There are always going to be certain items from days gone by that pique the interest of a dedicated few with enough money to spend on them. Certain rare vintage video games have drawn the attention of plenty of collectors over the years, and it seems another one has surfaced recently worth a hefty chunk of cash.
According to a recent press release from Goodwill North Central Texas, e-commerce item processor Alex Juarez happened across a collection of classic Atari 2600 games in a donation at the beginning of June 2021. In this jumble of games, he spied a copy of the 1982 release Air Raid, a rare and highly sought-after addition to the 2600's library. Recognizable by its unusual blue coloring and T-shaped handle, Juarez sent a picture to his father, a fellow enthusiast who excitedly responded with the message: "You've found Air Raid!"
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The only game ever released by developers Men-A-Vision, Air Raid gained notoriety not so much for its gameplay, which was described as "lackluster" in the press release, but for its rarity. According to Goodwill NCT, the copy found by Juarez is one of only 13 known to exist currently, and the game is frequently cited as one of the rarest Atari 2600 games of all time. It certainly proved a valuable find for Goodwill, which put it up for auction on June 10th and sold it a week later for an impressive $10,590.79.
Though there have only been 12 other copies of Air Raid located, the few recorded sales of them have made a pretty penny from deep-pocketed collectors. In 2012, a complete edition of the game (featuring cartridge, instruction manual and box) sold on auction site GameGavel for a whopping $33,433.30, while an eBay listing offering just the cartridge itself sold in 2011 for $3,575. All in all, the handful of transactions around this particular game might have seen almost $100,000 change hands over the years, enough to give even the most dedicated collector of video games pause.
At Goodwill NCT, the staff there are making sure the money raised goes towards good charitable work. In the press release, Goodwill laid out some possible uses for the $10,000 windfall, including a year of day habilitation services for an adult with disabilities, job placement services for up to 20 homeless people, or education and employment opportunities for at-risk youths.
As for Alex Juarez, he seems happy just to have had this little piece of gaming history pass through his hands. "It's kind of surreal - it's more of a piece of history rather than just an expensive game to me," he says in the Goodwill NCT video about the find. "It's weird...knowing that that, like, this will be the only time you get to hold something like this."
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