Posted on FB group yesterday. I believe he is gonna post here with the story eventually.

Here's the story from the owner (not me, but I work with him):

He (Nathan Hill) bought the box of games about 10-12 years ago somewhere here on the Seacoast area of New Hampshire but he can't really recall exactly where / what town because it was one of those situations where he was driving down the road and he spotted a yard sale so he turned around and started to poke around to see if there was anything that he was interested in. He found the box of games, paid $15 bucks for it (not knowing about the Gem within) and carried on with his day. He has had the games ever since.

Though he was living in NH at the time, he currently resides in South Berwick, Maine.


Link to images: https://gemr.com/items/551b2cf32e2101470ceea862

NWC #342 is in my possession as of November 2014. It was from a former Nintendo game counselor and he confirmed it was used in the competition.

Did he say where he was going to sell it at?

There's something unique and just downright cool about carts which are slightly different than the rest.
To me it looks like someone loved this cart so much they just 'ate it up' or 'chomped' on it.

Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, he's definently going to be selling it in the next few weeks.   I'm actually setting something up at my work with the game where we have everyone in the office try the game while I stream it.  Should be fun. 

When he does look to move it, I'll be sure to let you guys know.

Update on #328 - I purchased it. Dave Morton.

https://www.gemr.com/items/5527e9...

#234?
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=i...

All I will say is proceed with extreme caution. This same seller posted #234 on ebay back in October. I messaged the seller and requested a pic of the board with my ebay username and he did deliver:



I assumed no one was bidding because of the zero feedback and lack of board pics so I thought I'd take a chance on it and put in a bid at the starting bid price. I verified through ebay that the seller was indeed in the location and even got a name I could match via some searches. The auction went on and with less than 12 hours left the seller pulled the listing. I contacted him and he said he pulled it becuase he had another buyer. He said if I could beat the other offer I could have it. I was basically getting back doored and I refused to go with it. Supposedly this other buyer bought it but now it is up again from that same seller. So, perhaps he was bluffing and trying to get out of selling it via the auction but I honestly don't know or care. What I do know is that this is a very shady seller and if you're going to buy it then do your homework. 

Edit: Went back to my PMs with a friend here and when talking about it I mentioned the following which I forgot about in my post above - "Seller's first auction seemed fake as the username in the pics (comicbooknerd1234) didn't match the seller name and there were no board pics so I figured the pics were stolen and the seller was a scammer. It didn't sell and ended, but was relisted." - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-...

Seriously, be careful if you pursue this one. 

So #234 is indeed a true cart (with a crooked label).
And probably located in Rhode Island.

I don't think there's much question that the picture show a real cart. The question is whether the seller actually possesses this cart or if he's trying to scam using someone else's pictures

He has posted never seen before pictures with a proof he really has the cart (as requested by xjwebb1982).
I'm confident he has the cart or at least a good access to it.
But as a seller, his ebay skills suck: he provided twice pictures with a wrong user name. His latest listing is even worse as there's no pic of the board.
I'm not sure he really wants to sell it.

I think #234 exists somewhere out there and is 100% real, I'm just not sure if this seller actually has it, and if he does then I'd strongly suggest going through the entire authentication process before buying. Too many things don't add up: all the BS he pulled with me, the fact that it's been listed and relisted four times now and no sales (bad ebay skills or not I know he would have been approached by tons of buyers who would have authenticated it and bought it if everything was legit), he has a new ebay username instead of reusing the original (which could just be a coincidence or another person stealing the pics and listing using a similar name to dupe people), his ebay listings have been terrible and even though he's been told to post board pics, username and date in the past (and sort of eventually did but the board pics had a different username) he didn't do it this time, his stories never added up when I asked about where he got the cart, he used a text service to reply to me instead of a direct text where you'd be able to authenticate the number, and as you can tell he has at minimal shown that he is willing to break ebay policy and pull shady stuff with a potential buyer.

I am glad I finally found one and can avoid this type of drama. I honestly hope it can be authenticated and it goes to a new home where it will be appreciated, but I'll also honestly say that even if I didn't have one now that I'd never try to buy this one unless I met in person and could authenticate and complete the transaction. Too much not adding up, too much risk, and I took the time to share my concerns because I don't want someone to get screwed on this one.

I'm sure we have members in RI. Maybe one can try to help out and see this thing in person if it is indeed real? And maybe if that's refused we'd have further evidence that buying this one is a bad idea.

I messaged the seller of #234:

Dear ribezus,

Hello. Would you mind giving me some information on this cartridge? It's origin, how you acquired it? Would it be possible for you to take pictures of the board? Thank you.

-They have added board pictures with their account name.

Their reply:

Sorry I've been busy but I just uploaded some new pictures. This is the story about this cartridge. I actually don't have an idea how I got this game but it has been in my possesion for as long as I can remember at least 17 years. I had it with other cartridges and a Nintendo Unit under my bed for the longest time. I dicovered hopw valuable this game was when I came upon a youtube video about it and ive played it a couple of time and still works.

Uh huh. I bet he doesn't even know how to start the thing.

The seller sounds like a girl I met on PlentyOfFish who is a supermodel and is the daughter of a billionaire.

I sent the seller of #234 a follow up message asking what games were on it and if they found it recently. I got "Sorry bro, already sold it."

SMH someone actually went for it. Good luck to whoever that is.

Congrats on your big score.

Looking at the 90 finalists, there are :

Cleveland

Adam Misosky

New York City

Michael Alex

who have that initials and whose carts are unaccounted for.

NYC is not that far from RI.

Thanks for the congrats. I did some research and have a few updates.

1. Adam Misosky cart is #95 which was owned by DreamTR (I believe he sold it) see the picture below for some information on #95 from Adam Misosky

2. There is an issue with the New York Winner for 12-17. The list here (and a few others) show Rob Bianco as the winner. List on Wikipedia and a few other site show Alex Markovich. Need to figure out which one is the winner. 

Yes, #95 has a new home with GameGenie 101 - http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/...

Lots of activity lately that I've missed. Updated the main post. As always, hit me up with additions/corrections.

congrats to the new owners of NWCs!

Info from another thread on NWC #83. Just wanted to repost here for ongoing records and updates to this thread.

Nick Morgan (banned from here) is listed on page 2 as the owner.
Nick Morgan = thevgdb.

So it hasn't changed hands.