Queen Elizabeth II had a special golden Nintendo Wii produced for her and now it’s going on auction.
The Wii in question was made back in 2009 to promote Big Family Games, a family-friendly title published by THQ. THQ sent the gold-plated console over to Buckingham Palace — where it was promptly ignored.
The palace allegedly refused to sign for it and thus the queen never received it. That’s odd considering the queen was a huge fan of the console — seriously.
In 2008, Kate Middleton bought a Wii as a gift for Prince William. Intrigued, the queen had a go at it and became hooked. She apparently loved it so much that the prince rarely got to play it himself.
While Queen Elizabeth II hogged her grandson’s Wii, the golden Wii intended for her eventually landed in the hands of collector Donny Fillerup. According to Donny himself, he acquired the console in 2017.
Now, Donny has put up the golden Wii for sale, as reported by Kotaku. You can find the 24-karat golden Wii up on eBay with a starting bid of $300,000.
As far as showy PR campaigns go, a golden Wii intended for the British royal family is quite tame by gaming standards. Back in 2011, Bethesda was preparing to roll out The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and offered a very specific promotion: any parents who name their child Dovahkiin (meaning “Dragonborn” in the game’s dragon language) will get free Bethesda games for the rest of their lives.
Well, Eric and Megan Kellermeyer stepped up to the challenge and named their son Dovahkiin Tom Kellermeyer. Little Dovahkiin was even born on Nov. 11 2011, the exact same day as Skyrim’s release. Bethesda kept their word and the Kellermeyers have been getting free Bethesda games ever since.
Collecting gaming paraphernalia has generated big money too. Rapper and streamer Logic spent over $200,000 on a Pokémon card auction and a mint condition copy of Super Mario Bros. sold for $660,000.
Check online before you dig out your old gaming stuff and put up a garage sale. You may not find a gold-plated Wii but you may unwittingly own an important piece of gaming history.
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If you liked this story, check out the Pokémon card thief who pulled off a death-defying heist to pay off his bills.
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