So, I had this up for offer and have decided to put it to auction.

I only found one completed sale on Ebay in September for $189.99: (Also a MA NA member, but I am not Mouseman on Ebay)
Ebay Link

This thread says there are only 12 known copies - but add in that Ebay sale and this copy and that makes 14 known.
http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&thr...  

One was put up for auction on NA in 2013 and sold for $100, so I'll make that the starting bid.

Rules:
Starting bid is $100
Bid increments of $5
Shipping is free to the US, $5 to Canada/elsewhere
No extensions, so snipe away!
No editing bids
Paypal only
Ends at 9:30PM NA time on Sunday Dec 10th

Pics:








 

$100

Nice pretty cool find.

Thanks for the bid Ferris!

Bump

Cool find.

Side note - what's to stop someone from taking a common 5 screw game and messing with it to make it something more rare?

wow...did not know this existed

need to check my pile of extras to see if i have one....so i may be back lol

Technically nothing. However, as far as I know nobody has faked a rare 3/5 screw cart.

I got this in a large lot of stuff on Ebay over the summer.

I opened it up and took a pic of the board - which should match the board of any of the other members who also have one of these. Since these aren't a factory error they should have the same manufacturer code/date on them.

Thanks for an explanation. To clarify, I know you have a legitimate item, I was speaking hypothetically.

8812? Thats pretty odd. The other 5 screw Gotcha i've seen a board of had 8748 which makes more sense (as well as other 3 screws with that date code). Its legit tho, but I wonder if its really a refurb because even the 74xx and Lockout chip have 8748 and 8749 dates.

Interesting! Is there any concrete way to tell if it was refurbished by Nintendo? Would there be any marks near the pins?

How do the date codes work? 8812 - is that Dec 1988? Or January 4th 1988? Or Feb 1st 1988?

Bootgod says Gotcha ranges from 8748-8826, so it looks like the chip is definitely towards the end of the production cycle - but as you said the other two chips are earlier. Odd.

Anyone else have a 5 screw Gotcha they can take a board pic of?
 

It depends on the manufacturer but this is the more common type. Its XXYY meaning XX - Year and YY being the week. So those chips were printed in the 12th week of 1988.

Theres no real way to tell whats a refurb or not. Ive seen 3 screw DK Jr. Maths that have date codes indicating mid 86, which they weren't using 3 screw at all. So who knows whats up wit this. Maybe the insides were swapped? TYPICALLY, 5 screw variants seem to be first prints or some of the first made in a batch. Almost every game I can find that has a rare 5 screw variant shows they were printed the absolute earliest they could have been. And most rare 5 screw games show up in late 87 (altho some others printed earlier than rarer 5 screws have no 5 screw variants ever found).


I think with all this info I gave you, you should just give me the game, and screw Ferris. He already has one!  

Thanks for the info, I've learned something!

Maybe he's trying to buy it for you for Christmas. I wouldn't want to stop that.  

Bump!

I hope! OR I just might cave. Im only missing two, this being one. The other im gonna have to pay thru the nose because I dont think i'll ever find it naturally.

Ends tomorrow, only 1 bid so far, bump!

Ends in less than an hour, bump!
 

I thought about it, but I had a terrible migraine :\. Ill still hope to find one lurking on ebay!