Three First Print Copies of Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow Sell for $2 Million in Second-Largest Video Game Transaction Ever
Three first-print copies of original Game Boy Pokemon games — Pokemon Red Version, Pokemon Blue Version, and Pokemon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition — have sold for $2 million to the owner of the Dubai Collection, a prominent curator of rare video games and trading cards. All three cartridges feature intact original seals and have been graded and encapsulated by PSA, a leading third-party grading authority in the collector’s market.
The collection represents an exceptional find in the retro gaming market, with individual grades of PSA 10 for both Pokemon Red and Yellow, and PSA 9.8 for Pokemon Blue. These are the only first-print copies of Pokemon Red and Yellow to achieve their respective highest grades, making them uniquely valuable within the collector community.
The sale marks the second-highest video game transaction on record, trailing only the $3 million sale of a pristine Super Mario Bros. cartridge in June 2026. The original seller, who chose to remain anonymous, reportedly spent twenty years assembling this collection and believes it will be exceptionally difficult for another comparable set to emerge.
The transaction underscores the growing market for rare and graded vintage video games. The Pokemon franchise’s continued cultural relevance and the rarity of mint-condition cartridges from the original 1998 Game Boy releases have contributed to the collection’s extraordinary value in an increasingly competitive collector’s market.