	F	Jeff Bender	lukiegames	Father and Son were each finalists (66 & 88) and the cart numbers could have been swapped.
90	F	Jason Brandos	Eddy Yuja
95	F	Adam Misosky	GameGenie101
98	F	Jeremy Tomashek
103	F	Robin Mihara	tacolinowest
105	F	Shannon Webster	Nicola Ferrarese
119	U
122	U			Warning! Possible Fake
126	N	Howard Phillips		Originally owned by NOA Employee Howard Phillips the "Gamemaster". He sold it on eBay in 2013.
128	N			Pocketed off a back table a day after the Boston NWC by a Janitor. Sold on eBay in 2014.
131	U
132	F	Josh Caraciolo	Trustey1
136	U		backguard
137	N	Ben Smith	Tod Curtis	Originally owned by a Game Play Counseler
139	U			Found in a box of games off Craiglist in 2014 and put on eBay.
140	U
141	U		Bleach	Found at a swap meet in Seattle for $5 in 1998. Top right corner of label is yellow/brown.
156	U
163	U			Missing end label
165	F	David Moreton	gwyndion
166	F	Justin Grant
168	U		Jeff Arensmeyer	Jeff Arensmeyer bought it from Scott Ross, who told Jeff he was just given this at the competition
181	U
182	N	Ben Smith	??	Originally owned by a Game Play Counseler
183	F	Chris Tang	Chris Tang
185	U			Possible Finalist, eBayer who sold it would not give out name of the finalist who owned it.
196	N		JolleRancher	Originally owned by a NOA Employee
205	U		Pat the NES Punk	Dropped off at game store by anonymous customer as used merch
215	U		Portnoyd
220	U			Warning! Possible Fake
223	F	Jason Orlando		Stolen from Jason in the fall of 1993. Please message "jasonorlando" if you know of its whereabouts.
227	F	Rich Ambler	Dain
234	U		myblackamex	End label is sticking up. Label tilts to the right slightly. Initials “AM” and craved on the back of the cartridge.
240	U
250	U			eBayer "Unlikelyhat" said a friend Joe Hand Jr gave it to him.
255	F	Marcelo Gonzalez		Details here: http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messagev...
260	F	Dustin Durham	MAIL_BAG
262	U		Gypsy	Found at yard sale in NJ.
265	U		Mario's Right Nut	Owner will try to contact old friend he got it from.
273	N		Rob Budrick	Anonymous ex-NOA employee who used Ben Smith as a middleman
275	U
280	U
283	N		drcurtis	Shamus Bowker, Nephew of VP of Mega, Inc. sold it to dr_curtis on ebay.
305	F	Steve Gingerich	dukepharo
306	F	Jeff Falco
308	N	Danny Socolof	xjwebb1982	NWC event producer
310	N			Possible origin from NOA Employee.
311	U		Wayne Peltz	VGA 85+ (Gold) Graded.
314	N		Nick	Originally owned by a Game Play Counseler, name unknown. eBay member 2lowd
323	F	Alan Vonatu
325	N		Brad Russo	Received from his Dad, Arthur "Torch" Russo, an NWC staffer.
328	U		Dave Morton	Bottom half of cart is cracked off.  Found at a yard sale for $10!
330	U			Found in Vancouver Pawn Shop
340	N			Originally owned by a Game Play Counseler
342	N		daillest	Originally owned by a Game Play Counseler
343	N	Ben Smith		Originally owned by a Game Play Counseler
346	F	Robert Whiteman	Robert Whiteman
Origin Column: F=Finalist, N=Non-Finalist, U=Unknown
Summary:
Total Finalist Found:			24
Total Non-Finalist Found:			14
Total Unknown Found:			29
Total Found today:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

City # 11 and Under # 12 through 17 # 18 and Over Dallas   Peter Carter   Jeff Baker   Ray White Cleveland 95 Adam Misosky   Mike Winzinek   Darko Tankosic Philadelphia   Paul Lee 132 Josh Caraciolo   Vince Kailis Pittsburgh   Mike Trogdon   Phil Evans   Bruce Trogdon Detroit   Shaun Joyce   John Wyman   Chris Dillard Indianapolis   Shannon Gresh 305 Steven Gingerich   Chris Holt Boston 165 David Moreton 223 Jason Orlando 0 Steve Factor New York City   Michael Alex   Rob Bianco 346 Robert Whiteman Hartford   Jeremy Wall   Eric Trinagel   Mike Ferranti Chicago   Jacob Winch   Mark Cabanayan   Kevin Papke Houston   Long Khuu   Thor Aackerlund 255 Marcelo Gonzalez St. Paul   Andrew Luers   Curt Thorn   Pat Kensicki Oklahoma City 81 Heather Martin   Kevin Gilley   Pete Florez Phoenix 166 Justin Grant 88 Jeff Bender   Richard Watson Seattle   Nicholas Membrez-Weiler   Justin Ellstrom   Eden Stamm Portland   Dallas Lang   Mike Stricklett   Chris McCormack Norfolk   John Yandle   Kenny Welch 66 Bob Bender New Jersey   Jared Cohen   David Lopez 87 Mike Iarossi Cincinnati   Reid Somori   Jeff Brearly   Tim Ross Milwaukee 90 Jason Brandos   Tim Drews   Donna Thomas Kansas City 55 Randy Napier   Jason Haag 323 Alan Vonatu Oakland   Christopher Vu 103 Robin Mihara   Michael Pirring Los Angeles (week 1)   Michael Scott 183 Chris Tang   Grant Nakata Los Angeles (week 2)   Al Paung Kanan   Alan Hong 61 Colleen Cardas Salt Lake City   Heeth Kell 306 Jeff Falco   David Jachmann Denver 260 Dustin Durham 105 Shannon Webster   Cassandra Ross New Orleans   Johnny Crosby   Paul Williams   John Yates Atlanta 98 Jeremy Tomashek   Nick Wietlisback   Joe Somori Miami   Bradley Brunet   Daniel Raymond   Erik Aackerlund Tampa   Jeff Hansen 227 Rich Ambler   Rob Minasian

Verified and Completed Sales data:
3-25-2013, Grey #0126, $17,367 with goodies, ebay.
1-26-2014, Grey #0128, $17,500, ebay.

I know there are some long time members here that know a lot more about it than I do. Please feel free to chime in or correct me where I'm on the wrong track.

Neat list.

Dream has a lot of these tracked. I think almost all actually.

I will add the info on my NWC carts.

The first one, #283, I won on an ebay auction September 25, 2005 from sbowker. The sale price was $4275.87.
His uncle was part of the management company that put on the production, and he was the original recipient of the cart.
This was the second listing of this auction. The first ended at $6100, which made the news and caught my interest, but the payer didn't follow through. I might not have paid much attention to this auction if it hadn't been for the press surrounding it--I knew very little about the NWC at the time.

The second one, #182, I won on an ebay auction October 16, 2005 from Ben Smith. The sale price was $2562.12.
As mentioned above, Ben was a Game Play Counselor during the tour. This was a bit of a surprise win, as I thought I'd throw in a number along the way and see what happened. It made me feel much better for the price I paid for the first one, as I then had two at an average of about $3400 each, which was comfortable at the time.

Looking back through my e-mails at the time, I was on a buying rampage. In between these 2 purchases I won 21 different ebay auctions for NES games, including a Caltron 6-in-1 CIB (for $499--it was hot at the time), Bubble Bath Babes CIB ($473), Cheetamen II CIB (only a slit in the shrinkwrap, $205) and about a dozen sealed games for $5 or less. Most of the games I was buying were non-licensed CIB, as I was trying to get that portion out of the way. My wife must have been looking the other way during that time... I think I was stoked up from having been to the Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas the month before and left determined to start finishing the set.

Yes, but I don't know how much he would wish to share. He knows far more about this than me.

http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/...

Goose, that link is in the list above as well.

Actually your link just goes to the collectors corner forum.  You can link other forums like DP in your OP, no problem with that. I probably have a decent amount of pics if you want to make a difinitive list here (with pics, that is).

I sent a message to seller of the most recent NWC to pop up (not the Mario copy). According to him, the copy he is selling isn't from the batch that was given to the finalists. Instead, he said he took it from the extra pool of carts.

My query to him:

(Note he said it was owned by a former NoA employee)

"Gamemaster Howard, of Howard and Nester, sold a copy recently that was his personal copy that was seperate from the 90 "prize copies." Thus the question i am asking- I apologize for the long winded explanation- but if a Nintendo employee had one, he either got it from a winner or took it from the pool of extra carts made from the competition. If the latter is true, it means there are, at least, 92 copies that are out there in the world, this one and Howards copy included."

Here is what he had to say:

"Gotcha, I witnessed some of the carts being made and I made similar "rom" carts myself. It is kind of like burning a CD, you had to burn the chips individually and often they just didn't work. My theory is that they made around 350 (that is why you see high numbered carts like mine) of them total (including the gold ones which were cannibalized grey carts) and only about 135 or so made it out of the building. We used a fair amount of them on the tour and they often got broken with all of the loading in and out."

Obviously to be taken with a grain of salt, but it had always been my impression that there were several more NWC's than the known 90 grey copies and 26 gold copies. With Howard's copy taken into account, plus the possibility of this copy being legitimate, that would bring the grand total to, at the very least, 92 grays out there... but possibly/probably several more.

At least 3 on the wikia article Tod listed above are not finalists, so definitely more than 90 are out there.

Oops. Fixed it. The only link I didn't test was the one that failed to work.

A few tidbits from my notes over the last ten years: THis is my list of the original cart owners of every cart I've seen pop up online. If you know of others I missed, please let me know, especially if you have pics. Let me know of any further info you need, as each line is often the Cliff's Notes version of what I researched on the particular cart. The golds are my own numbering system, btw, based on the "finger print" I've determined for each gold.

Original owners

Gold1 UNKNOWN-One of DreamTR's 7-Likely dead end
Gold 2 UNKNOWN-One of DreamTR's 7-Likely dead end
Gold3 UNKNOWN-Likely dead end
Gold4
Gold5 *****UNKNOWN-Likely dead end
Gold6 *****UNKNOWN-One of DreamTR's 7-Likely dead end
Gold7 *****UNKNOWN-One of DreamTR's 7-Likely dead end
Gold8
Gold9 Aaron Collins-Grand Prize winner
Gold 10 *****UNKNOWN-One of DreamTR's 7-Likely dead end
Gold11 Daniel Conley
Gold12 *****UNKNOWN-One of DreamTR's 7-Likely dead end
Gold13 *****UNKNOWN-One of DreamTR's 7-Likely dead end
Gold14 Jan 2014 posted in eBay auction. currently owned by Glenn Worley. Need more research.
Gold15
Gold16
Gold17
Gold18
Gold19
Gold20
Gold21
Gold22
Gold23
Gold24
Gold25
Gold26 ALMOST DEFINITELY DESTROYED IN FIRE-Original Owner Patrick King

Torn1 *****UNKNOWN-Found by Scott Nowack in a pawn shop in Waterloo, Ontario. "Mario" written on label
Torn2 originally owned by Steve Factor***, Boston 18 and over winner.
55 Randy Napier
60 ****UNKNOWN-showed up in an arstechnica article on 9/13/2011.
61 Colleen Cardas
81 Heather Martin
83 *****UNKNOWN-buyer didn't keep track
87 Mike Iarossi
90 Jason Brandos
95 ****UNKNOWN, but currently owned by DreamTR, who I'm not sure wants to reveal the original source
98 Jeremy Tomashek
103 Robin Mihara
105 Shannon Webster
119
122 *****PROBABLY FAKE
126 Howard Phillips himself
128 POSSIBLE NON FINALIST Mark and Matt Nolan said this was left behind at NWC event, need more info
132 Josh Caraciolo
136 *****UNKNOWN-waiting to hear word from earliest known owner.
137 NON FINALIST-Ben Smith, GPC
140 ****UNKNOWN-owner will try to contact friend of uncle that gave him the cart in 2004
156
163
165 David Moreton
166 Justin Grant
168 NON FINALIST-Jeff Arensmeyer bought it from Scott Ross, who told Jeff he was just given this at the competition-Need to confirm.
183 Chris Tang
185 *****UNKNOWN-eBayer who sold it would not give out name of the finalist who owned it.
196 NON FINALIST- bought by JolleRancher from anonymous ex NOA emplyee
205 *****UNKNOWN-dropped off at game store by anonymous customer as used merch
215 *****UNKNOWN-buyer didn't keep track
**220 Almost definitely a fake, but with a coincidentally unknown number
227 Rich Ambler
240
250 *****UNKNOWN-Ebayer Unlikelyhat said a friend Joe Hand Jr gave it to him...not in contact with said friend anymore.
260 Dustin Durham
262 *****UNKNOWN, found at yard sale in NJ-Likely dead end
265 *****UNKNOWN-owner will try to contact old friend he got it from as of 7-11-12
273 NON FINALIST-Anonymous ex-NOA employee who used Ben Smith as a middleman
280 *****UNKNOWN-Traced it several people back, found last person in line on FB, sent mesage 7-12-12
283 NON FINALIST-Shamus Bowker-Nephew of VP of Mega, Inc.
305 Steve Gingerich
306 Jeff Falco
310 NON FINALIST-PROBABLY-ex NOAer-wrote seller for more.
311 *****UNKNOWN-Likely dead end
314 NON FINALIST - A GPC from the tour, name unknown. eBay name 2lowd.
323 ***** UNKNOWN-was thought to be Robert Whiteman, but he owns 346
325 NON FINALIST-Brad Russo (received from his Dad, Arthur "Torch" Russo, an NWC staffer)
330 *****UNKNOWN-Found in Vancouver Pawn Shop-likely dead end.
343 NON FINALIST-Ben Smith, GPC
346 Robert Whiteman

Thanks for reposting the above info, Tod, I was rather proud of that Interview with Ben and was so happy to do it. I'm really glad some folks will see it that may not have. Sometimes I think I'm the only one in the community that remembers it, so that's so cool you do to, in my eyes, heh heh. Ben rocks. It was right around that interview where my research into NWC went into high gear.

Since my Interview with Ben where I was the first to confirm online there are more than the original 90 out there (it was an assumed, but open mystery back then), I have discovered, as you can see in the list, 9 grays from non-finalists.


BTW, the Tengen Tetris cart Ben mentions inthe interview?  The one that very well could have been THE cart that caught the eye of the NOA legal team?  Ben gave it to me along with a letter for its provenance.  A true treasue.


-Rob

One of our members just scored the find of a lifetime. Assuming it's legit, you can add 275 to your list: http://www.reddit.com/r/gamecolle...

I'm 95% it's legit and have added images of the circuit board as proof. I'm still in shock of the luck of having someone message me on facebook after I posted an ad. 

Really happy for ya, dude.    You got the dream find.  The mother lode!

128 was definitely a non-finalist from what I was told by the seller.

The seller's friend worked for the convention center (custodian, security, or something similar) where the competition was taking place. Once the event had ended, he strolled through a "back room" where there were a number of carts on a folding table. He figured no one would miss one of the carts, so he pocketed the game and gave it to his buddy.

The seller saw Pat and his shitty acting skills on Pawn Stars years later and decided to cash in. The rest is history.

Edit to add: The story could be made up for all I know, but the seller didn't seem like the type to lie.  I would also think he would come up with a more ethical story if he were to make one up. 

Careful getting this game guys, once you obtain it. Your on NA'S permanent watch list.

I have the #020 and I guess it's the lowest number found so far?
It was discovered in Germany about 8-9 years ago, sold at a fleamarket in a multiple NES cart lot.
Then it was bought by a Dutch collector and after that it ended up to me over here in Finland.

We've been wondering why it was originally found in the wild in Germany, very strange.
There is a large US military base close by so maybe that could explain something.

Very cool thread, many thanks for it!

Pete

Wait a second... Dream has 7 gold NWCs?

he orignially bought 7 way way way back. think he only has 1 now.

Found this :

The original pool of competition carts numbered at 1,200 to accommodate the need for more tournament stations for larger cities such as Dallas, etc. The remaining pool of carts was recycled/reprogrammed for use in the Campus Challenge after which most of (but not all) were stored or destroyed by Nintendo of America. So, in reflection, it is possible to see a cart numbered at 0076 and another at 227 or more, but there are only 90 gray carts and 26 gold carts total in public circulation. It is not impossible that some extra gray carts leaked from Nintendo before destruction by employees of Nintendo of America. This can be substantiated by the resurfacing of the Campus Challenge game-pak which was never meant to be circulated into the public through any promotion whatsoever. Side note: The number of gold carts more than likely exceeds 26 due to individuals converting the gray carts into gold carts and auctioning them off as originals. It is the position of the Nintendo World Championships Preservation Society that the gray carts are of more value than the gold carts simply because the gray carts are numbered thereby disabling the practicality of forgery. There is a market out there doing this, so be aware at auction and only buy gold if it is verified/documented back to the original Power Poll Winners; anything less should be considered highly suspect." - See more at: http://www.nintendoplayer.com/nin...

Thanks for all the consolidated research! 255 is missing from that list. Here's a thread with pics: http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/...

Viaton, can you post pics, please?

-Rob

I don't understand all the secrecy behind where the carts came from.

If I had to guess, and judging by inferences (but not admissions), Dream did his own legwork to find those 7, so why should he decrease the value of his cart by volunteering which 19 others you should contact to buy your own? No point in making it easy for you, heh heh. Just my educated speculation, so don't hold me to it. Not putting words in his mouth. I'm surprised he's the only one that seriously tried to contact all the 26 winners, and so early on, to be honest. He's quite determined when he's looking for a game he wants.

-Rob